By Cliff Rold ( Photo © Tom Casino/Showtime)

The Showtime show this weekend, in the main event, features a bout with big time ramifications for the Light Heavyweight division.  Antonio Tarver (27-4, 19 KO) defends his currently held IBF belt, the latest in a career full of straps and accolades, for the first time.  Tarver is 39 years old but, due to a late start to his professional years, has fewer miles than the calendar would normally dictate.  In defeating Clinton Woods in April by a rout of a decision, he knocked off one of the 175 lb. classes hottest fighters.

Across the ring from him will be Chad Dawson (26-0, 17 KO), most recently a WBC titlist who gave up that strap for this bout.  Dawson is 26 years old and, no matter how many miles Tarver does or does not have worn into his frame, it’s an advantage.

Dawson has been the apparent heir apparent at Light Heavyweight since a dominant win in 2006 over tried veteran Eric Harding.  He got off the floor from an early knockdown to dominate for the decision.  He’s since added his title winning effort against Tomasz Adamek in 2007 and the brutal war with Glenn Johnson earlier this year.  Tarver is the logical next step for Dawson in his quest to be the best.

And Dawson is the best available step for a Tarver looking for a validating final run.

The winner will exit the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday with alphabelt in tow.  Should they be called ‘champ?’

It’s an interesting debate.

Scan the message boards and forums and it’s easy to find Boxing fans that have gotten behind this fight on two levels worth examining. 

First and foremost, real fight fans know a great fight when they see it and this could be a great fight.  Dawson’s chin is dent-able and Tarver’s power can leave dents, two components of many a fight worth watching. 

Second, there is a vocal contingent viewing this almost as the ‘people’s’ championship, a showdown of Light Heavyweights focused on the division and its spoils first.  The contrast between other championship fights is clear, made more visible by the line between Showtime and HBO. 

Dawson-Tarver has been built on Showtime for going on two years.  That the road to this fight included two other men in the division’s top five, Woods and Johnson, adds to the merits of Tarver-Dawson.  The winner of this bout has every reason to feel like they’ve earned the right to be called the best man in the division. 

The problem, airing largely on HBO, is a separate group of fighters: Joe Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins, and Roy Jones.  They have and are planned to continue fighting over recognition from Ring Magazine as champion of the division, the ‘real’ championship of the division to some and the most easily recognized claim by just about everyone. 

Debate about how real it is has grown in the last two years due in part to a spate of catchweight fights involving Middleweights.  After defeating Tarver in 2006, Hopkins defended once, successfully, in 2007 against Middleweight contender Winky Wright with both men entering at 170 lbs.  He followed that with a full-on Light Heavyweight defense against reigning World Super Middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe this past April, seeing the Ring reigns fall into new hands.  Calzaghe moves on to Jones, the former Light Heavyweight ruler.

Jones is coming off of his own 170 lb. catchweight win with a previously retired Felix Trinidad last seen at Middleweight.  Hopkins fights again little more than a week from now, again at 170, against reigning World Middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik.  Jones-Calzaghe will happen at 175 but earlier scuttlebutt had Calzaghe-Pavlik possible at, you guessed it, a catchweight down the road.  Calzaghe’s decision on September 28 to vacate his Ring crown at 168 lbs. at least limits that possibility.

For the sake of completeness, it must be noted that neither of these groups of fighters holds the strict lineage of the division’s World Title; that belongs to Hungarian Zsolt Erdei, a historical distinction he’s failed by leaps and bounds to live up to.  It is what it is.

There are different types of purists among fight fans.  Some want to see one title per division and recognize Erdei as champion with their noses held (the author of this diatribe raises his hand).  Others want to see World titles contested at proper weights with catchweights a rare intrusion.  All want to see what look like real fights before what hint at business transactions, the latter an accusation, fair or unfair, lobbed at Pavlik-Hopkins and Calzaghe-Jones.

Add it all up, and after this weekend the question of ‘who’s the champ?’ will hold the same answer it does now: it depends whose being asked.  If Tarver beats Dawson, it will be hard to make a case for him over Calzaghe.  Tarver lost so resoundingly to Hopkins, for the title Calzaghe will defend against Jones, he’ll always have that hovering over him until he can throw leather for Ring’s title again.  Beat Dawson and his name will be restored enough to make such a fight marketable.

