By Eric Thomas: International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (27-0, 17 KOs) weighed in at 175 during today’s weigh-in for tomorrow night’s title defense against Antonio Tarver (27-5, 19 KOs) at the Hard Rock Café, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tarver, now 40, weighed in at a slender 172 for the bout. Dawson, 26, is predicting a 6th round knockout over Tarver, whom he easily defeated by a 12-round unanimous decision in October 2008. Although Dawson wasn’t interested in giving Tarver a rematch because of the ease of Dawson’s victory last time out, Tarver had a rematch clause in the contract with Dawson, thus forcing the issue.
Dawson is seen as the top light heavyweight in the division at this time, although Bernard Hopkins might have something to say about that. Tarver at one time was thought to be the best light heavyweight in the division, but after losses to both Hopkins and Dawson in the past three years, Tarver has fallen off from his perch as the best light heavyweight in the division.
Dawson has better hand speed and power than Tarver, and feels that he’ll be able to dominate with these skills over the older Tarver. However, Tarver thinks that he can make things different this time by outworking Dawson.
In the last fight, Tarver often covered up while Dawson threw sustained flurries over and over again. Tarver had his moments in the 4th, 8th and in the 11th, but it was far too less than what he needed to get a decision over Dawson in the end. Dawson knocked Tarver down in the 12th. Besides that, there were no other knockdowns in the fight.
Tarver sees himself in a do or die situation, and says that he’s going to put everything he has into trying to attain the victory one way or another. Tarver is trying to distance himself from his previous performance against Dawson, in which Tarver didn’t throw enough punches and was on the receiving end of numerous flurries by Dawson.
Tarver, an expert defensive fighter, blocked many of the shots with his gloves, but due to the sheer number of punches that Dawson was throwing, many of the younger fighter’s punches were able to leak through Tarver’s usual impregnable defense to score points.
If Tarver is to get the win, he’s going to have to try and match Dawson’s high work rate or else try to find a way to neutralize Dawson’s flurries. Tarver has already tried blocking the shots, but that didn’t work, so Tarver is going to have to try and match Dawson’s work rate and hope to look better to the judges. Both fighters are southpaws and both are tall at 6’2” for Tarver and 6’3” for Dawson.
Unless Tarver has found the fountain of youth by chance, this bout figures greatly to end up as a repeat of the first fight in October. Tarver is a good talker, but Dawson is a better fighter in the ring and has the bigger power and better combinations.