By Jake Donovan

Six months ago, undefeated light heavyweight Chad Dawson showed some chinks in his armor in struggling to a decision win over 39-year old Glen Johnson. On that same night, Antonio Tarver turned in his best performance in ages with a whitewash over Clinton Woods.

In addition to scooping up alphabet hardware, Tarver summarized the night with the following:  “They keep saying he’s the future, but I’m not about the future; I’m about the right now, and I am the present of the light heavyweight division.”

Six months and twelve rounds later, Chad Dawson remains the future of the division – and now creeps closer and closer toward representing the present after a dominating twelve-round decision in the main event at The Palms casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The bout aired live on Showtime Championship Boxing and presented by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC and AT Entertainment.

Despite the deep-rooted hatred spewed toward one another in the long buildup to this fight, both fighters invoked a measure of respect as they touched gloves to begin the fight.

Once the punches began flying, Dawson was the much busier fighter of the two. Tarver plodded forward, forcing Dawson to fight in reverse, but the Connecticut native did it well, playing a good game of hit-and-don’t-get-hit. Neither fighter landed anything of major significance, but Dawson expended little energy in easily outworking the slow-starting Tarver.

A familiar combination for Dawson started the second round – right jab from the southpaw stance, followed by a right hook to the body. Tarver attempted to respond, rattling off several punches, but all of which were blocked. Dawson picked up the pace midway through the round, twice landing with right uppercuts. Lateral movement was also offered by the younger, quicker fighter, darting around the ring anytime Tarver attempted to mount an offense.

Quickly falling behind, Tarver sought to pick up the pace in the third. It produced mixed results, but the round would end much better than it began for the Tampa southpaw. Dawson was successful early, successfully countering Tarver’s early attack with right hooks and head-snapping jabs. But it was Tarver who turned the tide midway through the round, getting through with an uppercut and following up with a modest body attack while Dawson maintained a tight defense upstairs.
 
Speed was the key in the fourth and fifth, with Dawson returning to working behind his jab. Tarver’s only success in either frame came when Dawson planted his feet and played defense. Those moments were few and far between, as Dawson was constantly firing off rapid fire combinations and using every inch of the ring to force Tarver to work for his keep.

Both corners unofficially knew the score heading into the sixth; veteran trainer Jimmy Williams told Tarver he badly needed to start winning rounds, while Dawson trainer and former light heavyweight champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (nee Eddie Gregory) repeated what he was saying since the opening round – “Winning easy, but I need more work.”

Dawson didn’t quite oblige on the latter part, fighting conservatively in the sixth while trying to get Tarver to open up more. It almost cost him, as Tarver landed a flush left hand midway through the round, easily his best punch of the fight to that point. Dawson took it well, then spent the rest of the round insisting to his man that he couldn’t be hurt, losing the round but perhaps winning the psychological battle.

Things resumed back to normal in the seventh; Dawson fought behind a tight guard early before letting his hands go. A flurry had Tarver trapped along the ropes, but was able to escape unscathed. What he wasn’t able to do was get his punches off, with Dawson rarely providing a still target while landing plenty in return.

Two straight lefts once again had Tarver pinned on the ropes, where he took two more to the body before bringing the fight back to center ring. Not that he had any more success there – the round ended with Tarver swinging and wildly missing with a straight left.

It was a relatively uneventful eighth round until the last 40 or so seconds. Dawson forced Tarver to miss with a left, countering with a flurry along the ropes including several digging body shots. The ninth wasn’t exactly a ball of energy either, by itself or in comparison. Dawson remained patient, fighting behind his jab and landing the occasional combination upstairs, while Tarver plodded forward, looking for one punch at a time, rarely landing at that.

A sustained body attack accentuated a tenth round that was otherwise similar to many of the preceding nine – Dawson outworking a lethargic Tarver, whose reflexes were bordering on shot at this point. Tarver enjoyed a brief reprieve late in the round, landing little but throwing enough to momentarily slow down the incoming. He applied the same formula in the 11th, a round similar to the seventh in which Dawson seemed more content to play defense and preserve himself for a strong finish.

The instructions were clear heading into the final round: Tarver was ordered by his corner to deliver a knockout, while Dawson was told to be careful, but to not give away the round.

Dawson had no interest in giving away the round, though careful had nothing to do with it. Punches in bunches launched early, complete with a right hook that clipped Tarver on the chin, forcing the former Olympic bronze medalist to touch his glove to the canvas. Despite Tarver’s strongest protest otherwise, referee Jay Nady correctly ruled it a knockdown.

It was Tarver’s reaction after climbing off the canvas, however, that provided cause for pause in Dawson’s step. Tarver finally stepped up the pace, forcing Dawson to tighten up his guard for the remainder of the round and fight, thought it was too little and way too late.

Max DeLuca saw the bout 118-109, while CJ Ross and Dave Morretti each had it 117-110, all for Dawson, who remains undefeated and is now a two-time light heavyweight titlist. The 26-year southpaw improves to 27-0 (17KO), but insisted afterward that the fight wasn’t as easy as he made it appear.

“Tarver had a little more than I thought he had,” said Dawson. “But my workrate was higher, I was the faster guy, the younger guy, the faster legs and I’m a champion now.”

In the sense in which he claims himself to be a champ, Dawson was already one prior to accepting this fight. He was forced to give up one alphabet strap in order to fight for another, as he left mandatory challenger Adrian Diaconu to instead fight for a vacant title next month, while Dawson received the fight he’s pursued for well over a year.

Historians will respectfully disagree on who is the true light heavyweight champ, as will those who honor belts issued by boxing magazines. But one thing Dawson proved tonight was that there was hope at 175 beyond the division’s elder statesmen, whom have all but refused to fight outside of their own little circle for the past several years.

With Dawson having now defeated Tarver and Glen Johnson in consecutive bouts, and Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones both considerable underdogs in their upcoming bouts, a changing of the guard is well on the way at light heavyweight.

Even the always outspoken Antonio Tarver acknowledged the fresh blood clearly in the mix.

“We can always go back the drawing board,” said Tarver, who falls to 27-5 (19KO) with the loss, snapping a modest three-fight win streak in the process. “But tonight is his night and I congratulate him.”

The question is, will Tarver have the chance to claim another night as his own? Career-best wins over Roy Jones Jr (KO2 – May ’04 rematch, UD12 – October ‘05 rubber match) and Glen Johnson (UD12 – June ’05 rematch) seem so long ago. Saturday’s loss bore closer resemblance to his lopsided loss to Bernard Hopkins 2 ½ years ago.

To this day, Tarver stands behind the conspiracy theory that he was drugged that night, and that something “just wasn’t right.”

Time will tell how he reacts to this fight, though for the moment, he’s taking it in stride, not even lending age as a factor in the equation that produced the fifth loss of his career.

“I fought my fight, Chad fought his. I felt like I was behind. We tried to score the big knockout that never came. I tip my hat to Chad; he knew he had to be the busier fighter.”

By night’s end, everyone knew who the better fighter was. Tarver strongly insisted otherwise prior to the fight, and didn’t regret a word of it even in the face of defeat.

“I’m not going to amend anything I said; I have no apologies. The man won the fight, what more can be said. He’s obviously proved he’s a good fighter.”

It was a lesson Dawson instilled round by round and throughout the night.

“Our motto is one round at a time, and that’s how we did it – one round at a time.”

With one fight at a time, Chad Dawson inches closer toward merging together the future with the present.

Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.