Don't look at me like that! Antonio Tarver said himself on live national television that he is gearing up for a run at heavyweight, bypassing Cruiserweight altogether since Danny Green "is only interested in digging up corpses" - and he even went as far as calling out Wladimir Klitschko. Well - it is a weak division, but I'm not sure it's quite that weak. He does have boxing skill and a good chin, but power and speed are major concerns. You kind of need one or the other when moving up...Adamek for instance didn't really carry most of his power with him but is faster than most in the unlimited class. Tarver never really had blinding speed or crushing power at 175...so what can be expected past his prime, against bigger men, and more than 25 pounds higher than where he peaked? Are there any names in the (Ring Magazine) top ten that Tarver could take out en route to his goal? :think
He gets dipped quick. Doing such a good job as a commentator and he has a hot wife...don't turn her into a widow.
You know, I'm staring at the list of names, and thinking that a lot of these guys aren't very good, and reaching hard to find one...but...honestly, I don't think Tarver can or should be favored over any of these 10. He shouldn't be favored to last the distance against half.
If he was, it was very, very dry and Gus Johnson was in on it. Wlad isn't in the Ring Top 10, as he's the Champion. He's also the one Tarver called out as his holy grail, so my line of thinking was "Before getting ahead of ourselves, can he even beat any of the people between him (and the hundreds of other HW no-hopers) and Wlad?" Probably not. However - there's a little nagging voice in my head that keeps saying "He does have a good chin...and he can box...he can hang with Arreola...Adamek did it, and Adamek used to be a LHW too...Tarver is a little taller and has the same wingspan as Adamek...of course, Adamek wasn't in his freaking forties when he climbed the scales..."
He'd get murdered against all of them. Let's hope this is for real and he gets a fight with Adamek. That will be his last beat down but also more fun to watch than the Dawson and Hopkins fights.
Anyone that lacks power... so maybe Chagaev, Adamek. Could give Chris Arreola a 'nightmare' because of his fast hands and good movement. Tarver would be a hard job for a lot of heavyweights. He just wont compete with the better fighters i.e. Wlad, Vitali, Haye. I think Adamek is excellent, but i just think stylistically this would be his best shout at a big win
The Klitschkos and Haye would beat Tarver without training for the fight. This is jike, Tarver has no idea what a HW punch feels like this is probably the biggest 2 - weightclass difference in boxing in terms of power.
Tarver past his best (not shot) and getting old, plus he'd be a small HW. BUT he has more skills than nearly any HW out there. I'd give Tarver a shot over any HW that has terrible skills, and believe there are enough of them, even among those in the poll you listed. Those HWs that have 'decent' (not good) skills, like Haye, Klitschko, Adamek or Povetkin, I'd say they pretty certainly would beat Tarver. Eddie Chambers would beat him easily.
:blood And I never thought his chin was very good. He benefits from craftiness and solid defensive fundamentals. In other words, he knows to keep his ****ing hands up!
I don't know if he would have much of a chance against any of these guys. I'd be more inclined to give him a chance if he took his time and acclimated himself to the HW game, but at his age I don't know if he is going to do that. IMO his best chances would be against Adamek and Chambers, because they won't knock him out, but I don't see him beating them.