EDDIE CHAMBERS vs DOMINICK GUINN

At 6ft 1in and about 215 pounds, Eddie Chambers is considered small for a heavyweight by today’s standards, but his boxing skill and hand speed has been too much for bigger men, most recently Derric Rossy, the previously undefeated 246-pounder whom he outclassed and stopped in his last bout.

On Friday, in the 10-round ShoBox main event, Chambers goes for his 29th consecutive win against by far his toughest opponent to date when he faces former contender Dominick Guinn, who impressively blew out Zuri Lawrence in two rounds in his last fight.

Chambers, 25, looked very good against Rossy, who was just too slow for him and didn’t have the punching power to make an impact even when he was able to land some punches.

That was the third successive fight in which Chambers has stopped his opponent. His combinations were sharp and accurate — it isn’t the one punch that does it for Chambers but the accumulation.

Guinn, 32, is a step up for Chambers. He easily stopped Lawrence, but I am not sure whether it was a question of Guinn looking really good or his opponent having absolutely nothing left after a frightening knockout defeat against Calvin Brock.

The old, familiar criticism of Guinn is that he does not throw enough punches — but he threw enough to beat the Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison a year ago and his only loss in his last four fights was against the tall southpaw Tony Thompson, who can give anyone problems.

Guinn is bigger and more experienced than Chambers and probably the heavier hitter. If Guinn simply lets his hands go he can win, but while he can look impressive in flashes it does not seem possible for him to be consistent in his fighting. It’s as if something switches off in Guinn’s brain; winnable fights slip out of reach and he gets into pattern where he seems unable to pull the trigger on his punches.

Chambers worried me a bit in the fight with Rossy when he let the bigger man unload punches, but this is part of his strategy — he isn’t a slippery, speedy type, preferring to stay close behind a tight defence, letting the other man hit arms and gloves before coming on with his combinations. This worked wonderfully against Rossy, but he was meeting a relatively inexperienced fighter whereas Guinn has fought a far higher standard of opponent than Chambers has met.

This, then, is a tough fight for Chambers, but he seems to have the ambition and single-minded determination that Guinn appears to lack.

It should be a competitive fight but I expect Chambers to do a bit more, simply being busier and more consistent than Guinn to take a clear but hard-fought decision.