Would you guys classify Antonio Tarver as a great light heavyweight? He had an interesting career with trials and tribulations. A bad lose to Eric Harding which he later avenged in devastating fashion. A defeat at the hands of the great Roy Jones Jr in a close fight which he rebounded by knocking Jones cold in two rounds then dominating Jones in the rematch. An arguement can be made that Jones Jr was on the decline but it was clear he still had a lot of skill left when he met Tarver and an equally strong arguement can be made that Tarver would've always given Jones Jr problems. Tarver also had two great fights with the experienced warrior Glen Johnson. The first one Johnson was given a questionable decision the second one Tarver rebounded with a clear cut decision. Tarver's biggest short coming was the dominate defeat at the hands of Bernard Hopkins (a true great). Tarver also had an impressive victory over Montell Griffin and was arguably one of the better amateur's america has ever produced. Where do you rank Tarver amongst the great light heavyweights?
I lean towards the idea that he will increasingly be seen as a great fighter in coming years, as happened with Jersey Joe Walcott after he retired.
You should use the search function. I remember ruffling a lot of feathers on this topic about a year ago.
He dethroned one of the most overrated boxers of all time, but according to Roid fanboys Tarver isn't that good What does that make Roid?
1. Arguably the best US am, ever 2. Ring named him top light heavy 2000-2009 3. Arguably, nobody has scored an emphatic victory over a more highly regarded fighter since he knocked Jones out ( Pac of the Marquez fight was not on the same level) 4. Multi belt holder. Avenged his prime defeats and was robbed against Johnson anyway. The sum of these accomplishments makes him great, even if he was always considered beatable.
Legendary win against Jones, strong and an awkward, dangerous puncher, yet as an overall boxer-puncher he was quite average in most other areas. I see him as a good fighter that an awesome win, but think he was the right stylistic problem at the right time for what was now an obviously boiled down Roy Jones that never quite recovered from his heavyweight effort. Going into the first Jones fight, he had done little to impress as being more than a solid top ten 175lber.....when he stepped up in comp with the two Harding fights, Chris Johnson(a limited fighter that had been humiliated by an ancient Herol Graham), old well past prime Reggie Johnson and Griffin, i was given the impression of a rather ordinary boxer-puncher that was one of the more dangerous bangers around in the division at the time. When he took on Roy i thought it was a solid opponent to come back against, but not someone that would bother Roy unless the dropping back down significantly weakened him.Turned out Jones did look declined, but i didn't think Tarver looked good either and was far too tentative in a fight where the win was there for the taking. Shocking rematch and a great win, regardless that Jones had not looked prime anymore in the previous fight. Then all there is after it, is two hard fought entertaining fights against the Road Warrior, who likeable as he is, was an aging mediocre light heavy.Tarver looked FAR from great here.A pathetic third fight with shot Roy and getting schooled in a truly ponderous, awful effort at an already advanced age by Hopkins after going off to film ROCKAAAYH. Again, a good fighter(big power, awkward ranginess) that managed to score a legendary win.Never great.
He is neither a one hit wonder nor an era-transcendent ATG. Somewhere in the vast middle between them. Maybe exact middle.
I believe Tarver ended Jones, not the weight loss. Roy was well prepared for the rematch, looked great for a round, and got his chin and psyche shattered soon after. He stayed fighting at 175 after. Jones was fine that night and it was too early to even consider if he was having stamina issues like the first time.
Split decision over a way-past-prime Balboa. Tarver/Dixon also had the Las Vegas judges in his back pocket. Prime Clubber Lang would have man-handled him.
