If he doesn't get a surprise phone call from RJJ granting him that fourth encounter payday Antonio has been chasing after, he should give himself a present and just announce his official retirement from in-ring activities. It's been 15 months since he laced them up last and really nobody should be competing at the highest level of this sport (and Tarver has made clear that he's now only willing to go in for big legacy fights, since he is financially secure with his commentary gig) at his age- except freaks of nature like his conqueror B-Hop...and even the Executioner finally started hitting the wall around 50. I would shamelessly tune in for Jones IV (or maybe even Cunningham II) but otherwise I'd cringe to see his name reappear in the active ranks. Now then, looking ahead - he get into Canastota in 2021? (his first year of eligibility, assuming last August remains his last time in the ring) His late run at HW never really went anywhere, nor did he really achieve much at Cruiser (meh, Green...) but he was lineal at light heavy and went 2-1 versus the p4p #1 of his generation, and split a pair with Glencoffe. That enough? Also, does anybody know where to find video of his amateur fights with Vasiliy Jirov? (1-1)
I've considered the Tarver HOF question quite a bit, I don't see how he could get in. His time at LHW was not spectacular by any means, even his career up to the 1st Roy fight was solid but meh. Lets be honest, he got schooled by Eric Harding in the first fight, was on his way to getting schooled in the 2nd fight until the Ko. Really his best performances were against an old Montell and then the 1st and second Roy fights. Before and after, he was more of a championship placeholder than anything else. I won't even get started on his CW or HW campaign.
Well...his résumé certainly isn't deep (even if you tripled his reigns' longevity, the likes of Woods and Muriqi don't exactly make for the stuff of legends) but I've seen it said that Morales for instance is worthy on the strength of beating Pacquiao alone. We can't selectively apply criteria. If a victory (let alone two, one a huge kayo) over a top p4p fighter of your generation is good enough for the goose it has to be good enough for the gander.
