By Cliff Rold
It used to be common, almost taken for granted. There was money to be made at Light Heavyweight.
There was more at Heavyweight.
More than just money, there was more glory, more fame, more attention to be had.
There was also more man to tackle. So be it. The jump was made.
It is one of the great ironies of boxing history that arguably the two greatest Light Heavyweights of all time didn’t even win the world title in that class before capturing the sports highest honors. Gene Tunney and Ezzard Charles never managed to win the 175 lb. crown. Defeating Jack Dempsey and Jersey Joe Walcott, respectively, served them better.
Others, men who wore the Light Heavyweight crown, didn’t fare as well. Bob Foster was a monster at Light Heavyweight but found high quality foes above that line too much to bear. Tommy Loughran was a brilliant boxer but it didn’t help against the giant Primo Carnera. Billy Conn, the story goes in paraphrase, once joked with Joe Louis that Louis could have let him keep the title until at least a rematch.
Louis responded along the lines that Conn had the title for twelve rounds and couldn’t keep it for a fateful thirteenth.
Only one reigning Light Heavyweight champion ever won the true Heavyweight crown, Michael Spinks sneaking past Larry Holmes on the judge’s cards in 1985. Another, Roy Jones Jr., held a Light Heavyweight belt when he beat Heavyweight beltholder John Ruiz in 2003.
41-year old Antonio Tarver (27-6, 19 KO) isn’t a Light Heavyweight champion anymore. He last held a belt, briefly, in 2008. He hasn’t been the best Light Heavyweight in the world for longer than that. In 2006, the cagey Bernard Hopkins forced Tarver from his perch and the second of two Ring Magazine title runs was brought to an abrupt end.
Having lost two straight, in 2008 and 2009, to Chad Dawson, Tarver returns this Friday (Showtime, 11 PM EST/PST) from a year-plus layoff to make the jump so many have tried before him.
He’ll dip his toe in the water against a beatable foe. Nagy Aguilera (16-4, 11 KO) would appear to be as safe a start as any. From there, the real story will unfold if there proves to be much story to tell.
Tarver isn’t making his Heavyweight move in a minefield to be sure. It would be unfair, in fact utterly untrue, to say Heavyweight has no good fighters. It would also be utterly untrue to say it has a lot of them. It is, for now, a top heavy (no pun intended) class featuring two Klitschko’s (World Champion Wladimir and WBC titlist Vitali), a couple former Cruiserweight champs (WBA titlist David Haye and Tomasz Adamek), and an Alexander Povetkin still developing in his early 30s.
After that, its either retread city or not quite ready for Broadway.
Tarver brings a lot of good to Heavyweight even at an advanced age. He’s still got personality, he’s got name value, and he’s got skill. Faded yes, certainly slowed, but skill nonetheless. One of the remarkable things about Haye and Adamek is that, while not yet challenging the Klitschko’s, they are showing how much skill matters and how much stronger it is below Heavyweight. They honed their talents against faster men, men who had to make weight and thus show up more often in top shape.
At Heavyweight, consistent top shape has been reserved mostly to the brothers Ukraine (though, to their credit, Haye certainly got ready to go versions of Nicolay Valuev and John Ruiz).
Tarver was a great amateur and a better than given credit for professional. His biggest wins, against Roy Jones, are often chalked up to a Jones who had lost a step. While partly true, it took a fighter of real caliber to push Jones over the edge. Tarver was that guy.
None of this means the Heavyweights should start sizing him for belts.
What Tarver has riding against him, besides the fact that most of the Light Heavyweights of the past didn’t have a stopover class like Cruiserweight, is the calendar. In order to exploit skill to the fullest in moving from Light Heavyweight to Heavyweight, speed has always been a major factor in offsetting force.
When Tunney, Charles, Conn, and Spinks made their moves, they were all either still in their 20s or far closer to 30 than 40. Of the great Light Heavyweights, only Archie Moore really had success against big men near and past 40, and Moore still fell dramatically short in two tries at the title.
It’s a tall order at any age. Aging doesn’t make it easier.
Can Tarver stand tall enough to make a real go?
The first hints will arrive Friday and there are at least intriguing options. One presumes Vitali will still have his belt after a scheduled defense against former lineal World Heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs this weekend. Vitali isn’t getting any younger either and the two of them could at least make good press conferences if not a great fight. More intrigue might be found with Haye and Adamek, men closer in size to Tarver who might like the chance for a payday in a more winnable fight than the Klitschko’s seemingly present.
For now, it is at least worth our attention and wonder. Heavyweight needs all the sparks, all the questions worth asking, it can find. Time might not be on his side, but for the time he has left in the ring, Tarver can add at least a little something to the big men.
It’s a start.
Weekly Ledger
But wait, there’s more…
Super Six (Plus Three?): https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=31612
Broken Bones but not Broken Bantams: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=31720
Picks of the Week: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=31694
Cliff’s Notes… I can see where the Al Haymon connection makes Sakio Bika look fishy as a replacement opponent (officially in tournament play or not) for WBA titlist Andre Ward. However, given the Super Six conundrums that have developed, since Andre Dirrell can’t go, is Bika really a bad opponent? He was looking pretty strong before a foolish DQ loss earlier this year. We know he’s a capable, if limited, guy. The real problem is clear: after a certain point, there aren’t that many guys who one would demand to see against Ward, excepting the exceptional IBF titlist Lucian Bute, and Ward fighting rather than sitting before beginning the Super Six semi-finals is a good thing…Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. may not get the same fanfare in the States, but as he gears up for more action this weekend, but he does nothing to besmirch his father’s name and has shown real growth…Still haven’t mailed in this year’s Hall of Fame ballot. It’s always a point of agony with so many great names to choose from.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
