One step at a time
When Andy Murray or Emma Raducanu step out onto the court at Wimbledon, they’ll have no problem with the kind of baggage that plagues many of the emerging talents in boxing. They have the familiar sporty luxury of simply picking up their racquet and taking it onto the court, with no requirement to hang around outside the revolving ticket shops to ensure the arena is full.
However, when Social boxing 135lbs phone prospect Mark Chamberlain, just four days before the biggest game of his career at Wembley Arena, it shows him at the wheel of his car still hunting for the wrong fare from you friends and other famous people.
“Nine times out of ten you have to make the journey twice,” he said with a resigned smile, a habit familiar to all but the most gilded athletes. “You drop someone’s ticket, but they don’t pay you, so you have to come back again during fight week and pick up the money like I’m doing now. It’s a nightmare, but it’s all part of the game.
“At least during the lockdown, I don’t have to worry about selling tickets. That’s definitely a bit easier,” he added.
It was the vacant key arenas that brought Chamberlain for the first time [10-0, 7KOs] attract the attention of the television public. The 23-year-old’s fight with Stu Greener was broadcast live on BT Sport and was the first professional boxing act in the UK after the Covid-19 lockdown.
Chamberlain took his chance to impress by rough handling the enduring Greener in less than a minute after a series of punches including a particularly sinister left hand reverberated throughout the silent arena. and cause his opponent to retreat to the ropes.
Although the man nicknamed ‘Thunder’ pledged to entertain the public and understand the modern value of a brutal 10-second social media clip of a brutal live hit, he is adamant that he do not go looking for an early end. “It just happens for real,” he said in a soft voice.
“I don’t go looking for a knockout, because then it doesn’t happen. But I have always had strength since day one. You know, when I started hitting him [Greener], he was laughing. But after I stopped him, I don’t think he found it quite funny.”
On Saturday night With Frank Warren promoted, the Portsmouth resident will take the next step in his professional boxing career, starting with a 39-second knockout knocking out Aleksandrs Birkenbergs at the Brentwood Center in 2018. The offer would be the European IBF belt. and if he succeeds, it will mark Chamberlain’s first title success in the salaried ranks.
Relatively new trinkets minted from the major sanctioning bodies are often made by malevolent boxers, but they allow a boxer to establish himself in the top 15 with ABC authority. related. The appeal is therefore obvious to the warriors trying to establish a foothold on the international stage.
Standing in Chamberlain’s path will be former Spanish European featherweight champion Marc Vidal [13-2-5, 5KOs]. Chamberlain admitted that he had only completed a minimal amount of research involving the man in the other corner. “I don’t really like looking at my opponents too much. You know he can show up and be completely different in the evening, so I tend not to get hooked on watching videos of them and other things,” he said.
“Obviously I’ve seen each piece, but I’ll look at each one by night. I’ll take a little look at the first few seconds and just start from there. “
This will be Chamberlain’s first in-ring appearance since forcing dangerous Jeff Ofori out of action after five rounds in March. To achieve what was in fact a very comfortable victory over the Londoners, whose only two previous skirmishes had kept ‘scorer’ Archie Sharp unbeaten for more than ten rounds, nampaw sent a message. clearly for his domestic league.
However, he confirmed, perhaps ominously for his incoming opponent, that he was not at his best of the night. “I felt like I couldn’t really walk. I started slow and everything. I think I was expecting him to come out and dress me like he did with Archie [Sharp] but it didn’t happen that way.
“Anyway, I got the job done and half-smacked him in the nose,” Chamberlain said like a mature thought.
Boxing Social’s domestic rankings currently have the 23-year-old in seventh place. A solid record considering Chamberlain’s still relatively sparse number of professional appearances. He has his eye on a number of names above him, including modern Lazarus and IBO world champion Maxi Hughes, famous veteran statesman Ricky Burns, and recently crowned British and Bloc champion commonwealth Gavin Gwynne with respect and expectation. “It was great to have my name there,” he said. “I think I went there to mingle with them. You know, maybe I’m not at world class yet but I’m definitely among the names at British level.
“But I know I’m still young and I won’t try to run before I can walk.”
One name not on that list but often associated with Chamberlain in the past is Maidstone’s, Sam Noakes. The boxer Kent, who was the same age and had roughly the same track record in the past, had eliminated his rival Pompey, but he was still not superfluous. Chamberlain revealed: “It all just came out of his mouth.
“I remember him saying he didn’t want to fight me for the British, instead he wanted to fight me for Britain and the Commonwealth. Well, that’s nice and well said, but how do you know it’ll be available when they [Noakes’ team] want it to happen.
“I’m not interested in sitting around waiting for them; I have my own career to continue. I’ll leave it to them because they’d rather pick their own opponents than a lot of people. I don’t know why they need to take care of him so much. If I get an opponent, I fight them, simple as that, but their boys are a little bit different,” he added wittily.
However, ten fights in and with his apparent potential, it would be customary for a boxer of Chamberlain’s caliber to have so far earned a Regional or English title. However, it is clear that his team wants to focus more on European or international routes as a mechanism to drive the progress of the rankings.
However, Chamberlain was quick to point out that he had previously intended to take on Corri Gibbs, Birmingham’s undefeated prospect in the final elimination match for the British title. “I don’t know what will happen with that now,” he admitted. “I’ll leave it to my team, but I don’t go that route now.”
The only ‘road’ that Chamberlain is currently interested in is the express route that will allow him to get titles, pocket big wallets and help him get out of his toughest match with health still intact. That’s a commendable aim when one considers the warped and worn debris of former fighter jets that traditionally littered sports charred asphalt.
But at the same time, his stance is a far cry from Chris Eubank’s ‘Boxing Is Savage’ speech from the ’90s. Chamberlain is a boxer through and through but chooses to tackle the sport under conditions that aren’t. its own tolerance. “I wanted to win a world title, be injury-free, make as much money as possible and then retire – but obviously easier said than done,” he admitted.
“I am still only 23 so it will take a couple of years and we will have to see who gets in the way on the journey I suppose. All I can do is join each war as it comes but I don’t want to keep fighting when I’m 35. Maybe, 30 is long enough, but we’ll see how it plays out in the coming weeks. past year. I just have to see how many matches I can get into and make sure I win them. “
But between that and the overcoming of Marc Vidal’s test on Saturday night he has one, even more, urgent attachment. “I haven’t spoken Chinese in about seven weeks,” he said in mock desperation. “I already have the UBER Eats app on my phone and I’m tracking what I’ll order to the hotel if I can’t get out of TGI Friday’s [Wembley branch] after the war. I promise I will book a party back to the hotel. “
After a week of running after the fare, it was hard to deny him that…