"Bad" Chad too much for Tarver
Published October 12, 2008 by Martin Bean
‘Bad’ Chad Dawson put in a superb display as he took Antonio Tarver’s IBF and IBO Light Heavyweight Titles in the Palms Casino in Las Vegas last night.
Dawson put on a display of maturity that belied his 26 years and exacted his game plan perfectly. Tarver did have some success in this all southpaw battle, but it seemed as though his 39 year old body just couldn’t cope with the speed or work rate of the younger Dawson.
Chad circled Tarver, happy to let the older man take the centre of the ring, and looked to land clusters of punches. Tarver had no real answer to these shots—it’s true that many were being blocked by the arms of Tarver, but he wasn’t able to land any counters at all. Dawson took the first two rounds at a canter and Tarver looked sluggish at best.
Tarver did come to life in round three, finally starting to get home with his much vaunted left hand and whilst Dawson didn’t look hurt at any point, there were noticeably less punches coming back at this point.
Round four saw some good boxing, with both having success, before Dawson’s speed and work rate saw him take the fifth round with consummate ease. I remember thinking to myself at this point that if Dawson just stayed busy then Tarver will not present him with any problems—Tarver was trying to catch punches his arms with some success but could not react quick enough to land any artillery of his own.
But in round six, Dawson came out quietly whilst Tarver, inspired by some harsh words in his corner, came out throwing some big shots and took the round with almost no reply from Dawson. Tarver finally managed to land some good left uppercuts and had now mastered the overhand left cross in a round with hardly any punches thrown by Dawson.
Game on—or so it seemed. Almost as if round six had taken more out of Tarver than Dawson, Tarver never managed to sustain an assault in such a fashion again. Dawson kept to his game plan on the outside and looked to land combinations. Dawson dominated round seven but from rounds eight to eleven the round were fairly close, with Dawson’s edge in speed taking them all.
Round twelve saw Tarver on the canvas but it was no more than a flash knockdown—Tarver was off balance when caught and he got up again straight away, arguing vehemently with Jay Nady over the validity of the knockdown.
At the end of the twelve round contest, it was Dawson that was rightly awarded a Unanimous victory and looks like he is going to feature prominently in the future of this division.
Future contests against the likes of Joe Calzaghe or Kelly Pavlik could like ahead and those would be excellent to watch. I just hope Calzaghe doesn’t retire after beating Roy Jones Jr; for years Joe’s complained that he had no competition but suddenly there is Dawson and Pavlik, both at their peak, desperate to fight the Welshman.
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