AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 24
Antonio Deon Tarver is an American former professional boxer and boxing commentator. In boxing he competed from 1997 to 2015, and held multiple light heavyweight world championships, including the WBA, WBC, IBF and Ring magazine titles, as well as the IBO light heavyweight and cruiserweight titles.
Transcribed:
This has been an incredible week, uh going down memory lane and remembering some of the epic contests like honestly in my researching these contests, i’m reminded of how exceptional these athletes were in their day, but none more so than roy jones jr, obviously um going way back Now uh bob fitzsimmons of well at least he was born in the uk, but moved to new zealand had a career that spanned 30 years, almost um from 1885 to 1914 um when he retired he did something.
That was nothing shy of unbelievable in that he won the middleweight world, strap the light heavyweight world strap and the heavyweight world strap now um.
He won the heavyweight title in the day when one didn’t have to be a heavyweight themselves to compete in the division um.
He never weighed more than 175 uh, which in today’s standards would have been a light heavyweight, but his opponents were always heavyweights.
Now roy did the same thing by today’s standards, but better uh, starting out his career as super welterweight.
He won his first world title at middleweight and then continued to win titles, super middleweight, light heavy weight and even a heavy weight.
The great sugary robinson failed in his attempt to go any higher than light heavyweight in he lost um in the 14th round.
I believe um, i can’t think of a more impressive comparison full stop.
Today, i’m talking about a 1996 atlantis um olympic summer games, bronze, medalist um in the light heavyweight division, an athlete who won the 95 pan american games, gold medal, the 95 world championship gold medal and the 95 us nationals gold gold medal.
He is the first person to have done this feat ever and still to this day it has never been repeated, an accomplished actor and yes, he’s the man that stopped roy jones jr for the very first time my name is bola raymond or lukewally, and this is The scoop born november 21st 1968 in orlando florida was a southpaw wrecking machine by the name of antonio tarver, it’s unknown when his amateur boxing campaign began.
But what is known is that it was a really successful one um the reigns supreme from pretty much 90 1993 through to 96 um as a light heavyweight winning three tournaments that i had mentioned earlier.
But something more noteworthy is that in the 95 world championships he actually beat vasali jiroff, who he ended up meeting up with against the following year at the atlanta games and lost to now.
There’S no shame in losing to giroff in those games, seeing how giroff won best boxer of the olympic games there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of on that one.
No shortly after these games, tar return pro now turtle made his pro debut on the 28th of february 1997, with a short with the second round.
Knockout over jaquin, garcia at the legendary blue horizons in philadelphia, star will put together an impressive win streak of 16 straight uh wins only to run into eric harding.
Now this one hurt, because not only did tarver touch canvas in the 11th round, which resulted in eric winning a unanimous decision where all three all three judges scored at the exact same um, tara, winning only four rounds of eight of 12 sorry of 12.
But it also was an ibf eliminator for roy jones jr hardy went on to fight roy, so be it um.
Two fights later trevor won a spectacular fight against uh, our friend chris johnson, with a 10th round stoppage that resulted in chris being carried out via stretcher and inevitably retired him from the sport as an athlete.
This is when i knew this guy could fight.
He was real.
You did that to my buddy he, this is real.
So in 2002, uh tarpon defeat former two way world champion reggie johnson by a split decision to win the nabf and the u.
s light um light heavyweight title and also guaranteed him shot at roy jones.
At least he thought he then scored a fifth round stoppage over harding in a rematch that was on the undercard um of shane mosley versus vern forest tarver was trailing on.
The scorecards in the fourth round ends up catching them and flooring them only to then drop them twice in the fifth which led to a stoppage.
On april 26, 2003 tarpon receives his first world title shot now.
This is due to roy having vacated the light heavyweight title light heavyweight, strap to move up to heavyweight um.
Initially roy went up there to fight mike tyson and actually in his grand scheme of how he wanted his career to play out.
He wanted that shot at tyson only and that’s the only heavyweight he wanted to fight and then come back down, beat tyson.
Come back down.
