Ringside Boxing Report: Antonio Tarver vs. Elvir Muriqi

Photo Gallery ©Barry Arpin/SaddoBoxing

This past Saturday night on Showtime Championship Boxing we were treated to an explosive night of fights. Of the eight fights on the card, five ended with knockouts, one in a split decision and the main event ended in a majority decision. More importantly the two fighters everyone packed into the Connecticut Convention Center to see delivered solid crowd pleasing performances.

In the co-feature, WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Chad Dawson squared off against Jesus Ruiz. The man formerly known as “Bad” Chad Dawson was awesome, which as we were told by his promoter Gary Shaw is exactly what he expects to be called now.

Dawson made his entrance to the ring surrounded by his crew and some crazy guy in a gorilla suit. Being so close to Boston, one had to wonder if Theo Epstein was back in his familiar threads.

Right from the start, Dawson made it very clear who the superior fighter was, making himself difficult for Ruiz to find. Ruiz had to know that he had no chance of outboxing his opponent and was loading up trying to score something big. Dawson landed frequently with a nice jab and quick counters after Ruiz swings and misses.

In rounds two and three, “Awesome” Dawson seemed to be locked in, landing at will with seemingly every punch he threw.

Ruiz couldn’t seem to find his rhythm on the offensive end. His punches were looping and one at a time, making it that much easier for Dawson to exploit his openings.

Dawson looked so sharp, landing short straight punches in combos and leaving no doubt in the fans or the judges’ minds as to who was winning every round.

Round four signified the beginning of the end for Ruiz. Dawson continually peppered his opponent with stiff combos, eventually bloodying Ruiz’s nose. A devastating body blow left Ruiz wincing in pain as Dawson continued punishing him to the body in between some vicious head shots.

By the fifth, Jesus Ruiz was a shell of the fighter that began the match. His early reckless attack was now slowed to a sputter as he set into survival mode. Chad Dawson repeatedly fired off jab after jab followed by stinging body shots, which were clearly taking a toll on Ruiz.

Once round six started, you had a sense that it was now only a matter of time before Dawson ended Ruiz’s night. That moment came at 2:00 of round six when Dawson pinned Ruiz against the ropes and unleashed multiple shots, almost all of them landing.

For a minute there it looked like Ruiz might weather the barrage only to suffer later on when Dawson crashed a hard left flush to Ruiz’s face, forcing referee Johnny Callas to stop the fight.

Dawson improves to 24-0 (16) while Ruiz falls to 19-5 (17).

In the main event, “The Magic Man”, Antonio Tarver, took on Elvir Muriqi. What was billed as a big time mismatch turned out to be a very entertaining fight that went the distance.

Whether or not Muriqi truly fought the fight of his life or if Tarver’s career has peaked and started its decline remains to be seen. Regardless, the two put on a great show.

The first three rounds were a back and forth affair with Muriqi taking the first and the third on my card with effective aggressiveness and work rate. Tarver was content to allow Muriqi to blast away while he covered and back-peddled for most of rounds one and three.

In round two, Tarver began to assert himself by timing Muriqi, who was constantly moving forward, with stiff combinations. It wasn’t so much that Tarver outworked Muriqi in the second, it was more a matter of him landing cleaner harder shots.

Muriqi strung together back to back solid rounds by pounding Tarver for the majority of the fourth round. The former champion again found himself on the defensive while the very game Muriqi chased him around the ring firing off punch after punch.

With the exception of a few spurts where Tarver decided to let his hands go, this may have been Muriqi’s best round of the fight.

In the fifth round, a clash of heads opens up a cut over Muriqi’s right eye. Muriqi seemed effected as he pawed repeatedly at the gash.

The cut may have had ill effects on Muriqi’s confidence as Tarver goes on to have his best round of the fight. By the end of the round, Tarver has begun to land hard flurries and at one point appeared to have Muriqi hurt along the ropes.

From round five straight through the eleventh, Tarver hammered home heavy combinations and took full control of the fight.

While rounds ten and eleven were closely contested with Muriqi showing great heart and a sturdy chin, his skill level was with a doubt a notch or two below that of the former undisputed light heavyweight king.

Tarver managed to take the pro-Muriqi crowd out of the fight by figuring out his opponent’s timing and punishing Muriqi with his fast hands.

In the 12th and final round, Muriqi still with a little left in the tank, aggressively chased Tarver around the ring and unloaded some decent shots.

Unfortunately for him, it was too little too late to steal a victory but a solid showing for a big time underdog.

Tarver, 25-4 (18), avoided many of the big shots thrown at him and blocked many rights with his gloves as he coasted to what should be a fairly easy points win.

While it may have been easy on the cards, it wasn’t in the ring as Elvir Muriqi, 34-4 (21), gave him a hell of a fight.

The judges scored it 114-114 115-113 116-112 if favor of Antonio Tarver by majority decision. My scorecard read 116-112.

Some other interesting matches featured:

Heavyweights – Kevin Johnson vs Ron Guerrero: Johnson won impressively with lightning quick hands for a big man. Despite not having a great deal of power his hand speed could take him places. With the victory Johnson, improves to 15-0-1 (6).

Jr. Welterweight – Mickey Bey vs Felix Fernandes: Bey remains undefeated with a dominating performance over Fernandes. The bout ended with Fernandes flat on his back and in need of assistance to get to his feet. Bey owned his opponent from the opening bell. Mickey Bey improves to 7-0 (4).

Cortez Bey improves to 6-0 (4) with a split decision win over Sebastien Hamel who fall to 6-10-1 (1).

The once highly regarded middleweight prospect Elvin Ayala scores a second round TKO over Dillon Carew, 20-17-3 (12), improving to 17-2 (8).

In one of the strangest endings I’ve ever seen, welter Shakha Moore scores a TKO victory after his opponent Jason Bouvouso is forced to retire after vomiting in his corner during round three. Shakha Moore improves to 10-11-3 (2) and Bouvouso falls to 5-4 (1).

Light welter Adelita Irizarry picks up her first professional win with a first round TKO over Tiffany Lucas. Irizarry improves to 1-1 (1) and Lucas falls to 0-2.