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SHOBOX on Showtime Eddie Chambers vs. Dominick Guinn
May 4, 2007 Palms Casino Resort Las Vegas, Nevada 11 p.m. ET/PT On SHOWTIME
Featured Bouts: Heavyweight Bout (10 Rds) Eddie Chambers (28-0, 16 KOs) vs. Dominick Guinn (28-4-1, 19 KOs)
Heavyweight Bout (8 Rds) Cristobal "The Nightmare" Arreola (19-0, 17 KOs) vs. Devin Vargas (11-0, 5 KOs)
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Undefeated Heavyweight Eddie Chambers Hopes To Continue To Deliver on May 4 'Fast' Rising Prospect to Face Guinn; Unbeaten Heavyweights Arreola and Vargas to Collide in Co-Feature
NEW YORK - Extra! Extra! Read All About Him! A former paper boy will attempt to make headlines of his own on SHOWTIME when undefeated "Fast" Eddie Chambers (28-0, 16 KOs) faces Dominick "The Southern Disaster'' Guinn (28-4-1, 19 KOs) in the 10-round main event Friday, May 4, 2007, on "ShoBox: The New Generation" (live on SHOWTIME, 11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast).
In the second half of an excellent doubleheader, undefeated heavyweight Cristobal "The Nightmare" Arreola (19-0, 17 KOs) will attempt to complete a sweep of the Vargas brothers when he takes on 2004 United States Olympic team captain, "Devastatin" Devin Vargas (11-0, five KOs), in the eight-round co- feature. A top amateur, Arreola defeated Devin's older brother, Dallas, at the 2001 National Golden Gloves.
Former two-time world heavyweight champion Chris Byrd will serve as special guest commentator on the telecast, joining "ShoBox" announcers Nick Charles (blow-by-blow) and Steve Farhood, color analyst and boxing historian. The event will be presented by Goossen Tutor Promotions and originate from Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nev.
"Chambers-Guinn is a perfect 'ShoBox' fight because it features an unbeaten kid against his toughest opponent to date," said Farhood. "Chambers has never faced anyone with the credentials of Guinn, who not long ago was regarded as the top young American big man.
"(In his last start) Chambers was in total control against Derric Rossy, and it will be interesting to see if he can shine against a different type of opponent. If Chambers wins, he will have clearly established himself as the best young American heavyweight."
Farhood continued: "(Two outings ago) Arreola proved a lot by beating then-unbeaten Damian Wills. This is a great opportunity for him to separate himself from the pack of young American heavyweights."
Since turning professional, Chambers has dispatched opponents with the effortlessness in which he once tossed papers for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"It was a lot of work juggling a paper route, school and boxing," Chambers said. "My day started at 3 a.m. I would train in the morning and night. But, I was just turning pro and had to do it.''
By today's standards, Chambers, 25, of Philadelphia, by way of Pittsburgh, Pa., is a small heavyweight. He stands six-feet-one-inch and weighed only 215 pounds for his last start when he captured the USBA title with a seventh-round TKO over Rossy (15-0 going in) on Feb. 9, 2007.
What Chambers lacks in size, he makes up for with speed. Hence, the nickname: "Fast" Eddie.
"I am a fast boxer, but I can change up and do different things," said Chambers, who had a solid amateur career before turning pro on Dec. 29, 2000. "I have good legs, speed and movement. That is what helps me get through when I fight all those big guys.
"But, I plan to put a little more weight on. When the competition steps up a level, I raise my game too."
Chambers, who has deceptive power to go along with superior speed, is attempting to reach a level where Guinn once was. Going into 2004, many regarded Guinn as the world's top young heavyweight.
"Guinn can still be a force in this division, so I will have my work cut out,'' Chambers said. "This will be one of my tougher fights, but I need to take these kinds of steps. Guinn is a pretty sound fighter technically. I know he will be aggressive early, but I may surprise him by how strong I am inside.''
An amateur world champion and one-time consensus top-10 contender, Guinn, 33, of Houston, Texas, by way of Hot Springs, Ark., has won two in a row since rejoining trainer Ronnie Shields.
Guinn was 24-0 and on the verge of a world title fight when he suffered his first defeat on a 10-round split decision to Monte Barrett in what was supposed to be a homecoming on March 27, 2004, in Little Rock, Ark. Following the loss, Guinn went a disappointing 2-3-1 before the mini-winning streak.
Two of Guinn's setbacks came on decisions to former world heavyweight champion Sergei Liakhovich (December 2004) and three-time world champion James Toney (October 2005).
