By Jason Kim: International Boxing Organization (IBO) cruiserweight champion Danny Green (31-3, 27 KO’s) will be facing 42-year-old former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver on July 20th at the Entertainment Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This is a bout where the two fighters will have a combined age of 80, and is looking like nothing more than a money bout for Green rather than an interesting fight for boxing fans.

Green, since his come back in 2007, has faced Anthony van Niekerk, Julio Cesar Dominguez, 41-year-old Roy Jones Jr., Manny Siaca, Paul Briggs, BJ Flores and now the 42-year-old Tarver. The fights against Briggs, Jones and now Tarver are more like old timers fights than ones against top contenders. Tarver is fighting at heavyweight now, Jones is a fighter that is struggling at this late stage in his career and Briggs was coming off of retirement to take the fight. The question is why isn’t Green taking on fighters like Denis Lebedev, Steve Cunningham, Yoan Pablo Hernandez, Marco Huck, Alexander Frenkel, Ola Afolabi, Guillermo Jones, Steve Herelius or Troy Ross rather than defending the IBF title against older fighters? Green can do better than this.

Green will probably beat Tarver, but so what? Tarver isn’t a cruiserweight and is 42, almost 43. I’d rather see a rematch between Green and Flores than see Green take on Tarver. I want to see Green break from his pattern and take on a guy like Lebedev and get involved with the major players at cruiserweight. Picking off old bodies like Tarver, Jones and Briggs isn’t nearly as interesting than going after the top guys that are still relevant at cruiserweight.