Tarver needs to keep fighting until the end
LAS VEGAS -- Antonio Tarver insists he won't leave the outcome of tonight's rematch with Roy Jones Jr. to the judges.
Jones insists he will fight a different fight than the laconic one he fought -- mostly from the ropes -- six months ago.
The boxer who successfully changes the approach he took in their fight Nov. 8 -- when Tarver dominated the first half but then grew hesitant and allowed Jones to snatch victory away in the final two rounds -- will leave the Mandalay Bay Events Center as light heavyweight champion.
This will be the culmination of lifetimes spent in each other's face. Jones and Tarver have been rivals since they were teenage amateurs growing up in Florida. They seldom faced each other as they grew older, but they always faced each other's reputations and successes.
As professionals, their paths crossed but not in the ring. As the years passed and Jones became arguably the best boxer in the world, Tarver grew cold in his shadow.
But when Jones moved up to 175 pounds after first winning the middleweight and super middleweight titles, Tarver began to stalk him. He showed up regularly at Jones's postfight press conferences and at ringside, demanding a fight and insisting Jones was ducking him.
Many thought this was the ravings of an egomaniac whose own career had drifted off-kilter until the two finally found themselves with no place to go but at each other. As close as their fight was when both were 13 (Jones won), it was equally tight at age 35, but in the end Jones won a majority decision, with one judge calling the fight a draw and two siding with Jones.
For all his fire in the early rounds, Tarver had convinced none of the judges he'd won but the same was not true of the crowd, which booed the decision lustily.
After seeing Tarver pin Jones on the ropes and dig away at him, the crowd concluded competitiveness was enough to signal victory. It is not.
What Tarver must do is change his game plan enough to keep the pressure on Jones for the whole fight. This time, Tarver must be ready to contend with a faster and more agile Jones.
Jones is not in the habit of granting rematches and his opponents are not in the habit of asking for them. Yet Tarver's performance warranted one. Now he's got it. What he does with it is up to him.
"I think the judges were so in awe of what they were seeing that they couldn't believe it themselves," Tarver said of the first fight's disputed outcome. "I think he got a lot of credit just for being Roy Jones Jr. If the same thing happens again, they are going to have to do the right thing."
Maybe, but only if Tarver fights a complete fight -- and the complete fight. He cannot takes rounds off and he cannot fail to push at the end. The last two rounds of their first fight argued forcefully for Jones -- not only for his talent, but also that winning still meant a lot to him. More that night than it meant to Tarver.
Very likely Jones will come out fast and try to overwhelm Tarver with his speed and power. He will try to keep his lead left foot outside of the southpaw's lead right, because if he can do that, it will force Tarver to move to his left, right into Jones's power. It will also negate Tarver's long right jab.
Jones needs to avoid going right-hand happy, as he not only did against Tarver but also against several other lefthanded opponents. This is important for several reasons, not the least of which is his best punch is the left hook.
Tarver, conversely, must move more than he did in the first fight and keep his own right foot outside of Jones's left so he can throw his best shots and then slide away from Jones's counters.
"Jones may come out right at us and try to gun Antonio out of there," said Tarver's trainer, Buddy McGirt. "What we have to do when Roy starts gunslinging is shoot bullets right back at him. Then we'll be all right."
Maybe, but only if Tarver remains unsatisfied with his work until the job is done. 