How good was Antonio Tarver?

[AbouHamza]

He took RJJ's soul and prime. He was several time Lightheavyweight champ, lost the title and regained it. Antonio Tarver is a HOFamer, no doubt about it.

[Heru]

How good was Tarver? The win over Roy gets discredited by many because of Jones performances after their fights but in light of Glenn Johnsons recent performance against Cloud and his performance against the top 10 p4p Dawson in their first fight does Tarver start to look a little better being that he fought a fresher version of Glenncoffe?

He was damn good, especially against orthodox stance fighters. I found out that he only really had problems against other southpaws (Harding, R. Johnson, Dawson). Hopkins beat him legit, but let's be honest if you're gonna take away from his RJ win, you have to take away from the his Hopkins loss.

If you score both Johnson fights, you'll see that he probably deserved to win both fights. You could do the same with Jones I.

RJ x2 (3 depending if you scored the fight for him)
G. Johnson (2 depending if you scored the fight for him)
Harding
R. Johnson
Woods
Griffin

Pretty good resume right there. The RJ KO gets discredited far too much, people just can't believe RJJr. getting knocked out.

[AbouHamza]

He was damn good, especially against orthodox stance fighters. I found out that he only really had problems against other southpaws (Harding, R. Johnson, Dawson). Hopkins beat him legit, but let's be honest if you're gonna take away from his RJ win, you have to take away from the his Hopkins loss.

If you score both Johnson fights, you'll see that he probably deserved to win both fights. You could do the same with Jones I.

RJ x2 (3 depending if you scored the fight for him)
G. Johnson (2 depending if you scored the fight for him)
Harding
R. Johnson
Woods
Griffin

Pretty good resume right there. The RJ KO gets discredited far too much, people just can't believe RJJr. getting knocked out.

Everything you said was right.

[bojangles1987]

He was damn good, especially against orthodox stance fighters. I found out that he only really had problems against other southpaws (Harding, R. Johnson, Dawson). Hopkins beat him legit, but let's be honest if you're gonna take away from his RJ win, you have to take away from the his Hopkins loss.

If you score both Johnson fights, you'll see that he probably deserved to win both fights. You could do the same with Jones I.

RJ x2 (3 depending if you scored the fight for him)
G. Johnson (2 depending if you scored the fight for him)
Harding
R. Johnson
Woods
Griffin

Pretty good resume right there. The RJ KO gets discredited far too much, people just can't believe RJJr. getting knocked out.

I disagree about the first Jones fight, I thought RJ definitely deserved that fight and did what he had to do to win.

I do agree with what most people are saying, he was a very good fighter. Not great, but it would take an elite fighter to easily beat Tarver at 175.

[SplitSecond]

he has no power no adays, pushes his punches, dont reccomend the move to heavyweight

[REMOVED SHARK 97]

Rocky got robbed

[Fox McCloud]

Tarver's resume does not get nearly enough respect from most people. People act like he just beat a shot Roy and made a career out of it.

He laid an assbeating on Reggie Johnson. Don't listen to that split decision nonsense... it's garbage. He then avenged his loss to Eric Harding.
He whipped Montell Griffin's ass. The type of thing that compares to how embarrassing the KO1 loss to Jones was for Griffin.
After losing a close, but fair decision to Jones, he knocked Roy Jones Jr. out in two rounds, giving him his first real loss, and this Jones was still pretty good... not prime Jones for sure, but not as bad as people make him out to be.
Following a bad decision (see an emerging pattern?), he avenged that "loss" by putting on a clinic of how to beat a pressure fighter by winning a decision over Glen Johnson.
He won the rubber match over Roy Jones Jr..
After losing to Hopkins on a horrible night in the ring, he beat a few nondescript fighters and beat Clinton Woods to regain a title at light heavyweight.
He ended his career (as a relevant fighter anyway) with two spirited, but very clear losses to Chad Dawson.

All fighters that are bolded had a world title at some point in their career.

[Manny P]

Tarver beat Rocky.

[IMDAZED]

How good was Tarver? The win over Roy gets discredited by many because of Jones performances after their fights but in light of Glenn Johnsons recent performance against Cloud and his performance against the top 10 p4p Dawson in their first fight does Tarver start to look a little better being that he fought a fresher version of Glenncoffe?

Tarver was a very, very good fighter in his prime. Underrated on these boards for God knows what reason. For starters, he was an accomplished amateur who lost in the gold medal round to another great amateur in Vasily Jirov. His career was derailed (self-inflicted) but after losing a decision to Eric Harding, he got with McGirt and got serious about his career. He earned the shot at Jones by working his way up the LHW rankings and held two light heavyweight belts when they fought. And he destroyed Jones in the rematch. And followed it up by beating Glen Johnson twice (I don't know how he didn't get the decision the first time), who was his closest competitor at the weight. At one point, he was a top five pound for pounder, a position he earned. No shame in losing to Hopkins. A HOFer? No. But definitely one of the top LHW fighters of his era.

[Scott9945]

Tarver's resume does not get nearly enough respect from most people. People act like he just beat a shot Roy and made a career out of it.

He laid an assbeating on Reggie Johnson. Don't listen to that split decision nonsense... it's garbage. He then avenged his loss to Eric Harding.
He whipped Montell Griffin's ass. The type of thing that compares to how embarrassing the KO1 loss to Jones was for Griffin.
After losing a close, but fair decision to Jones, he knocked Roy Jones Jr. out in two rounds, giving him his first real loss, and this Jones was still pretty good... not prime Jones for sure, but not as bad as people make him out to be.
Following a bad decision (see an emerging pattern?), he avenged that "loss" by putting on a clinic of how to beat a pressure fighter by winning a decision over Glen Johnson.
He won the rubber match over Roy Jones Jr..
After losing to Hopkins on a horrible night in the ring, he beat a few nondescript fighters and beat Clinton Woods to regain a title at light heavyweight.
He ended his career (as a relevant fighter anyway) with two spirited, but very clear losses to Chad Dawson.

All fighters that are bolded had a world title at some point in their career.

I was never a big Tarver fan, but I have to admit that you do make a very good case for him here.