One of Guinn's triumphs came when he scored an impressive 10-round decision over 2000 Olympic gold medalist Audley Harrison on April 14, 2006. Following a 12-round loss to Tony Thompson in his next effort two months later on June 28, 2006, Guinn went back to Shields.
The main rap on Guinn, whose biggest win was a seventh-round TKO over Michael Grant, is that he becomes lethargic and does not let his fists fly. However, Guinn threw often enough in his last start to score a second-round TKO over Zuri Lawrence on Feb. 2, 2007.
"I don't feel like I am on my last legs," Guinn said, "but after I had couple of losses, I realized that I wanted to go back to where all the good stuff started. I went to Ronnie (Shields) and told him that I had re-dedicated myself and asked him to train me. I am enjoying this. I really feel like I am back."
Arreola, of Riverside, Calif., via Los Angeles, has won seven consecutive bouts inside of the distance. In his lone 2007 outing, Arreola scored a third-round TKO over Zakeem Graham on Feb. 9.
During his amateur days, Arreola captured the 2001 National Golden Gloves title by defeating Dallas Vargas in the finals.
"I am sure he (Devin) is going to come out for some blood and try to get some payback for his brother," said Arreola.
Vargas relishes the opportunity to enact revenge.
"As soon as my brother found out I was fighting Arreola, he was like, 'Beat him up for me,' " said Vargas. "So, yeah, I am looking for payback."
Arreola turned pro on Sept. 5, 2003. He took his initial eight starts by knockout before winning by disqualification. His one bout to go the distance came in his 12th outing when he won a six-round nod over Andrew Greeley on Sept. 23, 2005.
The hard-hitting Arreola has a simple philosophy in the ring. "I do what I do, and they (the opposition) have to worry about it," he said. "I really don't care who I fight, what they do or what their tendencies are. They are bound to change in a fight, so I just deal with that.
"I try to be as calm as I can be in the ring. I learned that from watching and sparring with James Toney. I just try to be relaxed and work off of my jab. Everything has to come off the jab, but I am aggressive. I will take four punches to give you one good one."
The crowd-pleasing Arreola whipped Wills on Nov. 4, 2006. Cut over the right eye in the first, Arreola rebounded to stagger and bloody Wills' mouth in the second. Arreola steadily wore his opponent down and had rocked him with a series of punches when the referee stopped it at 2:17 of the seventh.
Arreola got his "Nightmare" nickname when he was a teenager.
"I had a lot of acne when I was 18," he said. "One day, I shaved my head bald. My friends said I looked like Freddie Krueger in 'Nightmare on Elm Street.' So they started calling me 'Nightmare.' "
A lifelong resident of Toledo, Ohio, Vargas was the No. 1-ranked amateur for a long time and captained the 2004 U.S. Olympic team in Athens, Greece. Brimming with a ton of potential, he had offers to turn pro, but rejected them to pursue a quest for gold.
After Vargas won his first bout, he seriously injured a knee in his second and was eliminated.
"My knee went out," Vargas said. "That is why I didn't win. I tore it after stepping back in the first round. From then on, I couldn't plant on it. I had trained the whole Olympic camp to move around the ring. So, I was pretty much a sitting duck and had to go back to banging, just walking in."
Vargas had surgery on the knee, but not until after winning his pro debut with a first-round knockout over Adam Smith on Nov. 26, 2004. He fought seven times in '05 and three times in '06.
The six-foot-three-inch, 25-year-old Vargas, who is coming off of a second-round knockout over David Saulsberry on Nov. 2, 2006, hails from a fighting family. His father and two brothers also boxed.
The executive producer of "ShoBox" is Gordon Hall with Richard Gaughan producing.
For information on "ShoBox: The New Generation" and SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecasts, including complete fighter bios, records, related stories and more, please go the SHOWTIME website at http://ww.sho.com/boxing.
Since its inception in July 2001, the critically-acclaimed SHOWTIME boxing series, "ShoBox: The New Generation" has featured young talent matched tough. The "ShoBox" philosophy is to televise exciting, crowd-pleasing and competitive matches while providing a proving ground for willing prospects determined to fight for a world title. The growing list of fighters who have appeared on ShoBox and advanced to garner world titles includes Leonard Dorin, Scott Harrison, Juan Diaz, Jeff Lacy, Ricky Hatton, Joan Guzman, Juan Urango, David Diaz (interim) and Robert Guerrero.
- Press Release issued by Showtime's Shobox (with a little editing from us - highlights, etc...).
Subject to change
(5/1/07) |
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