BoxRec

How long would Antonio Tarver last against

Ezzard Charles?
Archie Moore?
Bob Foster?

Would he make it through, lets say, 6 rounds with any of these guys?

Would he make it through, lets say, 6 rounds with any of these guys?

Not a chance.

Maybe combined with all 3 6 rounds

I think Tarver is being down played. While I don't believe he is an all-time great or anything close to it, I think after losing to Bernard Hopkins everybody has abandoned him and has since discredited him as being the biggest joke to ever wear the LHW title.

Ironic, he might as well be the character he played in ROCKY BALBOA. An underappreciated fighter and champion, who, no matter what he does, is considered not enough and is blamed solely for the division's problems.

Before fighting Jones they all said he was just a loud mouth with no chance, then he fights Jones and loses a controversial decision---and everybody excuses Jones because the 'only' reason he looked like shit [and yes I am being sarcastic] was because he dropped down from HW from a one fight experiment against John Ruiz.

Tarver fights him again, knocks him out, and again everybody down plays the significance that either Jones was still having problems from his weight loss or that he was a shot fighter so the victory didn't mean shit. Then Tarver beats Jones again---but again the victory is meaningless because Jones just lost to Glen Johnson also by knockout---then Tarver beats Johnson being more or less the undisputed LHW champion.

Again nobody cares...then he fights Hopkins and for the first time in his career he's the favorite and then loses...and then he's dismissed as being the worst abortion in boxing history...losing to a fighter of Bernard Hopkins status isn't exactly something to be ashamed of.

As far as how well Tarver would do against the likes of Moore, Charles and Bob Foster, I must admit I can't see him beating any of these men. But I can't name that many LHW's who could in their time or now. So, really its a given victory for all three of those legends.

HomicideHenry most of what you say is BS excuses for Tarver, and support of him and his poor representation of the LHW crown holder. He really doesn't desrve any respect, he hasn't earned any.

Here are a few recently past LHW that could beat on any given day, any of those 3, Tarver is not one of them.

Michael Spinks
Michael Moore
Victor Galindez
Evander Holyfield
Mathew Saad Mohamad

I would even go so far as to say that many MW could do to him what Hopkins did.

Monzon
Hagler
Toney

JAHamilton77 wrote:How long would Antonio Tarver last against

Ezzard Charles?
Archie Moore?
Bob Foster?

Would he make it through, lets say, 6 rounds with any of these guys?

Maybe if he was allowed to ride his bike around the ring to get away from them for awhile!... 8)

ringsider wrote:HomicideHenry most of what you say is BS excuses for Tarver, and support of him and his poor representation of the LHW crown holder. He really doesn't desrve any respect, he hasn't earned any.

Here are a few recently past LHW that could beat on any given day, any of those 3, Tarver is not one of them.

Michael Spinks
Michael Moore
Victor Galindez
Evander Holyfield
Mathew Saad Mohamad

I would even go so far as to say that many MW could do to him what Hopkins did.

Monzon
Hagler
Toney

2 comments:
1. Why do so many people think that Holyfield was a lightheavyweight?
2. ringsider, do realize that you picked Hagler to beat someone? was that a typo?

ringsider wrote:HomicideHenry most of what you say is BS excuses for Tarver, and support of him and his poor representation of the LHW crown holder. He really doesn't desrve any respect, he hasn't earned any.

Here are a few recently past LHW that could beat on any given day, any of those 3, Tarver is not one of them.

Michael Spinks
Michael Moore
Victor Galindez
Evander Holyfield
Mathew Saad Mohamad

I would even go so far as to say that many MW could do to him what Hopkins did.

Monzon
Hagler
Toney

Sorry, but no way Victor Galindez or Saad Mohamad have a chance of beating Moore and Charles.

Exciting fighters, but skill-wise they would be outclassed.

I don't see how you can rank Moorer as a light HW considering he never fought anyone notable at Light HW at all.

Holyfield never fought at 175 or below his entire pro career.

2. ringsider, do realize that you picked Hagler to beat someone? was that a typo?

Sadly it was not..........

Ezzard Charles W PTS
Archie Moore W PTS (or late TKO)
Bob Foster W TKO late

Ambling Alp wrote: 1. Why do so many people think that Holyfield was a lightheavyweight?

that was in another thread too... I know the IBF calls Cruiserweight JR Heavyweight, but I thought EH's career was fairly common knowledge?

with Tarver, the other thing to keep in mind is that he basically had a career-long obsession with a single fighter - Jones - and so his performance in those fights doesn't at all extrapolate to how he does against other fighters.

Kinda like trying to extrapolate from, say, Iran Barkley's wins against Hearns to how Barkley did against other fighters. Night and Day. Jekyll and Hyde. Salt 'n Pepa. {Your favorite black and white simile here!}

To be fair to Tarver as well, he's in his late 30s now and I think he's basically been sliding since the 2nd Jones fight... ok, he's not a great but he's a good fighter... I dont think its fair to judge him as a fighter on his last few performances when he's obvoously fading....