By Eric Thomas: It’s hard to imagine Antonio Tarver fighting any better than he did tonight against International Boxing Federation light heavyweight champion, but in the end Tarver still ended up losing by a 12-round decision to Dawson at the Hard Rock Café, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dawson won nine rounds to three on two of the judges’ scorecards and eight rounds to four on the other. (Judges’ scores: 116-112, 117-111 and 117-111)

However, there was much more expected of the 26-year-old Dawson, who is considered to be the best of the light heavyweights. There was no doubt who won the fight, except with Tarver and his trainer Buddy McGirt, who felt that they should have been given the victory or at the very least a draw.

Let me tell you, Tarver didn’t come close to winning the fight or getting a draw. He clearly lost, and the only reason the fight was close was because Dawson had the habit of turning off his offense at times and letting Tarver take over for brief stretches.

It was just like the first fight where Dawson did the exact same thing, where he would dominate for two minutes of a round, but would then suddenly cover up and allow Tarver to throw punches without Dawson firing back. Last time, it looked like Dawson was allowing Tarver to get in some punches out of boredom, as if Dawson needed to have Tarver landing punches so that he could stay interested in the fight.

This time, though, Dawson looked bored and tired, especially in the last three rounds of the fight where Dawson wasn’t letting his hands go nearly enough. This let the 40-year-old Tarver get in a lot of shots and get some confidence as if he was getting back into the fight.

Tarver really wasn’t, because he had too many rounds to make up. What Dawson did do is let the fight be close enough (if you call 117-111 scores close) to where Tarver could walk away feeling he won the fight. And because of that, Tarver will likely feel that he can continue his boxing career a little longer, but he might be kidding himself because I can’t see Tarver beating any of the other light heavyweight champions, and certainly not Dawson.

Dawson did the better work in the first half of the fight, landing fast punches with a lot of power. The tall slender Tarver kept throwing back, but his punches had much less speed and power in comparison to Dawson’s shots. As the fight got into the later rounds, Dawson began to throw less and less punches, allowing Tarver to get into fight a little.

Still, the difference between the two of them were dramatic, as when Tarver was punching, his shots were much slower and weaker in comparisons to Dawson’s blazing fast and powerful punches. But Dawson just wasn’t throwing enough of them in the last three rounds and ended up turning a fight that would have been a virtual shutout into a still pretty lopsided score of 117-111.

The performance or lack thereof for Dawson will make it hard for him to get a fight with Bernard Hopkins or perhaps another top fighter. Dawson will likely next go after a super middleweight, possibly Jermain Taylor or one of the other top fighters in the division.

Other than Hopkins, there really isn’t anyone for Dawson to fight at light heavyweight that will give him a good payday or help him increase his reputation in the boxing world.