CONFERENCE CALL QUOTES
FAST EDDIE CHAMBERS AND CALVIN BROCK, PROMOTERS
DAN GOOSSEN AND KATHY DUVA
For
Immediate Release
ShoBox: The New Generation
will celebrate its 100th telecast with arguably
the finest match-up and most significant heavyweight
fight in the series’ distinguished six-year
history.
The heavyweight “Battle
for the Ages” will pit “Fast”
Eddie Chambers (29-0, 16 KOs) against Calvin
“The Boxing Banker” Brock (31-1,
23 KOs) in an International Boxing Federation
(IBF) heavyweight title eliminator Friday, Nov.
2, 2007, on ShoBox: The New Generation (live
on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. ET/PT delayed on the
west coast).
Goossen Tutor Promotions
and Main Events will present the 12-round title
elimination bout from the Emerald Queen Casino
in Tacoma, Wash.
DeBLASIO: Good morning and
good afternoon. Thank you very much for being
on this call. My name is Chris DeBlasio, director
of communications for Showtime Sports Programming.
I want to welcome you to a very important and
very significant media conference call we have
for an exciting fight on November 2nd, ShoBox:
The New Generation at 11 p.m., featuring Calvin
Brock and Eddie Chambers.
Brock and Chambers will meet
in an IBF title eliminator, and the winner of
which will face the winner of the Chris Byrd
versus Alex Povetkin fight, which is happening
this weekend. A very significant heavyweight
fight for the division on a very special night
for Showtime and ShoBox: The New Generation.
As many of you know, since
2001, the acclaimed Showtime boxing series ShoBox:
The New Generation has featured young talented
fighters in tough matches. The ShoBox philosophy
is to televise crowd-pleasing and competitive
fights while providing a proving ground for
willing prospects determined to fight for a
world title.
I think it's safe to say
that both Eddie and Calvin are looking forward
to joining a growing list of fighters who have
fought on ShoBox and gone onto garner world
titles. Right now that list includes 20 fighters,
including the latest fighter who fought on ShoBox
and subsequently won a world title in Kelly
Pavlik.
I'd like to welcome Calvin
Brock, Eddie Chambers and their respective promoters,
Kathy Duva of Main Events and Dan Goossen of
Goossen Tutor Promotions. Here for some initial
comments, I'd like to start ladies first, Kathy,
welcome to the call.
DUVA: Hi, thank you.
DeBLASIO: Tell us a little
bit about this fight and match-up for your fighter
and the significance of it on ShoBox.
DUVA: Well, as you pointed
out, these are young fighters who want to fight
for the title. That's what Calvin wants to do.
There's a great deal going on in the heavyweight
division right now. I believe that the Klitschko-Ibragimov
fight was just made to unify the title. I think
that's a great start. Of course, the winner
of this fight is participating in a title eliminator
that will lead them to become the mandatory
challenger for the IBF title.
It's all good. That's where
Calvin wants to be. He did not hesitate to take
on this challenge in order to give him the opportunity
to get to what he wants, which is the heavyweight
championship.
DeBLASIO: Thank you very
much. To reiterate, there is a lot going on
in the heavyweight division. Last week we had
a ShoBox fight card that featured heavyweight
prospects Travis Walker and T.J. Wilson. We
have this fight on November 2nd. Of course,
on November 16th, we have Chris Arreola fighting
in another special edition of ShoBox that's
going to originate from the eastern Caribbean
island of St. Lucia. We are very excited about
these three consecutive heavyweight fight cards
on ShoBox.
Here representing his fighter
and several other heavyweight prospects is Mr.
Dan Goossen. Welcome, Dan.
GOOSEN: Thanks, Chris. I'm
not too thrilled with you mentioning last week's
fight. I've tried to shy away from remembering
that 15-second debacle. But, no, it was good
to have it on ShoBox. As a lot of the media
and Showtime knows, we've done quite a bit with
ShoBox. Certainly a lot of our young kids who
we promote have really gotten their start on
the ShoBox series and parlayed those into championships.
We have one of our guys, Robert Guerrero, fighting
for a world title on SHOWTIME the night after
Nov. 2.
The heavyweight division,
as far as I'm concerned especially with the
fans, drives the market to levels that are unprecedented
when you have that heavyweight star that the
fans get behind. Unifications are good for the
business, and we have one with Klitschko coming
up and I have another fighter, Tony Thompson,
who is the mandatory to Ibragimov. But what's
going to be better for the business is one of
these new fresh faces that may emerge from this
group or this tournament that's been ordered
by the IBF. I think it is tremendous, because
it can capture the fans' fancy.
Now, Calvin has had his shot.
I don't believe, and Kathy can correct me if
she chooses to, I don't believe anyone would
have been thrilled if Calvin would have gotten
another shot at the heavyweight championship,
especially against Klitschko, without really
earning it and just being in the position to
take it. But a victory, the winner of this tournament,
no matter who it may be, Povetkin, Byrd, Brock
or Chambers, has earned his right to challenge
that heavyweight champion, whoever it is, at
that particular point.
We believe very strongly
that Eddie Chambers is the little big man in
this tournament and in the heavyweight division.
