Banks-Walker, Ustinov to be featured on Klitschko-Chambers card

Americans Johnathon Banks and Travis Walker will face off in the main support bout for Klitschko-Chambers on Saturday in Germany, and heavyweight Alexander Ustinov will also be featured on the card.

Banks (23-1, 16 KO) moved up to the heavyweight division last year after being stopped in eight rounds by Tomasz Adamek in a bid for the world cruiserweight championship. Banks, 27, is an Emanuel Steward product (though not trained by Steward anymore) who has sparred extensively with Wladimir Klitschko. Since moving up, the Detroit native has gone 3-0 against mediocre opponents. At 6'3" with a 76" reach, he has a heavyweight frame for sure.

Walker (34-3-1, 28 KO) will be a new test, or at least that's the hope. Walker is probably best-known for his three-round war with Cristobal Arreola in 2008, a fight in which Walker put Arreola on the canvas before being stopped himself. He threw an insane amount of punches early on and simply ran out of gas. Before fighting Vitali Klitschko, Arreola had remarked that Walker was his toughest opponent, and that he "hits like a mule kicks."

Since losing to Arreola, though, Walker has faced an insanely weak batch of fighters, save for the solid Manuel Quezada -- and Quezada knocked Walker out in 2:57. Walker has been stopped three times, all early in fights, but one was pretty terrible. You may recall seeing Walker stopped very early against TJ Wilson on the first round of a ShoBox fight in 2007. When they rematched, Walker took him out in two.

Walker's last three fights have all been gruesome mismatches in Texarkana, Arkansas, where he's beaten a guy who came in 3-21, a guy who was 3-0, and in his last conquest, a guy making his "pro" debut.

Also featured on the card will be big, slow Alexander Ustinov (19-0, 12 KO), the 33-year-old former kickboxer who was last seen on the Vitali Klitschko-Kevin Johnson undercard. Ustinov faced the ultra-chinny Monte Barrett that night, and failed to put him away after hurting him badly very early in the fight. He won a labored unanimous decision.

Ustinov is scheduled to face 37-year-old former world title challenger Ed Mahone, who hasn't fought since 2008. Mahone (24-9-2, 23 KO) faced Vitali Klitschko for the WBO title way back in 1999. He was stopped in three. Since then, he's gone 3-8, and he hasn't won a fight since November 2007.