By Matt Stein: Undefeated International Boxing Federation light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (27-0, 17 KOs) will be getting back in the ring this Saturday night against former IBF light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver (27-5, 19 KOs) in a rematch of their October 11th, 2008 bout, which saw Dawson handily defeat the 40-year-old Tarver by a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision at the Palms Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

If there was ever a good time to make an argument about doing away with rematch clauses in fight contracts it’s this one. The only reason that Dawson is fighting Tarver again seven months later after the first mismatch is because Tarver had a rematch clause put in the contract with Dawson, meaning that if Dawson defeated him and took his IBF light heavyweight title it would mean that Dawson would have to give him a rematch.

Thus, here we are about to watch a fight that will in all likelihood be just a terrible mismatch as the first fight was. At 26, Dawson is easily the best light heavyweight in the division and is approaching his prime years.

In the case of Tarver, who at one time was the best fighter in the light heavyweight division, he’s definitely on the downside of his career and not fighting at the same level he was five years ago when he shocked the world by stopping Roy Jones Jr. in the 2nd round in 2004.

However, even if Tarver was still in his prime, it’s doubtful that he would be able to compete with a fighter as big, fast and powerful as Dawson. It every category Dawson comes out ahead of Tarver and just seems to be an all around superior fighter. Tarver looked great last year in defeating Britain’s Clinton Woods by a 12-round decision to capture the IBF title.

But in facing Dawson, Tarver was far too slow and didn’t have the work rate to compete with Dawson. Part of the problem, besides Tarver’s lack of hand speed, was that he was unable to control the fight from the outside where he often is dominant.

Usually, the 6’2” Tarver has towered over his opposition and has had a significant reach advantage as well. This has enabled the southpaw Tarver to jab from the distance without getting hit all that often. However, Dawson is even taller than Tarver at 6’3” and has an inch and half reach advantage at 76 1/2” .

Also, Tarver has been able to give his opponents problems with his southpaw stance. This, too, was neutralized by Dawson, as he’s a southpaw as well and moves much better than Tarver.

I’d like to hope that Tarver will do better job than last time, but I doubt he will. In their last fight, Dawson pounded Tarver at will with blazing fast flurries and then only time that Tarver could get in any shots of his own was when Dawson would take breaks to cover up. It looked like a sparring session in all honesty, because Dawson basically toyed with Tarver for 12 rounds and dominated almost every minute of the fight.

In the 12th, Tarver, way behind in the fight, came out looking for a knockout and was promptly decked by Dawson after getting hit with a right hand. If Tarver had fought aggressively like this from the opening bell, I think he would have lasted no more than a round or two against Dawson. Look for Tarver to fight the same safety-first fight he did last time out and get easily beaten by Dawson in a lopsided 12-round decision defeat.

Sturm to Fight Gevor on July 11th

World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight champion Felix Sturm (32-2-1, 14 KOs) will be fighting his number #4 ranked opponent Armenian Khoren Gevor (30-3, 16 KOs) on July 11th at the Nuerburgring race track, in Nuerburg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. This will be Sturm’s 7th defense of his WBA middleweight title which he won in a controversial 12-round decision over Javier Castillejo in April 2007.

Sturm, 30, is coming off a 7th round stoppage over Koji Sato last month on April 25th. Sturm has taken a great deal of negative feedback for fighting soft opponents in his non-mandatory title defenses, as well as his lack of high level of opposition during his career.

Gevor, 30, has good overall talent, but has been beaten by two of the three quality fighters that he’s fought in his career. Gevor was defeated twice by Lukas Konecny in 2002 and knocked out by Arthur Abraham in the 11th round in August 2007. However, Gevor recently defeated Amin Asikainen by a 7th round TKO in November 2008.

Sturm should be able to win this one without too many problems. Gevor likes to fight in close, and he’ll have problems getting near enough to Sturm to land due to Felix’s jab and sound defense.