A lot of people like to think of him more as
a defensive fighter. We just think of him as
a tremendous fighter. We had our first fight
together back when he fought Dominic Jenkins.
My good friend Rob Murray Sr. and his son Rob
Murray Jr. had been showcasing Eddie in the
Philadelphia area. We brought him out to Reno
to fight underneath a James Toney-Dominick Guinn
fight. At that point, Dominic Jenkins had just
beaten three undefeated fighters. Eddie went
out there and destroyed Dominic, stopping him
in five rounds. After that he fought Derric
Rossy, an undefeated kid out of New York and
a former football player from Boston College.
A real tough fighter, but he stopped him in
seven rounds. Then on his ShoBox debut on SHOWTIME
back at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas
on May 4th, he does what he's been doing to
everybody in front of him, beating them soundly.
That's what he did with Dominick Guinn.
November 2, I think it's
a great event on SHOWTIME, ShoBox. I think it's
the best fight they've ever had in their series,
and you've had some great compelling fights.
But this I believe will be
a tremendous fight. We believe Eddie Chambers
is going to be successful November 2. We knew
getting Calvin Brock in this fight was going
to be a tough nut for Eddie to conquer because
I know Calvin very well. I respect him a lot.
He's a tremendous fighter. I know he's going
to come with everything on the line. So we expect
a great fight. It's what we're excited about.
I know that SHOWTIME is excited about it. We
believe we've got the young man that's going
to be successful in this whole tournament.
Chris, if you don't mind,
I'd like to introduce our undefeated heavyweight,
"Fast" Eddie Chambers. For those of
you that haven't really had a chance to see
him fight, November 2, will be a nice night
to tune in.
DeBLASIO: We'll let you introduce
Eddie in just a moment. Dan, I agree with you,
on behalf of Gordon Hall, our executive producer,
who books all the fights on ShoBox, the producer
Richard Gaughan, director Rick Phillips, and
our announcers Nick Charles and Steve Farhood,
we are very excited about November 2. We are
very excited about this telecast being our 100th
episode of ShoBox. Just putting young, talented
and hungry fighters matched against one another
has really been a key to success. It seems very
simple, but you get two guys that are hungry
for a chance to fight for a world title, they
come out and put on crowd-pleasing events. We've
seen it time and time again. We appreciate everyone's
support. ShoBox has been a wonderful series
for the fans and gotten tremendous accolades.
GOOSEN: I agree.
DeBLASIO: We'll open it up
to questions.
Question: I'd like to ask
a question for Eddie. Dan laid out before a
lot of your fights in the past, you fought at
the blue Horizon. You started to step up with
the Derric Rossy fight, and the Dominick Guinn
fight. Now you're taking on Calvin, who is a
former world title challenger. Tell us why at
this stage of your career you think you're ready
to make what's really a big step up for you?
CHAMBERS: Well, because over
time, over the course of all my years in Philadelphia,
I've been brought up, like you said, through
the Blue Horizon fighting all kinds of different
fighters, good fighters, tough fighters, fighter
that not many people have heard of. That just
got me prepared. Rob Murray Sr. and Jr. got
me prepared to take this next step and fight
a top-level fighter like Calvin Brock.
Question: Calvin, this is
sort of a reversal of roles for you because
in the past you've been more the hunter on the
title division. Now you seem to be a little
bit more the hunted. You're older, coming off
that loss to Klitschko a couple fights ago.
Tell us how you're prepared to deal with a younger,
undefeated, up-and-coming heavyweight.
BROCK: Well, fortunately
for myself, Eddie is not the first undefeated
boxer that I have faced. I mean, I took on Ibragimov,
when he was undefeated. I took on Terry Smith’s
undefeated record. I took on one or two others
with undefeated records. The Ibragimov and Smith
matches were televised. I beat those guys with
no problem, you know. I was once undefeated
myself until I lost to Klitschko.
I have a lot of respect for
Eddie Chambers as a person and even as a boxer,
but his undefeated record really doesn't scare
me. I'm motivated to become heavyweight champion
of the world again. I have a new team with my
dad, training full time with my dad. Everything
is refreshed. We got a new start. So it's like
starting back over again. I've been boxing for
six years now and have 32 fights underneath
my record.
DUVA: Calvin's reputation
speaks for itself. He is an Olympian. He won
every one of his professional fights, except
against the current heavyweight champion. You
know, I think he gained a great deal of experience
in that fight. It's kind of unfortunate that
the boxing business is set up in such a way
that the best way to gain experience is when
you're very young to go in there and fight the
heavyweight champion. It happened to Wladimir
Klitschko, that's how he learned, and I think
that's how Calvin learned. We're quite confident
that the next time he gets into that fight he's
going to be prepared to win it. This is all
part of that process.
We're very excited about
it. He always puts on a great fight. People
are always entertained when he's in the ring.
He is now the more experienced, seasoned pro
in this situation. That's kind of a new thing
for Calvin. He's reached that point, I think.
A lot of guys cross over from being the contender
who is coming up, the young guy, to the point
where he's the guy who has got the experience
and the name and the reputation. Now he's the
man to beat.
