How good was Prime Antonio Tarver?

Tarvers only claim to fame is his lucky @$$ KO over Jones. Other then that he lost to Harding, got murdered by Hopkins, and was completely outboxed against Glen Johnson

 

Decent lighheavyweight that came on at the end of the Jones-Michalczewski era, even though he was older than RJJ and only a few months younger than DM.

 

Tarver was a very good LHV. He beat every man he fought, with the exception of Hopkins. There's no shame in losing to one of the top 5 MW's of all-time and a close fight to RJJ. Both those guys are around top-50 p4p all-time, so nothing is wrong in losing to them. Not to mention, Tarver stopped RJJ cold with one shot when he was ranked p4p #1.


He's definitely in the top-15 all-time LHVs, with guys like DM and RJJ being above him.

 

I think he was better than many give him credit for. People love to say that Jones just wasn't himself when he fought him, but I believe Tarver would have given Jones problems anytime during his career. The biggest thing that Tarver did to cause Jones problems was to prevent him from getting away wits.h his **** fighting moves. He knew Jones's style so well that whenever he would get ready to throw one of his weird feints, or attempts at misdirection, Tarver would throw a feint himself or a jab, which kept JONES from getting set. Their fights were actually very technical in this regard, and Tarver really did well against Jones by doing this.

I don't think blowing up to 200+ lbs is what ended Jones's career. Personally I think it was getting knocked out by Tarver, then getting knocked out by Johnson before having time to properly recover from getting so jacked up by Tarver!

So for this, I think Tarver was pretty damn good. Not an all time great or anything like that, but I think he should go down in history for being the guy that could beat Roy Jones Jr., who of course IS an all time great.

Of course when he fought another all time great, one who he didn't know the 'secret' to beating, he got his ass handed to him.

Still I think Tarver's performances against Jones (even the first, and even the third!) are truly remarkable, and show give him a lot more recognition than he probably will ever get.


Also people consider that Tarver had a GREAT amateur career. He has some really great wins as an amateur, including many people that Roy beat. They're both from the same part of the country and as an result came up around the same time as amateurs. In fact I think this was part of the reason why he was able to give Jones so much trouble. He has been watching Roy fight since the beginning, and has seen first hand (this includes him FIGHTING Roy in the amateurs!) how his style hhas evolved, and thus was able to beat him.

 

RJJ doesn't have a china chin by any means. He got caught by a phenomenal punch by a big puncher in Tarver. You don't go 49-1 from MW to HW with a china chin.

RJJ wasn't washed up when Tarver beat him. Tarver did beat a legit RJJ, albeit a 35yr old RJJ.

Let's see how good you boy Mayweather is at 35yrs old coming off a huge performance against a guy 70 pounds over his first weight class, and then you can gloat.

 

I give Tarver credit for doing what he did despite turning pro so late, but I do think he got overrated for what he did to RJJ. I don't believe AT ever had the P4P talent to justify the rankings he enjoyed following the Jones trilogy.

 

Damn. He was solid. He would of knocked Calzaghes ass out at 175 if he dared moved up. He had a good punch, tall awkward with a good jab. He is boring as **** but with him throwing powerful straight punches he would be a threat to anybody and solid competition.

 

Come on, dont let these goofs play you for a fool. A Floyd fan is a Roy fan. These same pieces of dog **** were hating on Roy back then like they do Floyd now. Its the same **** different era. Before that it was Ray Leonard and who he didnt fight rather then who he beat. YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS MANY PEOPLE GIVING ROY HIS PROPS PRE FLOYD'S ERA. PERIOD. They even shitted on his heavyweight win. :rofl:rofl:rofl Now that Floyd is here to hate on in his prime. "Roy was the best" "Roy is great" ****ing dingbats I tell you.

 

His inactivity was his own worst enemy. Calzaghe would've won a lopsided UD.