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| Tarver bulked up to play Mason Dixon. It bought him some press, but the movie foray did not serve him well in the long run. |
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Tarver Over A Case Of Hollywooditis
By Rick Folstad
TAMPA - It’s like throwing up on your date at the senior prom. It’s an ugly memory that isn’t going to disappear with a good night’s sleep.
Same with some losses. The hurt lingers, festers, doubles you up when you think back on it and realize what you could have done to change things, give it a happy ending.
At least that’s the way Tampa’s Antonio Tarver seems to be looking at it. His one-sided decision loss to Bernard Hopkins almost two years ago is still a tender spot on his psyche. The loss seems to come up every time he holds a press conference.
But he’s got an explanation for the bad night. If you want to call it an excuse, it’s a good one. Though Tarver doesn’t give it a name, he lost to Hopkins because he had a rare condition we’ll call Hollywooditis.
He went to Hollywood to be in a movie with Sly Stallone, and when he came back home, he brought “50 extra pounds” with him. Even worse, he left his focus back in California. And then he decided to take a fight with Hopkins.
The only known cure for Hollywooditis is a dose of reality. Hopkins provided the medicine.
“He didn’t go to camp (for the Hopkins fight), he went to weight-watchers camp,” said promoter Gary Shaw at a press conference at the West Tampa Boxing Club. “It was the wrong fight at the wrong time.”
Tarver put it in fight terms.
“I left my fight in the gym.”
That explains why he couldn’t find it the night of the Hopkins fight.
He does seem to have gotten some of it back, winning two fights since the loss.
When Tarver (26-4, 19 KOs) faces IBF light-heavyweight champion Clinton Woods (41-3-1, 25 KOs) on Saturday night at the St. Pete Times Forum (SHOWTIME), he expects to have all of his “fight” back. And he’ll need all of it.
The fight is half of a double-header featuring four of the top light-heavyweights in the world. In the other title fight, WBC champion Chad Dawson (25-0, 17 KOs) faces former world champ Glen Johnson (47-11-2, 37 KOs) in a promotion called TNT, or Title Night in Tampa.
For Tarver, the fight with Woods is a chance to show the home crowd he still has a lot of fight left in him.
“I want to put to bed any notion that I’m over-the-hill,” said Tarver, 39. “The critics don’t have a clue. For them to write me off after one loss is ridiculous.”
Tarver says the key for him is to stay close to his fighting weight and maybe avoid making movies while he‘s still a top contender.
“I learned from the (Hopkins) fight,” he said. “I’ve just had one of my best camps and I am already on weight. I’m excited. I don’t remember the last time I was breathing hard in the gym. If I had a blueprint, I’d want every camp to be like this one.”
According to Tarver, another key to the fight is pressure. He hopes Woods brings it.
“If he fights like he always does and pressures me, the fight is going to end early,” Tarver said. “When I have to chase down guys and corner them, that’s when I have trouble. I don‘t think I will have to go looking for Woods. I‘m going to break him down and knock him out.“
A Tarver win won’t erase the loss to Hopkins, but it might help him sleep better.