I know Calvin well enough
to know that he's well aware of that. One of
the most wonderful things about him is he's
a guy that never lets things go to his head.
He's always in there to work as hard as he has
to and please the fans, so that's what he's
going to do. I'm looking forward to watching
it myself.
DeBLASIO: Calvin, can you
tell us a little bit about your training thus
far and how you prepare for a fighter like "Fast"
Eddie Chambers.
BROCK: I'm prepared to go
in very well-conditioned and box smart like
always to the best of my ability. I am going
to try and hit and not get hit. I will do that
no matter what style it takes in the ring. I
look forward to everybody seeing me, tuning
in on November 2, to see how I go about achieving
my next win.
DeBLASIO: How do you see
this fight going? Going the distance, a lengthy
fight, tactical battle?
BROCK: I don't know. I really
just free my mind on trying to figure out how
the boxing match is going to go because I never
can tell until the bell rings and the boxing
match starts. But I know I have the capability
of changing my style and doing whatever it takes
to come out the winner.
DeBLASIO: Eddie, how do you
see this fight going? What do you see in Calvin
in order to prepare for a fighter with his style?
CHAMBERS: I got to agree
with him, you never really can tell what's going
to happen till you get in there. But when he
gets in front of me, it's going to be a different
ballgame maybe from what he's seen or heard.
You know what I mean? It's a lot different when
the actual fight starts.
But I've been training with
some top-level competition, with Chad Witherspoon,
Tony Thompson, who was mentioned earlier. They've
given me the best work I possibly can ask for
to get me prepared for top-level competition
like this here fight with Calvin.
As far as saying how it goes,
I can win by either decision or by knock-out.
Whatever happens, I'm not going to be upset
about it as long as I come out the winner.
DeBLASIO: Eddie, you're coming
off a fight with Dominick Guinn back in May,
also on ShoBox. That was your ShoBox debut.
Tell us a little bit about that experience fighting
Guinn. It was a great performance. What did
you take away from that fight?
CHAMBERS: I learned some
things. I learned that you got to get in there
and do whatever it takes to win, whether it
be boxing or even brawling, whatever you need
to do to win. He was a tough fighter. He came
to fight me this time. He came in shape. He
came well prepared and tough. So I had to dig
down deep and find a way to get out and win.
It just gave me a ton of experience and moved
me to this level here with this fight with Calvin
Brock.
GOOSEN: I’ve heard
a lot of things from the media, asking ‘Why
Tacoma?’ Even my fighter asked that question,
‘Why Tacoma?’ You know what, wherever
we can bring these fighters, November 2, was
a very, very tough day to find a site, there
were very few arenas, casinos, anything open.
But we've had some big fights out there. I think
Vernon Forrest and Carlos Baldomir fought there
a few months ago. To have this fight on SHOWTIME
at the Emerald Queen Casino, I'm very happy
we found a site, Calvin and Eddie, okay? Tacoma
is it.
You heard both fighters.
They're both classy guys. Calvin, you've seen
him in front of those cameras for years. He's
always handled himself like a world class fighter.
And Eddie Chambers, you just got a little taste
of him, the media that's on the phone here.
These are great representatives of our industry.
By the time this tournament is over, like I
said, we're going to have the media buzzing
all around these guys.
DeBLASIO: I think that's
part of the development of fighters and part
of the point of having a series like ShoBox
on TV.
GOOSEN: That's right, 100
percent.
DeBLASIO: Maybe I could ask
one more question of both fighters. We'll start
with Calvin. The list of fighters on ShoBox
that have fought on ShoBox and have gone on
to win world titles is pretty much a who's who
of world champions nowadays. Among them is Juan
Diaz, Ricky Hatton, Joan Guzman, Juan Urango,
David Diaz and Robert Guerrero, Kelly Pavlik.
Tell me what it means for you to fight on Showtime
and on the ShoBox series.
BROCK: It's another great
opportunity to be highly exposed on cable television.
It's SHOWTIME. I'm very happy to be making my
debut on SHOWTIME. That's the one cable outlet
I haven't boxed on. I'm looking forward to it
on November 2, then hopefully joining the rest
of those names as the heavyweight champion of
the world.
DeBLASIO: Eddie, same question
to you. What does it mean for you to fight on
ShoBox? You had your performance against Dominick
Guinn, got you national television exposure.
Certainly it wasn't your first time. What is
the significance of fighting on the ShoBox series?
CHAMBERS: I'm blessed to
be under such great fighters that have gone
on to do such great things in this sport. This
is just one step for me. Like I said, Showtime
has done me proud, put me in with a good fighter
in Guinn and really let me showcase my talent
and put myself with Calvin Brock and top fighters
of the division.
DeBLASIO: Great. I'd like
to thank Calvin, Eddie, Kathy Duva and Dan Goossen
for your time. I’m looking forward to
Friday, November 2, 11 p.m. on SHOWTIME, a very
significant fight, the 100th episode of ShoBox
and the IBF title eliminator fight. Thank you,
everyone, for your time.
GOOSEN: Thank you, everybody.
DUVA: Thank you.