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Antonio Tarver once again proved to the boxing world that “they gave the wrong man a second chance.” Tarver defeated Glen “The Road Warrior” Johnson by unanimous decision. Throughout rounds one through five, Tarver totally out-boxed Johnson, leaving “The Road Warrior” confused and most importantly, behind on the scorecards. Rounds six through eleven, Johnson finally picked up the pace, especially in the eleventh round when he almost had an exhausted Tarver on the canvas, but it was not enough as “The Magic Man” won some of those rounds as well. In the twelfth and final round, Antonio Tarver came out and scored some quick points, enough to secure him the round. The only thing Glen Johnson could do at that point was to chase Tarver around the ring hoping to catch him with one good punch, but Tarver boxed very smartly, throwing a couple of punches and clinching for dear life throughout the entire final round. Hey, I can’t knock the guy because like it or not, that was the smart thing to do as he was exhausted and may I also add, way ahead on the scorecards.
Antonio Tarver proved many boxing writers wrong, including me that he would beat Glen Johnson and regain the light heavyweight championship belt. Many fans were skeptical about Tarver’s performance in the last round, but as they say in boxing, “a win is a win!” I for one would love to see the rubber match between “The Magic Man” and “The Road Warrior” as that would decide once and for all who is the best light heavyweight in the world.
Quartey-Phillips.
In the beginning of the fight, in rounds one and two, Verno Phillips looked superior to Ike Quartey. Phillips kept catching Ike with a beautiful left hook that I never knew he had, and those rounds were definitely his to claim. But as this slugfest progressed, Ike Quartey started to lose his ring rust, began looking like the old Ike as he figured his opponent out, and finally started to land his awesome jab.
In the middle rounds, Quartey began taking control of the fight, as Phillips looked completely gassed through those rounds. Entering round nine, surprise, surprise! Verno Phillips caught Ike Quartey with another beautiful left hook but this time it was right in the kisser and Ike went down for the count! But Quartey, the warrior that he is, picked himself off the canvas and slugged it out with Phillips until the end of the round.
In the tenth and final round, Quartey got his senses back and was able to out-point Phillips to pull out a unanimous decision victory over the crafty veteran. In my opinion, Ike Quartey can do some damage in his talented division, but still needs at the least one more warm-up fight before he decides to challenge for a belt.
Rich Saavedra can be reached at RASBoxing@aol.com
