Antonio Tarver

[Bombardier]

big truck punches with both hands much harder then tarver and has a better jab ...he did fight a dumb ass fight he underestimated mormeck. but mormeck would walk through tarver

I disagree, but I am interested to see how Braithwaite bounces back from this loss. Do you think he will smarten up in the ring? He better if he wants to get his career back on track.

[Konstantin]

If I were to say a one sentence summary of the entire fight that I remeber this would be it:

Glen was attacking the entire time and Tarver spent most of the time covering up.

Thats why he won.

[Alpha Male]

If I were to say a one sentence summary of the entire fight that I remeber this would be it:

Glen was attacking the entire time and Tarver spent most of the time covering up.

Thats why he won.

I totally agree. It's like he's afraid to take a punch.

[Darth Warrior]

that signature is disgusting.

I can't believe it has nothing to do with Star Wars.

[cupcrazy01]

from scap

"Damn against Glenn he again takes off way too many rounds and cannot back up all of the talk leading up to the fight...he was clearly the better fighter but he was also the lazyier fighter...

He will beat Johnson but who cares...Tarver is a lazy fighter and expect more of the same once he gets by GJ...He will lose his next fight post GJ on account of being a lazy dumbass."

This I agree with wholeheartedly. I had Tarver winning the Johnson fight in rounds 8-4, but he took a few rounds off for no apparent reason--he didn't look tired--and just didn't "close the show," much how he failed to do against Roy in their first fight. It's maddening, the guy could be P4P top 5 it seems if he just stayed motivated and fought with fire like a Tszyu or Castillo or Morales or, the epitome of an overachiever, GLENCOFFE JOHNSON...hell, even a fraction of that kind of fire would carry him to greatness. Alas...

I want Tarver to win this fight pretty, and then get a heavyweight title fight with Toney, but I think Toney has blown that by coming in to tomorrow's fight too heavy...argh!

Tarver vs. Toney, imagine THAT presser, forget Mayo vs. Vargas...

[Duncan]

okay. I have not heard the magic man discussed lately. Why, I dont know. This guy is dangerous, and mark my words. He will completely outclass Glen Johnson in their next fight. I have said it once, and will say it again. He is the best fighter between 170 and HW and will completely demolish his opposition. His southpaw style, is nothing to brag about....yes. He had a mediocre performance against RJJ in their first outing....yes. I dont like him personally, but you can not take away from the fact that he is a ruthless machine, who is going to get his way. Regardless. Who do you think will win the rematch with Johnson, and why.

Because I actually foresee Tarver stopping Glen via T.K.O. Lets hear the "no way". That was what everyone was saying before the second RJJ fight.

Antonio Tarver is a decent fighter- but he is hardly a "ruthless machine." He can (and has) been beat. He runs out of gas in every single fight that goes the distance, he has an overrated left hand, and he can get buzzed without a whole lot of difficulty. It's not that he is a bad fighter, but he's certainly nothing special. Glen Johnson can certainly beat him again. Of course Tarver could certainly beat Johnson. It's a real decent fight and if I had to bet, I say Tarver UD because Johnson seems to have forgot to train.

[Duncan]

Excellent comment and you're right- Harding kicked the living hell out of Tarver for 1.5 fights and got caught (which Tarver should be given credit for).

[Duncan]

It was a light heavyweight showdown between two recent knockout conquerors of fading superstar Roy Jones Jr. and when it was over, almost everyone felt that Antonio Tarver had done enough to defeat a game Glen Johnson. Everyone, that is, except two of the judges and that enabled Johnson to come away with a controversial split decision 12-round victory Saturday night on HBO’s World Championship Boxing showcase from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Both fighters gave up their versions of the light heavyweight championship in order to face each other and they put on an entertaining show, trading punches for 12 rounds. The taller Tarver threw more punches, landed more punches and appeared to land the harder shots. Johnson stalked Tarver throughout and did some solid work to the body but it was Tarver who seemed to be landing the cleaner and more effective shots.

