Tarver Taps to Vicotory

MEMPHIS, TN - Antonio Tarver took a unanimous decision from Glen Johnson in a 12-round light heavyweight bout on Saturday, avenging a loss to Johnson six months ago.

The 36-year-old Johnson had a tremendous year in 2004 narrowly beating Tarver in December in Los Angeles but he couldn't overcome a slow start in Saturday's rematch.

Tarver vowed to be in better shape this time, and he was as he took the IBO light heavyweight title from Johnson via unanimous decision.

"We wanted to be quick and we wanted to be fast and let our hands go. It's an example of how hard we worked in camp," Tarver said. "We made weight two weeks ago."

Tarver had winning scores of 116-112 on two cards and 115-113 on the third.

He came out punching in light flurries throughout the 12 rounds. He ended up throwing 851 punches, landing 218, while Johnson fired 564 times and hit 149.

By the 10th round, the rapid punching drew cheers of "Tarver! Tarver!"

"When I'm in rhythm, I can let my hands go pretty good and we hit him with some devastating uppercuts. And the hook worked tonight," he said.

Tarver, 23-3 (18 KOs), also sought to take advantage of his longer reach, while Johnson, 42-10-2 (28 KOs), steadily tried to press inside.

The best round was the 11th when Johnson, sensing he needed a knockout to win, backed Tarver up the entire round looking to land the big haymaker.

Tarver looking visibly sluggish and out of breath, survived the final round by clinching Johnson every chance he could. The crowd booed in disapproval, but the strategy worked.

"Every time I would set up, he would slide under me and I had to readjust. I have to take my hat off to Antonio Tarver. I have no quarrel at all with the decision. I was a little bit sluggish. I couldn't get my punches off fast enough. He fought a great fight. I have no excuses. I am not a sorry loser. A better fighter beat me tonight," Johnson said.

Johnson said he was ready for a rematch but that would be up to Tarver.

"If Tarver wants to fight again, I'll come back fighting," Johnson said. "And if he wants to do something else, so be it."

Johnson of Miami and Tarver of Tampa, the only two fighters to knock out former three-time world champion Roy Jones, fought in Las Vegas in December, with Johnson taking the victory.

Tarver said he's ready to fight Johnson or Jones if he decides to come out of retirement.

"Two great fights like that, it's inevitable. We've got to do it again for the fans and for the money. We deserve it. I'm 36 years old so I need to do what I've got to do right now," he said.

For their December fight, Tarver gave up the WBC title and Johnson surrendered the IBF crown.

Olympic gold medalist Andre ward, improved his professional record to 4-0 with a technical knockout of Ben Aragon, 4-4-1, in the third round of a scheduled six-round middleweight bout.

Former WBA welterweight champion Ike Quartey, 36-2-1, took an unanimous decision over former IBF and WBO junior middleweight champ Verno Phillips, 38-11-1, in a 10-round junior middleweight fight.

Sonny Banerjee
Editor-in-chief

Information from other publications and wire services was used in the compilation of this report.