By Kurt Wolfheimer at ringside
Photos: Goossen Tutor

IBF #4 heavyweight “Fast” Eddie Chambers (36-2, 18KOs) continued his quest for another world title with a clear cut twelve round unanimous decision victory over #11 Derek “El Leon” Rossy (26-2, 14KOs) in a an IBF heavyweight eliminator on Friday night at Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “I was disappointed in my performance,” said Chambers afterward. “With all due respect to Derric Rossy, I should have gotten him out of there, but I loaded up on single shots instead of combinations which I am known for. I have a lot of work to do before I can face Klitschko, but I am willing to go back and put in the work.”

Chambers who was returning for the first time since his unsuccessful world title challenge against Wladimir Klitschko in March 2010, looked in great shape and had promised a new and improved “Fast Eddie”. This didn’t appear to faze the bigger Rossy who owned a two-inch height advantage and outweighed Chambers by almost thirty pounds.

Rossy was the busier fighter right from the opening bell, throwing combinations while on the move. Chambers sported a tight defense as Rossy continually got off in the opening two rounds. Chambers normally known for his fast hands seemed to welcome the combinations of Rossy by dropping his hands while in punching range in hopes to land a quick counter.

Rossy continued to fight on the retreat throughout rounds two and three as Chambers began to let his swift and explosive counters go.

The fight changed momentum in the fourth as Chambers began to stand his ground and set down on his punches which bloodied the nose of Rossy. It was give and take though throughout as the man known as “El Leon” continued to flurry while circling to his left, going from corner to corner

Chambers took control in the sixth with an overhand right that planted the bigger Rossy on the canvas. Rossy rose to his feet and appeared to be in trouble, but Chambers was cautious, carefully looking for another big shot. This allowed Rossy to escape and regain his senses, taking only a few more heavy two punch combinations in the process.

The hooks and heavy counters from Chambers continued to find their mark in the seventh. Rossy looked tired and his nose was possibly broken from the constant quick two punch combo’s and it was bleeding profusely. Rossy continued to fight on though like a valiant warrior.

The bigger Rossy did have his moments though and turned Chambers around in the corner in the ninth and wacked away. Chambers was able to block many of the shots and get out of trouble. Chambers returned fire and eventually cut Rossy over the right eye with laser like counters.

From that point on Chambers was in control, loading up on single shots and also had Rossy on unsteady legs once but he just couldn’t put him down again. The game Rossy would not go away and even tried desperately to get a decisive shot in the twelfth and final round, but just couldn’t land it as Chambers continued to find his mark with couple of single counters.

All three judges saw it in favor of “Fast” Eddie Chambers by scores of 120-107, 117-110 and 115-112 for the unanimous decision victory.

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In the main event of the nationally televised card on SHOWTIME’s ShoBox “The New Generation,” undefeated super bantamweight contender Rico “Suavecito” Ramos (19-0, 10 KOs) took one step closer to his world title hopes with a hard fought ten round unanimous decision victory over Alex Valdez (23-5-3, 17KOs). Ramos ranked #1 by the WBA, #4 by the WBO and #5 by the IBF, had to use all the power and movement in his repertoire to out slug the aggressive Valdez from Ciudad Obregon, Mexico and pull out the unanimous decision victory by scores of 97-93 x 2, and 98-92 respectively.

It was the east coast debut for Rico “Suavecito” Ramos and it looked like he wanted to show the Atlantic City fans an early knockout as he set down on several explosive combinations that snapped back the head of Valdez throughout the opening two rounds. Valdez showed why he was a former NABF Bantamweight title holder, by weathering the storm and continually pressing forward with multiple punch combinations which forced Ramos to fight while circling the ring.

Ramos would not wither and stood his ground in the third, landing several big counters up top to negate the aggression and flurries of Valdez.

Valdez began to put Ramos into the corners where he could unload and dig to the body. Ramos was still dangerous, but his punches seemed to lose a little bit of steam in the fifth, yet he still connected with enough heavy shots to make the round extremely close.

Knowing he had to charge in to get under the explosive power Ramos. Valdez kept his head down during the charges, which led to several clashes of heads in the late rounds.

Valdez would not let up his constant pressure and by round eight he was pouring it on. Ramos appeared to be tiring, but gained his second wind in the ninth, finally pushing back Valdez with a series of big right hands.

