By Scott Gilfoid: Tired of waiting for Joe Calzaghe to get off the pot and make a decision about his boxing career, undefeated IBF light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (27-0, 17 KOs has completed a deal to fight a rematch with Antonio Tarver (27-5, 19 KOs) on March 14th, either in Las Vegas, Nevada or in Connecticut. Dawson, 26, without another top fighter like Calzaghe or Bernard Hopkins to step up to the plate for a fight with him, he was forced to move onto his rematch with the 40-year-old Tarver.
This was a rematch that couldn’t be avoided for long, because Tarver had a rematch clause in his contract from the first fight between the two fighters in October 2008. Although the fight was terribly one-sided with Dawson winning almost every round of the fight, he had no choice by to fight Tarver again because of the rematch clause in the contract.
Due to the lopsided nature of the first fight, there’s little chance that this one will be any different than the first fight, except for, perhaps, the fight being even more one-sided as before. Dawson still has hopes that either Hopkins or Calzaghe will choose to fight him after he dispatches with Tarver, but frankly, I’m not holding my breath on that happening. Dawson is probably too fast, too powerful, too tall and much too dangerous for those two old dinosaurs to want to risk their hides against.
A fight against Calzaghe would be the best option for Dawson, but Calzaghe seems to be unable to make up his mind right now whether he wants to fight on or retire from boxing. Given his career track record, one would assume that if he does decide to stick around in the sport, the last person he would fight would be someone as dangerous as Dawson.
More likely, he retires rather than taking on a fighter as good as Dawson. If he does continue to fight, I can see him choosing someone less threatening, maybe Carl Froch or some other European fighter who most people have never heard of.
In his previous fight with Tarver, Dawson seemed to be fighting at half speed for much of the fight, so much better he was than Tarver. The only real times that Tarver could do anything was when Dawson would slow down, looking bored and would cover up and let Tarver get some shots off.
If not for these rare patches in some of the rounds, the fight would have been a slaughter because Tarver was really outclassed in this fight. However, at least by letting Tarver get some punches in, it made the fight somewhat interesting to watch because at least it wasn’t like watching Dawson punch around a heavy bag for 12-rounds without let up.
In a way, it seemed like Dawson was carrying Tarver, slowing down so as not to make the fight even more one-sided that it would have been otherwise. After letting Tarver get some shots in every once in awhile, Dawson would turn on his game again, attacking Tarver with blinding fast flurries and snowing under with shots to the head and body.
When this happened, it was like watching a child getting beaten by their parent and it was shocking to see how much better Dawson was than him. In the 12th round, Dawson nailed Tarver with a big right hand that sent him down to the canvas.
In Tarver’s desperation to try and score a knockout, he left himself open for a right hand from Dawson and was flattened briefly. Tarver got up, looking more embarrassed than hurt, and spent the remainder of the final round taking punishment from Dawson.
I don’t expect the rematch to be remotely competitive, because Dawson has way too many skills for someone as old, slow and weak as Tarver to handle. I feel somewhat sorry for Dawson that no one is willing to step up and face him among the so-called boxing greats.
However, there is one ray of light to look forward to. Dawson, according to his promoter Gary Shaw, is willing to fight Mikkel Kessler, just as long as Kessler can move up a few pounds to the light heavyweight weight limit. Sadly, that’s probably the only fighter willing to step it up and face Dawson, because I highly doubt Calzaghe ever will.
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