Um, there’s conflicting stories about this one uh, apparently some say roy uh mike never agreed to take the fight um.
Others say that mike agreed to take the fight, and once he agreed roy said hell no um, i don’t know, but what i do know is that he ended up fighting john ruiz and for the wba for his wba strap and just it was a one one-sided Boxing lesson he completely outclassed him and was he made history the first man never to come from middleweight all the way to heavyweight in today’s age and win the strap so november 8th 2003? Finally, tarver is scaring across the ring at roy tarver has done everything to get a title shot against roy and nothing worked thus far with roy moving up the heavyweight and it looked like the opportunity would wouldn’t serve us anytime soon now, post that fight with ruiz Roy went back down and as opposed to staying up there with the big boys.
This fight, when they finally got in the ring together, was for the wbc strap only because tarver had vacated his ibf strap due to.
He was supposed to fight a mandatory fight, but the timing wasn’t right and he wouldn’t be able to do the mandatory and fight raw and he wanted roy bad tarver was going everywhere.
Press conferences following roy chirping, chirping chirping constantly.
What is it going to take? Who do i have to be to get to fight? You is one one uh statement.
I remember him saying and roy said man.
I want to beat you so bad.
I see you in my sleep.
I said yes, this is a rivalry of the boys of florida.
So when this fight was a spectacular chess game, absolutely spectacular chess game um, but in the second round targo was so excited because he realized that he could handle roy’s speed at least sort of tarver being three inches taller and very athletic in his own right was Quite the challenge for roy, but he did it.
He held boxed him roy, wasn’t overly impressed with his performance either and was telling the media post fight that he felt weak and that he had to take 25 pounds of muscle off from his last fight.
For this contest, roy gave tarver an immediate rematch now may 15 2004 was the date of the boxing was never the same again.
For me, roy was pretty much started where he left off.
He all three scored cards had roy win the first round and yeah roy.
Then in the second round was caught and tarver tags roy with a monster straight left and roy goes to sleep and barely makes the count gets up for count.
Nine and judge nagy waved it off there’s a new light heavyweight king.
This fight won fight of the year and not go to the year, but it could easily have been for the decade or even ever.
No one saw this coming.
Tarp goes on to have two great fights against reggie johnson.
Oh sorry, glenn johnson, glenn johnson um, where he lost the first one but avenges the second one, and then he gives roy a third dance.
Now roy was no longer the same fighter shortly after his fight with tarver, where he got stopped in the second.
He went against the same glenn johnson, of which glenn knocked roy out in the ninth round, and roy was sleeping.
What seemed like for 10 minutes like it was long after long after the count was done.
He laid there motionless.
It was a terrifying sight.
Two back-to-back knockout losses, and now he faces tarver once again, he was completely gun shy.
Roy was a shell of his former self and fought this whole fight super defensively.
He and pretty much did nothing but survive.
There was times when he was clowning around, but he wasn’t scoring.
He wasn’t.
He wasn’t roy.
The legend was no more tarver, went on with his career and had some successes, um and won the international boxing organization.
Cruiserweight, strap against danny green only to lose the next fight when he fought latif coyote um and was stripped first.
It was seen as a draw.
Then it was deemed no contest because tarver tested a positive for steroids.
He put up a fight, he appealed it.
It came back positive again and he was then not just a no contest, but he was also stripped of his um ibo cruiserweight title, and it was actually just given right back to danny green and he went on to defend the title.
He was also fined and he had he got a suspension from him for his uh.
For his troubles.
Antonio charter was a sensational fighter.
He was six foot two two and a half i think um light heavyweight like they don’t come this big, incredibly powerful, str um, which called southpaw.
It was nothing shy of a difficult, difficult opponent by anyone’s by the stretch of most people in the heavyweight division um.
He finished his career but took some took her time off and now he’s coming back.
Look out for him he’s coming back, um, that’s a heavyweight uh! I’M excited to see exactly what happens.
Um.
I think that i’d like to see exactly how his power translated as a heavyweight, but i wish them all the best great guy, and that is my show.
So thank you.
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