Tarver connected on 296 of 853 total punches (35 per cent), including 220 of 497 power shots (44 per cent) and 76 of 356 jabs (21 per cent). Johnson landed 217 of 796 total punches (27 per cent), including 140 of 371 power shots (38 per cent) and 77 of 425 jabs (18 per cent). Tarver appeared to have a clear advantage in at least six rounds and a slight edge in at least two others but when the judges’ cards were tabulated, only Marty Denkin of California saw Tarver winning by a 116-112 margin. Judges Melvina Lathan of New York and Chuck Giampa of Nevada had it 115-113 for Johnson. Tarver outlanded Johnson by margins of 37-14, 33-11, 31-17 & 33-16 in rounds two, six, eight and twelve, averaging 87 punches thrown per round. He didn’t sustain that work rate over twelve rounds however, as he threw just 26 punches in round one, 36 in the fifth and 38 in the tenth.

Johnson clearly won the opening round, when Tarver threw only 26 punches and landed only four while Johnson connected on 14 of 57. Tarver turned on the offense in rounds two and three, outlanding Johnson 37-14 in the second and 35-20 in the third. After each fighter landed 26 punches in the fourth, Johnson had a 21-12 advantage in the fifth. Johnson sustained a slight cut near his eye in an accidental clash of heads in the sixth and Tarver produced his best round, outlanding Johnson 33-11, with 28 of the connects being power shots.

The rugged Johnson rallied in the seventh to outland Tarver 27-21 but Tarver took control again in the eighth and ninth after a tongue-lashing from trainer Buddy McGirt. He outlanded Johnson 31-17 in the eighth and 22-14 in the ninth and appeared to be on his was to a victory. All three judges had Tarver leading through nine rounds. But Tarver suddenly decided to coast through the 10 th and it may have cost him as Johnson landed 11 of 58 punches while Tarver connected on 11 of only 38.

The 11 th was fought at a furious pace, with Tarver landing 26 of 100 punches, his highest output of the fight, including 23 power shots, and Johnson connecting on 26 of 85, 13 of them power shots.

Tarver let his hands go in the 12 th. He rocked Johnson twice and dominated the first 2 ½ minutes before Johnson staged a last-gasp rally. Tarver landed 33 of 83 total punches in the 12th, including 29 of 57 power shots, while Johnson connected on just 16 of 64 total punches, including 11 of 34 power shots. Despite the huge edge in connects, both Giampa and Lathan gave Johnson the 12 th round for his margin of victory.

All three judges gave Johnson the 10 th but Denkin gave Tarver the last two rounds while Giampa and Lathan had Johnson winning the last two. While all three judges had Tarver winning after nine rounds, Johnson emerged as the winner by taking the final three rounds on Giampa’s and Lathan’s scorecards.

“I thought I did enough to win the fight,” said Tarver, who fell to 22-3. “I landed the harder cleaner shots. I threw more punches and I hurt him a couple of times. I hurt my left hand early in the fight when I hit him on top of the head but I didn’t let it stop me. I kept throwing and I feel I did enough to win the fight. I’m definitely ready to do it again.”

“It went my way for a change,” said Johnson, who has often been the victim of curious officiating. “I was holding my breath when they announced the winner and thankfully it went my way this time. I trained hard and pushed the fight for 12 rounds and I think that’s what did it for me. He never hurt me. He caught me a couple of times when my feet weren’t set properly and knocked me off balance but I was never hurt.”

Johnson, who raised his record to 42-9, also said he would welcome a rematch.

“Sure, let’s do it again,” said Johnson. “Antonio Tarver is a great fighter. I think it was a terrific fight and one which the public would enjoy seeing again.”

For the record, most ringside observers felt Tarver had won. Jones, who was handling ringside color for HBO, felt Tarver was the winner as did broadcasters Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant and HBO judge Harold Lederman.

Robbery plain and simple. Threw more, Landed more, and could not have won the fight in a more clear fashion......aside from knocking him out, which he will do next time. I am tired of judges giving the fights to busier people in the championship rounds. That is whack.

He was holding his breath right before the judges announced the scores. Exposed? Nope. And even in this case....Johnson was not really busier....throwing punches. More like clinching and grabbing.

Who is "almost everyone"? There were a significant amount of people who thought each man won and if there was any tilt, more seemed to go with Johnson. You certainly didn't hear anything about a controversy. Don't exaggerate.

[Run]

You certainly didn't hear anything about a controversy. Don't exaggerate.

Actually, that was one of the more controversial decisions in recent memory. Nice try.



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[Tha Greatest]

Tarver has got some mad skills and VERY good power

all he needs to do is put it together