Tweet
Six months after Glencoffe Johnson and Antonio Tarver gave up their championship belts to face off in a battle of the world's two best light heavyweights, the duo stepped between the ropes for a second go-around, with Tarver seeking to avenge his split decision loss to 2004's Fighter of the Year.
In this week's edition of Fighting Words, I will examine the strategy that Tarver used to prevent a repeat of December's result and speculate what route the Magic Man's future will take. Within The 10 Count is a mixed bag of the past week's news and upcoming events, ranging from the strange (Carlos Navarro's meltdown against Bobby Pacquiao) to the ****** (Vitali Klitschko's reportedly negotiating to fight Oleg Maskaev).
Tarver Regains the Throne, But Should He Abdicate?
Although his loss half a year ago to Johnson was by a close split decision, with judges Chuck Giampa and Melvina Lathan scoring it 115-113 for the Road warrior and Marty Denkin holding the lone dissenting vote for Tarver at 116-112, it was only the 1996 Olympic bronze medalist that would need to make adjustments in strategizing for the rematch.
Johnson's marauding bullish style had been the essential tool to his recent turnaround and success, the aggressive charging and overwhelming offense ensuring that the scorecards would give him the benefit of the doubt, hopefully preventing the calamities that ringside officials had heaped upon him in the past.
For Tarver and his trainer Buddy McGirt, the key was to not take any steps backwards, and most importantly to control the pace and thus the outcome of the match. McGirt upped Tarver's work rate, keeping his charge active with combinations from a distance, forcing Johnson to wait for the onslaught to end before attempting to launch one of his own. To prevent his stamina from diminishing too early, a large amount of Tarver's combinations began with arm punches that cost less energy to throw, mixed in with heavier shots towards the end of each flurry, a change of pace that provided extra punctuation. [details]
In this week's edition of Fighting Words, I will examine the strategy that Tarver used to prevent a repeat of December's result and speculate what route the Magic Man's future will take. Within The 10 Count is a mixed bag of the past week's news and upcoming events, ranging from the strange (Carlos Navarro's meltdown against Bobby Pacquiao) to the ****** (Vitali Klitschko's reportedly negotiating to fight Oleg Maskaev).
Tarver Regains the Throne, But Should He Abdicate?
Although his loss half a year ago to Johnson was by a close split decision, with judges Chuck Giampa and Melvina Lathan scoring it 115-113 for the Road warrior and Marty Denkin holding the lone dissenting vote for Tarver at 116-112, it was only the 1996 Olympic bronze medalist that would need to make adjustments in strategizing for the rematch.
Johnson's marauding bullish style had been the essential tool to his recent turnaround and success, the aggressive charging and overwhelming offense ensuring that the scorecards would give him the benefit of the doubt, hopefully preventing the calamities that ringside officials had heaped upon him in the past.
For Tarver and his trainer Buddy McGirt, the key was to not take any steps backwards, and most importantly to control the pace and thus the outcome of the match. McGirt upped Tarver's work rate, keeping his charge active with combinations from a distance, forcing Johnson to wait for the onslaught to end before attempting to launch one of his own. To prevent his stamina from diminishing too early, a large amount of Tarver's combinations began with arm punches that cost less energy to throw, mixed in with heavier shots towards the end of each flurry, a change of pace that provided extra punctuation. [details]