By Lyle Fitzsimmons

Chad Dawson simply saw no other options.

After several months on the short end of verbal exchanges with fellow 175-pound title claimant Antonio Tarver, the normally soft-spoken Connecticut southpaw finally decided it was time to fire back.

As a result, the two combined for a dissension-packed press conference last week and ratcheted up the tensions leading into their bout for the IBF light heavyweight crown Saturday night in Las Vegas.

“He talks a lot, and I’ve been hearing it for a year, a year and a half or two years as I’ve been trying to make this fight happen,” Dawson said in a Monday night telephone interview. “And after a while I just get tired of hearing someone’s mouth going like that all the time.

“I’m normally a quiet guy, but he just aggravates me. He’s definitely a better talker than me. He’s not a better fighter, he’s a better talker. But there’s a lot of difference between talking and fighting.”

Now 26, Dawson relinquished his thrice-defended WBC belt to meet the 39-year-old Tarver - who’ll be making defense No. 1 of the IBF title he won with a unanimous decision over Clinton Woods in April at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.

Dawson’s last fight was in the final pre-main event bout on that card, where he scored a close but unanimous decision over former IBF champ Glen Johnson, winning by 116-112 counts on all three scorecards.

The triumph upped Dawson’s record to 26-0 in a seven-year pro career.

The fight will be broadcast on Showtime at 9 p.m. Eastern, alongside the tape-delay showing of the WBC heavyweight title bout between Vitali Klitschko and Samuel Peter.

“I (gave up the title) just to end all the talk from Tarver and from the critics and to make this fight,” he said. “I beat Glen Johnson and I still looked at the rankings on the Internet and other places and I see that they have Bernard Hopkins and Tarver and Roy Jones Jr. ahead of me, and that upset me.

“There are guys who’ve never fought a light heavyweight fight in their lives and there are people out there ranking them ahead of me. So I can lose my own title and beat Tarver and then maybe they’ll have to sit up and take notice.”

Dawson won the WBC title with a decision over Tomasz Adamek in February 2007, then defended with consecutive stoppages of Jesus Ruiz and Epifanio Mendoza in June and September, respectively.

Tarver won his initial titles at 175 with a decision over Montell Griffin in 2003 before a decision loss to Jones in the first of their three bouts. He stopped Jones with a crushing left hook in May 2004, only to lose to Johnson in the first of their two meetings seven months later.

“I haven’t been impressed with him ever. Even when he beat Jones he had his eyes closed,” Dawson said. “Hopkins came up from middleweight and won a unanimous decision against him, and his last three opponents have been handpicked and he still hasn’t looked good.”

Consecutive defeats of Johnson and Jones in return bouts preceded Tarver’s wide loss to Hopkins in June 2006, which has since been followed by wins over Elvir Muriqi, Danny Santiago and Woods.

“I was already confident in my skills, but I had to give up the title to prove that I’m the best fighter in the division and one of the best in the world,” Dawson said. “Glen Johnson was a tough opponent, but I won a unanimous decision, and you can’t do any better than that.

“He had two tough fights with Tarver and he knocked out Roy Jones, so for people to have been saying he was out of the picture was ridiculous. He’s 39 years old but he fought me like a 25-year-old. He is truly a road warrior. He came to fight that night and I had to give everything I had to beat him.”

Though Tarver claimed he’ll attack right from the opening bell as Johnson did, Dawson is nonetheless expecting much more of a chess match from the 11-year-pro.

Tarver recorded 14 KOs in his initial 16 wins, but has stopped just five of his last 11 victims while going 12 rounds for victories on six occasions.

“I know he’s talking that way, but that’s not the kind of fight I’m anticipating from him,” Dawson said.

“The only advantage he’s got on me is his experience, so I’m expecting a much more technical sort of fight. If he tries to come right at me like he says, he’ll be making a big mistake.”

Lyle Fitzsimmons is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached via e-mail at fitzbitz@msn.com.