By Dan Ambrose: In the battle of the aging light heavyweights, 39 year-old former champion Antonio Tarver (26-4, 19 KOs) challenges 35 year-old IBF light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods for his title on April 12th at the St. Pete Times Forum, in Tampa, Florida. Tarver, ranked #4 in the IBF, has done little to earn a shot at Woods other than by fighting to a majority draw with Elvir Muriqi in June 2007, and six months later stopping a fighter named Danny Santiago in the 4th round in December. That’s not exactly impressive credentials for his last two fights, though if you go one fight deeper, Tarver lost his lightly regarded IBO light heavyweight championship in a 12-round lopsided decision to Bernard Hopkins in June 2006.
For the most part, it seems that Tarver has landed the bout with Woods mainly off his impressive resume over the course of his career rather than anything that he’s done lately. Woods, however, isn’t about to argue with a bout with Tarver, for aside from him, Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins, there are few other big money fights on the horizon for Woods. That is, if Woods can hold onto the title for that long, for even at 39, Tarver presents a formidable opponent for him because of his southpaw stance and exceptionally long arms.
Offensively, Tarver doesn’t have much that Woods hasn’t seen before in his career, but with his jab and because of the awkwardness that comes with fighting a southpaw, Woods may be in for a tougher task than what he bargained for. Certainly, Tarver isn’t the same fighter he was in 2004, when he stopped Roy Jones Jr. in a surprising 2nd round KO, resulting in Jones being knocked completely out cold. That was Tarver at his ultimate prime in his career, but unfortunately it didn’t last long because he lost seven months later to Glen Johnson in split decision.
Though Tarver would avenge the defeat to Johnson, and once again defeat Jones in their third and final bout, Tarver would turn around and lose once again, this time to Hopkins. Since that defeat, Tarver has seemed reluctant to go face tough opponents, as he’s ignored WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, whom has been calling him out for a year now, attempting to get Tarver in the ring.
That’s totally unlike Tarver, in that he never turned down an opponent earlier in his career, and actually was the one that was calling out fighters constantly. It’s not a good sign to see him turning a blind eye to young fighters like Dawson, although it’s probably makes sense from his point of view since he’d likely be beaten by the likes of Dawson, probably quite easily at that.
As for Woods, his chin and his excellent inside fighting ability and his superb ability to punch without seemingly tiring, makes him a very tough fighter to beat at this point in his career. Though he’s 35, he’s well preserved for his age and fights like someone at least 10 years younger. He’s successfully defended his IBF title four times since winning it against Rico Hoye in March 2005, beating the always tough Julio Cesar Gonzalez twice by decision, Jason DeLisle and former light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson as well. While he may not have the skills or power of someone like Dawson or Hopkins, he’s very close to being as good as either of them due to his chin and his ability to sustain his power late into his bouts.