IS “BAD” CHAD THE BEST AT LIGHTHEAVY?
Antonio Tarver, in a pre-fight interview Saturday night, explained that Chad Dawson might be the future, but Tarver, himself, is the present, and he’s not ready to pass the torch just yet. Unfortunately for Tarver, Dawson didn’t wait for an official torch-passing ceremony. He simply TOOK the torch, and looked like a seasoned professional in doing it, too.
The undefeated Chad Dawson (27-0, 17 KO’s) now holds the IBF and IBO world lightheavyweight titles, and would also hold the WBC title, if he hadn’t vacated it to obtain the fight with Tarver (27-5, 19 KO’s), who he’s wanted to fight for at least two years. The manner in which he won these titles Saturday night was impressive, to say the least. Simply put, he outworked and outhustled the man who knocked out Roy Jones in their second of three fights a few years back.
Dawson’s jabs were used beautifully to set up his power shots, including his killer left hook and overhand right hands, which were finding their target more often than Tarver ever imagined. Tarver seemed to be waiting his turn, and even was successful in staging combinations in return, but Dawson’s shots had much more steam on them. Overall, this was a basic case of an aging veteran getting overpowered by a young lion with his entire future in front of him. Dawson even took the time to take a round off completely from throwing punches, just to get a psychological edge over the mouthy Tarver. Instead, Dawson was the one with the sharp words, taunting Tarver while he allowed him to throw shots at will, to show that Tarver couldn’t hurt him.
The trash-talking initiated by Tarver in all the pre-fight hype wasn’t backed up by his actions. In the end, words rarely do anything but instigate and bring more anger out of the target of the verbal jabs. Dawson, who is usually quiet before fights, was goaded into some retaliatory words of his own, but not nearly to the extent of the multi-champ Tarver.
Four short years ago, Tarver and Glen Johnson were at the pinnacle of the division, each for destroying the former kingpin, Roy Jones, Jr. What a difference four years makes! Dawson has convincingly beaten both of them, and even had the moxie to give up a belt in order to make the best fight possible. He stands with only Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe ahead of him in the lightheavy rankings, and they’re, for the time being at least, really busy. Hopkins has his hands full with a catch-weight clash with middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, and Calzaghe is waging war with fellow legend Jones.
Where does this leave Dawson? Who knows, but for a young fighter who goes out of his way to make the best fights possible for the fans, the sky is the limit. Floyd Mayweather, who is newly retired from his spot as “The Best Fighter in the World”, calls Dawson “the best fighter, pound for pound, fighting today”. Coming from Floyd’s mouth, I’d say that’s worth something.
***Chris Guzman has hosted The Bolo Punch Boxing Hour since 2002.
