Tarver vs. Dawson Done For October 11 in Connecticut?
by T.K. Stewart
Sources have revealed that an autumn showdown between rival southpaws, IBF Light Heavyweight titlist Antonio "The Magic Man" Tarver and soon to be former WBC 175-pound, belt-holder "Bad" Chad Dawson, will land at either the Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods casinos in Connecticut with Showtime televising the fight on October 11.
WBC titlist Dawson, 26-0 (17KOs) hails from nearby New Haven, Connecticut and has fought 16 of his 26 professional fights in the state. Dawson was scheduled to make a mandatory defense of his WBC title against interim titlist Adrian Diaconu in Romania on October 4th but that fight is now off.
Dawson is instead opting for the more high profile and bigger money fight with the well-known Tarver. Dawson was expected to make $1.1 million had he gone through with the Diaconu fight but will make more against Tarver.
It is now expected that the WBC will strip Dawson of the WBC green belt he currently wears and award it to the undefeated Diaconu.
Tarver, 27-4 (19KOs) is no stranger to Connecticut and has fought two of his last three fights in the state. Connecticut is also where Tarver won the WBC and IBF 175-pound titles from Montell Griffin back in 2003.
This is a fight that has been building for a over a year. Both Tarver and Dawson fought on the same Showtime cards in June 2007 at Hartford, Connecticut and again in April of this year when Tarver beat Clinton Woods for the IBF title and Dawson squeaked by Glen Johnson to defend the WBC belt for the third time in Tampa, Florida which is Tarver's hometown.
When Tarver fought Danny Santiago at Foxwoods back in December 2007, Dawson was an interested observer at ringside and he also attended the post fight press conference.
Several Dawson supporters at the press conference attempted to disrupt the proceedings when they chanted, “Stop ducking Dawson! Stop ducking Dawson!” at Tarver. But promoter Gary Shaw put a stop to the shenanigans and threatened to have the chanters removed from the premises.
Tarver is currently ranked the #3 Light Heavyweight in the world by The Ring Magazine behind Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins while Dawson is rated at #4.
It will be a battle of youth versus age and experience for Dawson, as Tarver will turn 40 on November 21st. Dawson will celebrate his 26th birthday on Sunday.