Chamberlain all set to steal the ‘Thunder’ yet again
It’s somewhat ironic that a boxer nicknamed ‘Thunder’ stole the thunder of Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou when appearing on their undercard in March.
Mark Chamberlain made headlines for the devastating style in which he took care of Gavin Gwynne, dismantling an opponent who hadn’t lost since 2020.
And now the Portsmouth lightweight has another chance to catch the eye at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when he takes to the undercard bill for the huge undisputed heavyweight contest between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on May 18.
Knockout Blow
Those placing their Fury vs Usyk bets will be acutely aware of how close the headline fight is expected to be, with the Ukrainian now just shading favouritism at 4/5 following the Gypsy King’s gruesome eye injury suffered back in February.
The boxing odds also make a points victory for either man the most likely outcome, which confirms the expectation that the bout between the heavyweight kings will be a cat-and-mouse, chess-like encounter rather than an out-and-out war.
That’s unlikely to be the strategy from Chamberlain’s camp, whose punch power has taken him to eleven victories by way of knockout or stoppage in 15 outings to date.
The boxer won the IBF European belt in July 2022, outpointing former champion Marc Vidal, before defending that strap with three consecutive wins inside the distance – including one almighty scrap with Artjoms Ramlavs.
Against Gwynne in March, Chamberlain stepped up to the Inter-Continental level – but made light work of his Welsh opponent, whose corner threw in the towel after four rounds of a one-sided contest.
Next stop, world domination. But first, ‘Thunder’ must overcome Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab on the Fury vs Usyk undercard. The Nigerian has racked up a 23-1 record, with 16 of those wins coming via knockout, so it would be foolhardy for Chamberlain to overlook him.
Victory for the Englishman would carry him into the top 10 of the IBF rankings, at which point an all-British clash with Maxi Hughes or Sam Noakes could be on the agenda.
Friends in High Places
Like it or not, there’s no doubt that Saudi Arabia has replaced Las Vegas as the fight destination of choice.
So it’s rather handy for Chamberlain that he has made an ally that could open doors for him now and in the future – Turki Al-Sheikh, the chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority.
Al-Sheikh has been a pivotal figure in bringing the big fights to Saudi soil, so it came as a surprise to even Chamberlain himself when the supremo personally called him up with an invitation to fight on the Joshua-Ngannou undercard.
After overcoming shock at the ‘random’ nature of the phone call, Al-Sheikh asked Chamberlain to fight on the bill on March 8 – to which the lightweight naturally replied, “No problem, sign me up!”
Given that he produced the most eye-catching performance of the night, aside from Joshua’s demolition of Ngannou, Chamberlain has ingratiated himself nicely with the king-makers of Saudi Arabia.
That should stand him in excellent stead moving forward – first Oluwaseun Wahab, then the world.