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We were all surprised at Antonio Tarver landing that knockout punch so early on Roy Jones Jr. in the second round of their second fight. What was equally surprising was the lack of Tarver’s effort in his first fight with Glen Johnson, or was it? If you look into Tarver’s fight history, you can see how he tends to be an outstanding rematch fighter. In June of 2000, Tarver fought with the energetic Eric Harding, and if you ever had the chance to watch that fight, you can see that Harding out-boxed Tarver. In 2002, Tarver destroyed Harding and walked away with a fifth round technical knockout. The first Roy Jones Jr. fight happened in November of 2003 and Tarver captured the boxing world’s attention with his bold and dominating style over the pound-for-pound king. The decision went to Jones, but there was spacious room to argue on Tarver’s case, yet the need to want to see Jones lose could have clouded some people’s decision. Jones and his fans used reasons like Jones’ sudden weight drop and not being completely focused on fighting Tarver was part of Jones’ not taking over the fight and knocking out Tarver.
Disappointed but confident, Tarver was a self-promotional machine, pushing for a rematch against Jones and with every television interview, internet interview, radio interview and any other form of media outlets, Tarver would challenge and belittle Jones. If it was the athlete in Jones or the need to shut Tarver up, Jones granted Tarver a rematch and that is where Jones would end up on the mat. Was it the real Roy Jones Jr. or a slight version with pride to prove, we will only be able to answer that if and when Jones ever decides to come back.
Tarver wore the king of the light heavyweight titles well. As strange as boxing can be, Johnson knocked Jones out and in the wildest matchmaking dreams, Tarver fought Johnson for the distinguished title of ruling the light heavyweight division. What many thought would be a highly paid training session for Tarver turned out to be a lesson. Johnson clearly was the man Tarver was in the first and second Roy Jones fights. He came to box, and as ironic as it may seem, Tarver was the one making excuses as Jones did in their first match up. It was his weight, rushing in training, or not taking advantage of the openings he saw while fighting Johnson.
One word you can label Tarver is persistent. When he makes a mistake, and loses a fight, he vigorously pursues a rematch. Tarver pushes a record of 22-3 with eighteen knockouts; a low amount of fights considering his status and having cracked a spot in the top ten of some pound-for-pound lists. He was knocked down in the first Harding fight and has not really been tested since then. Yes, he has fought quality opposition and came out the winner in the majority of his fights. Tarver losses all come from decisions and that is a sign of a good fighter, being that a decision can always be debated, even the decisions that are clearly one way.
Tarver has a gigantic amount of self-confidence and that is always a plus sign when entering a fight. An issue that I have is Tarver’s lack of pressured fights, or maybe he is so good, he makes the average fighter look amateurish and his opposition give way to being lost and confused. Doesn’t that sound like a sentence we were placing on Roy Jones Jr. during the 1990’s The best part about the whole Tarver situation is that he is a skillful boxer with a low amount of fights. Considering he was the king of the light heavyweights, we as the boxing public will have the insightful chance of seeing him mature and climb eagerly up the pound-for-pound list. Will it start with the second fight on June 18 with Glen Johnson? Or will Jones make a comeback and give us a third match with Tarver vs. Jones, or Jones vs. Johnson? It is boxing and strange things can always happen.
Shaun Rico LaWhorn can be reached at filmmaking_mentality@msn.com
