Classic's Thoughts On Antonio Tarver?

He'll be remembered for beating a washed up Jones.

 

He probably was a better amateur, but aside from quantity of fights I don't think it really deterred his pro career. He was as successful as he ever could've been IMO given the circumstances of his career.

 

I think that history will remember him more kindly.


He is a great human interest story and he beat thebest around. Jones might have been washed up but the way Tarver beat him was incredible.

Perhaps his finest moment was droping a belt given to him by a corupt sanctioning body to fight Glen Johnson to establish a real champion at 175 lbs for the fans. He lost of course but won the rematch.

 

Tarver never did it for me.
I dont see him as a great fighter at all. I would be hard pressed to consider him a very good fighter.

 

I think Tarver might get remember as one of those great "What if" cases. In his case, what if he'd been fighting all those years when he was out of the sport.

Apparently he was a very good amateur, and used to give Roy hard fights back then too when they were both coming through the amateur ranks. At one time defeating Jones as a pro would have been enough to cement a pro career, but Jones' other losses have diminished that somewhat.

Which leaves us with the simple fact that Tarver is trying to make up for a lot of lost time in terms of carving out a legacy, and he doesn't have much time to do it.

 

I think he gets a bit underrated, he didnt just beat Jones and theres a reason Jones felt he had to fight Tarver, that reason is Tarver was cleaning out the other contenders:

Griffin - Ex Champ, good fighter
Harding - good contender, avenged a defeat and put him away faster than Jones
Reggie Johnson - top contender who beat Steve Collins and took Toney to an SD

Then theres:

Jones 1 - runs him closer than anyone has, imo lost though
Jones 2 - beats the P4P no1 in devastating fashion
Jones 3 - wins a wide UD
Glen Johnson 1 - imo got robbed
Glen Johnson 2 - wins a wide UD
Nard - gets owned
Woods - shuts out a top belt holder/contender

 

Both Johnson and Griffin were well past their primes when Tarver beat them.

 

Johnson was certainly doing his best stuff wheter or not he was past his best.

A lot of people tought he beat Chad Dawson.

If they are half right then Dawson and Woods are not in the same bracket as prime Tarver and Johnson.

 

I was referring to Reggie Johnson. Sorry for the mix up.

 

I think he was referring to Reggie Johnson, not Glen.

 

He was nothing special! I hope he retires soon!

 

I think Antonio Tarver was a very good fighter, but not a great one. His wins over Jones were rated too highly at the time- it is clear now that Jones's rise to heavyweight and subsequent drop back to lightheavy ****ed with his body in ways he didn't understand. His reflexes and punch resistance were shot to ****, even in the 1st Tarver fight he so narrowly won, he was nothing like the same guy who had smoked Clinton Woods 1 year earlier.

When Tarver met a truly top quality operator who wasn't totally shot (he was past-prime but not totally shot like RJJ) in Bernard Hopkins, he was exposed as not belonging in that sort of company.

I still think he is a good fighter even now though, he impressed me against Woods. I think he could surprise some people v Dawson. Wouldn't fancy him v Calzaghe or Hopkins in a rematch though.