The fight appeared on the line as both fighters charged out of their corners in the tenth and final round, hoping to immediately gain control of the fight. Unfortunately, another accidental clash of heads sent Ramos to his knees and produced a cut over his left eye. The ringside was physician was summoned to take a look and the fight resumed with Ramos carefully picking his shots. Late in the final stanza Ramos found his mark with several big combinations. Valdez was game though and both fighters traded away in the closing seconds of the fight. Neither would land the telling shot to end the show, sending the bout to the scorecards.

All Three judges saw the bout in favor of Rico Ramos by scores of 97-93 x 2 and 98-92 respectively.

“There were a lot of head butts and I continued on after the one in the tenth because I did not want it to effect the outcome of the fight,” said Ramos afterward. “Even though Valdez was strong, I was the better fighter tonight.”

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In the co-feature, Don “Da Bomb” George (21-1-1, 18 KOs) rebounded from the only loss of his career with an impressive first round stoppage of the formerly undefeated knockout artist Cornelius “Da Beast” White (16-1, 15 KOs) in their scheduled eight round middleweight contest.

The bout was expected to be a well anticipated slug fest as heavy handed super middleweight Don “Da Bomb” George set out to wage war over eight rounds with undefeated knockout artist Cornelius “The Beast” White. George, who looked to rebound from his only loss of his career in his unsuccessful NABO title challenge against Francisco Sierra, and had faced the tougher opposition. George owned seventeen knockouts in his 22 fight career for an impressive knockout percentage of 77%. The undefeated and heavy handed Cornelius White, appropriately nicknamed The Beast came into this fight with an even more unbelievable knockout percentage of 94%, having stopped 15 of his 16 opponents inside the distance. In his last bout, he needed only one round to finish the always game Demetrius Davis. So a war was expected from the opening bell.

Cornelius White came out of the corner sharp combinations and banged a couple of nice hooks off the ribs of George who seemed to be carefully wading into the waters. Like a flash, the fight changed on a dime as Don George unleashed a scorching two punch combination up top, ending with a picture perfect right hand that put White on the canvas. White rose to his feet, but George would not let him off the hook and continued to wail away with a seventeen punch combination. Once again White fell to the canvas from the onslaught. He rose to his feet one more time, but George had him back on the canvas with a couple of right hands. The fight was waived off for the TKO victory at two minutes and two seconds of the opening round.

George spoke on the fight afterward. “A lot of people will be pretty upset because I was pegged to lose this fight, but I went out there and tagged him. There was no way I was going to stop punching. He looked pretty mad at the yesterday at the weigh in, but not anymore.”

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Former 2000 Olympic silver medalist Ricardo Williams Jr., put together a one sided beat down in capturing six round technical knockout of veteran welterweight John Brown.

Williams Jr., was in control throughout and seemed to be able to land at will with heavy shots whenever he wanted to as the shorter Brown had a tough time getting inside and could offer very little in return while on the outside.

By the sixth round Brown was bloody and ready to go. The former 2000 Olympian would not let the opportunity pass and sent him to the canvas with a right hand. Brown was able to get to his feet and tried to fight back, but moments later, he was catapulted back to the ropes with a huge left on the button, before falling to the canvas. Referee Earl Morton immediately waived it off at the 1:36 mark of the sixth.

Ricardo Williams moves to 17-2, 10KOs while John Brown drops to 24-19-2, 11KOs.

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It was a late breakfast cereal serving as local welterweight Tommy “Cornflake” Lamanna closed the show after midnight with a first round stoppage of winless Anthony Williams (0-3) in his professional debut.

It was a slug fest right from the opening bell as Williams of Wilson, North Carolina, swung away with wild abandon, looking for the knockout. Lamanna tried to weather the storm with tight defense, but got pulled into the slug fest and it was a free for all in the center of the ring. Lamanna’s punches were straighter. A short one-two during the wild exchanges appeared to stun Williams who retreated to the ropes. Lamanna of nearby Millville, New Jersey would not let him off the hook and spun him around with a left on the jaw which set his over two hundred fans into a frenzy. Williams tried to cover and walk away, but Lamanna continued to flurry before Referee Randy Neumann stepped in and took a look, before waving the bout off at the fifty-one second mark of the opening round.