By Dan Ambrose: Photo credit Naoki Fakuda – Antonio Tarver is going with Chad Dawson to beat WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins on Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Tarver, who was previously beaten twice by Dawson and once by Hopkins, sees Dawson as the superior fighter because of his youth and talent.

Tarver told Yahoo Sports “”That Hopkins has done well and at 46 years old, wow, what he has done is unbelievable. That said, I just think Dawson is too talented, too young, and I think he’s just too good. That’s just my take on it after being in the ring with both guys.”

Tarver lost a 12 round decision to a younger Hopkins five years ago in 2006, and then was beaten by Dawson by a pair of 12 round decisions losses in 2008 and 2009. Tarver knows what Dawson and Hopkins can do in the ring, and feels that the taller 6’3” Dawson is the better fighter than Hopkins. This is probably rub a lot of boxing fans wrong because they’re enamored with Hopkins and are caught up in his great accomplishments with his ability to extend his career for so long.

However, nothing lasts forever and old lions like Hopkins are taken down by the younger lions like Dawson all the time and I believe this is going to be the case on Saturday night. Hopkins is about to run out of luck in a big way on Saturday, and it’s going to be an education for a lot of fans who see him as invincible. Yes, he can beat old guys like Roy Jones Jr. now that Jones is 42, and he can beat fighters like Jean Pascal and Kelly Pavlik, but Dawson is different. Dawson is a lot better those guys and Hopkins is about to see his luck run out on Saturday night and there’s not much he can do about it.

Dawson is one fighter Hopkins can’t mug or slow down the fight enough to win a close decision. None of those tricks are going to work on Saturday night, and it’s going to be sad if Hopkins is unable to acknowledge that he got beat this time. He’ll be the only thinks that because it’s going to be so one-sided.