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Stanley:
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Tarver - A has been, never was. A bum. The Roy Jones he beat was a bum that would have been knocked senseless by any top-50 light heavyweight in those 3 fights. He gets no credit for those 2 wins. He's the most overhyped and overrated fighter since Hector Camacho Jr. He's perhaps the most overrated fighter in the modern era. He's a bum. I'll be watching Cotto-Gomez on HBO. If HBO didn't have a card, I'd be in bed or watching Leave it to Beaver re-runs rather than watch Tarver. Tarver is a poor man's Derrick Gainer. I wouldn't watch Tarver if you paid me, and paid me handsomely. I pray that Clinton Woods knocks him out and banishes him from the sport permanently. Tarver's a BUM.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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jt:
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so he's basically offering us the same excuse jones provided after their rematch. i wonder if he'd be comfortable with the public diminishing his win over jones on account of weight loss. we're certainly supposed to temper our assessment of his performance against hopkins aren't we? this guy should just go away.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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steadadelica:
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i hope so to stanley, but i don't think its gonna happen. woods lacks knock out pedigree, and as i doubt tarver will be the first to KO clinton properly (not even a prime RJJ could do that) im betting on a tarver UD in front of home judges. i don't even think there is a chance of a stoppage in this one, as woods is compact enough to say out of any real trouble.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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DaveB:
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Tarver was really never that good. He was mediocre at best and horrible at worse He is a good talker but not a good walker. Roy Jones actually, I believe, could have knocked him out in the third fight if Roy wasn't so concerned about getting knocked out himself. The funny thing was how much Tarver talked about Roy after the first fight when Jones had the drastic weight loss and the accompaning weakness that goes along with it, and then Tarver turns around and does the same thing himself. Tarver's reputation was made solely off the two Jones fights and that is not good enough. Againt Hopkins and pretty much the rest of his career Tarver has shown me nothing. I don't know how Clinton Woods will win but I am picking him to win. I'll watch this one on the replay.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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Dino da Vinci:
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Stanley, let's be clear on this. You'd rather watch Wally and Lumpy than Tarver and Woods???
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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Radam G:
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Tarver can talk the talk. But seldomly can he walk the walk. This time he is walking into the Woods. I don't believe he can walk his way out. Clintron Woods has an opportunity to eat Tarver alive. Best of luck. Holla!
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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bill major:
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hey stanley,i never cared for the guy either but to call him all that is a little harsh.i can tell you never had spent anytime in the boxing ring or you wouldnt be bad mouthing him like that.
he had to have somthing to get where he is my man.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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Boxer:
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Tarver is no bum. He always had the style to beat Roy Jones, even at his best. What Tarver does is talk a lot, but so be it. His style is very punch-efficient. Boring but effective.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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CT:
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Tarver was the right man at the right time against Jones. If any other light heavyweight had been fighting Jones in their first fight, he'd have knocked Roy out. It's actually quite pitiful that Tarver was not able to KO RJJ in that fight, given how completely shot he was at the time. But Tarver seized the moment and professed that the 2 wins were great, that he dethroned a great fighter, etc, when instead if one examines it carefully, all he did was beat a very bad fighter. Tarver has one good win in his career, and that was the decision against Glen Johnson (after losing their 1st fight). That is the ONLY win that stands out on his resume. Tarver is a C-level fighter, and always has been. Woods should win tonight in an absolutely dreadful, lackluster, dull, boring, snoozefest of a "fight." My eyes will be on HBO's terrific double-header. Antonio Tarver has Showtime bamboozled; he's a Versus or ESPN2 caliber fighter AT BEST.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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Brandt:
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I regard Tarver's two wins over Roy Jones with the same enthusiasm I give Larry Holmes for his win over Ali. They are meaningless. Both Jones and Ali were shells of themselves at the time of each fight and would have lost to dozens of journeymen at the time. Clinton Woods is a pretty good fighter. This is an easy assignment for him. He'll expose Tarver tonight with absolute ease. I see a blowout. Tarver will be about surviving, and will make it the distance. 119-109 Woods UD.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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Eastar:
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Hey guys Tarver is overrated but whats with all the RJJ bashing. Roy was great fighter whole got old fast. It happens to fighters who rely on their athletic abilities rather than poor boxing skills. Anyway, I'm watching HBO tonight.
Saturday Apr 12, 2008
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Actions Speak So Loudly, Can't Hear What You're Saying
"Here's the problem with Winky, the man has OUTPRICED himself so many times that no one wants to even deal with him any more. Wright believes he's entitled to a fight with Pavlik or Oscar, but come on, a draw with Taylor, and he then refuses to do the rematch, followed by a easy win over Quartey, and then the UGLY fight with B-Hop. No one wants to see him after that. Winky needs to go back to the basics and work his way back to a big fight; sitting on the sidelines crying out for a $ fight ain't the way to do it. Get back in the ring. Actions speak louder than words."
---TSS reader Rudy gives Winky the business
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