By Dan Ambrose: Former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver (27-4, 19 KOs) had an easy time defeating IBF light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods (41-4-1, 24 KOs) by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the St. Pete. Times Forum, in Tampa, Florida. Woods, 35, had been predicted by many ring experts to defeat the 39 year-old Tarver, who had been showing signs of slowing down in his last three fights. However, Woods seemed to chock under the bright lights of the U.S, in that he did next to nothing until he was well behind in the fight and in need of a knockout, not just points.

Woods, from England, is known for throwing lots of punches every round and generally outworking his opponents. Against Tarver, however, Woods looked terrified, as if he was afraid to let his hands go for fear that he’d get hit with something big from Tarver. It’s strange that Woods would be afraid of Tarver, since he’s not that big of a puncher and isn’t known for having tremendous power in his punches. Whatever the case, Woods ended up losing by landslide by the scores of 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112.

I agree with the first score whole-heartedly, the fight wasn’t even remotely close. Tarver looked excellent in the first six rounds, tagging Woods with long jabs and beautiful straight left hands to the head. Woods attempted to get inside but found it tough, as he’d take straight left hands each time he’d move in. Also, Tarver, who usually doesn’t move a lot in his bouts, especially in recent years, used a lot of foot movement to keep Woods from catching up with him.

In the 7th round, Tarver appeared to be tiring a little. He looked slow, his mouth open and had lost a lot of the power on his shots. Woods, however, was still doing next to nothing, mostly just following Tarver around without throwing anything.

It wasn’t until the 9th round, when Tarver appeared to take the round off, that Woods finally seemed to win a round. It was close, however, because Tarver came on strong in the last forty seconds of the round, hitting Woods with some good shots. However, if this was a round that Woods could have gotten, it would be this one. He looked average, nothing like a champion.

Woods continued to outwork Tarver in the 10th round, landing a few more punches than him and keeping the pressure on him.

In the 11th and 12th rounds, Tarver appeared to get his second wind and pulled away from Woods with ease. In the last two rounds, Tarver moved constantly, hitting Woods with jabs and left hands at will. By this time, Woods looked defeated and beaten. His face was swollen and red, and he looked as if he’d taken a beating.

It’s too bad that the fight had to come directly after the Chad Dawson vs. Glen Johnson fight, because neither Tarver or Woods could hold a candle to Dawson and Johnson. For one, both were much slower than Dawson, and it make the fight look as if it were fought in slow motion. Tarver did look good, however, and did what he had to do against Woods, who must have frustrated many of his fans that came all the way from England just to watch him lose to Tarver.

With this win, Tarver moves now to perhaps a title unification bout with the IBF champion Dawson. I’m betting that Tarver opts not to fight Dawson, because he’d probably lose quite handily, but I’m hoping he does.