Should Dawson beat Tarver, the case for a ‘people’s’ champ will grow.  If Calzaghe-Jones fizzles instead of sizzles, it could explode.  Populism is fun that way; it’s also often in error.  Dawson will have defeated Johnson and Tarver, but still the line through Hopkins will remain in his way.  After all, before Tarver could lose to Hopkins, he had to regain his claim from Johnson.  Dawson would still need Calzaghe for public recognition.

Win impressively and the public call for the winner of November’s (Madison Square) Garden party to face Dawson will be noisy and justifiably so.  The only thing louder could be the cash register possibilities for Pavlik to step ahead of Dawson if he happens to stop Hopkins.

It’s not the worst place for the division to be.  Paraphrasing George Carlin, if the title’s undisputed, why are they still fighting?  Even in the case of recognizing titles as passed strictly in lines where possible, one big point of titles is to create targets and find new marksmen to try and hit them. 

For the time being, the biggest target is Calzaghe. 

Tarver-Dawson gives Boxing the man who deserves the next shot.

And the arguments can rage.

Moving on just a bit…  

Ring’s Biases Not So Inherent

With Ring’s titles mentioned, it seems as good a time as any to examine how the relationship between the old institution and its latest owners-by-proxy at Golden Boy Promotions is playing out in light of the magazine’s assumed role in recognizing champions.

The conflict of interest is right there; it has been since the acquisition was announced in September 2007.  The whispers about the negative possibilities of a promoter-owned pseudo sanctioning body haven’t been all that quiet.  Those arguments have been particularly fierce at 135 lbs. where the non-Golden Boy promoted Nate Campbell has had three alphabelts and big fights going on around, rather than with, him.  However, the signing of fights is well out of the purview of the writers and editors at Ring.  One year-plus out, how much evidence is there that any sort of inherent bias argument is actually playing out in the ratings Ring produces?

Currently, Ring recognizes six World champions (at 175, 160, 140, 135, 122 and 108) with the other eleven divisions vacant.  The Cruiserweight, or 200 lb, crown will be decided in December when Steve Cunningham faces Tomasz Adamaek, which is a fair call.  Those are the two best fighters in that division right now.

Bias would lend itself to unreasonable ratings which put Golden Boy fighters in range of belts through unmerited ratings.  It’s just not there.  In the eleven vacant divisions listed at Ring’s website, eight (Heavyweight, 200, 168, 147, 118, 115, 112, 105) feature no Golden Boy fighters in the top three slots which dictate whether or not Ring will recognize a championship vacancy as filled.  In the other three divisions (154, 130, 126), Golden Boy fighters including the Golden Boy himself hold down #3 spots. 

Golden Boy does have a strong presence in the pound-for-pound ratings, but pound-for-pound isn’t a title.

Ring’s title policy remains flawed largely by way of its refusal to address the history that continued while the publication took a break from monitoring the lineage of titles in the 90s.  Check the BoxingScene Divisional ratings (coming soon!) for examples. 

The association with Golden Boy remains with the inherent look of a conflict of interest no matter how one slices it.

However, when it comes to the ratings, the part that counts in declaring new champions, Ring continues to provide fair adjudication.  Their ratings are not always right, and can be subject to debate, but one year into the Golden Boy marriage they show no signs of being corrupted. 

The Weekly Ledger

But wait, there’s more.  It’s the week in thoughts (and some serious record keeping in the monthly review):

Cliff’s Notes…Love it or hate it, De La Hoya-Pacquiao got play this week on Sports Center for press conferences.  Tarver-Dawson will be lucky to make highlights for the fight…Vitali Klitschko has not so much as announced a hangnail or bad hair day.  I too am almost believing he’ll be fighting this weekend…Been zipping through Bret Hart’s autobiography.  Great book and well worth the one year wait for release in the U.S…For all those still a feeling the loss of the GREAT Paul Newman, be informed that this Sunday Turner Classic Movies will have a day-long marathon of some of his best, including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof which is really more to gawk at Liz Taylor but, hey, it’s Newman too.  Rest in peace to a true giant…If the report from BoxingScene editor Rick Reeno is right, R.I.P. as well to ESPN2’s Wednesday Night Fights.  I hope it’s not true; the show has provided some real highlights the last couple summers…And finally, kudos to Versus for picking up Cunningham-Adamek.  It’s almost worth a drive to Newark.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com