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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

December 1, 2007

Foxwoods Casino-Mashantucket, Connecticut

IBO Light Heavyweight (175 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Antonio Tarver (25-4, 18 KO's, 175 pounds) (c) vs. Danny Santiago (29-3-1, 19 KO's, 174 pounds)

The champion won this title when it was vacant in his last match, 12-round majority decision over Elvir Muriqi on June 9, 2007 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The previous champion was Bernard Hopkins, who relinquished the title to face Winky Wright in a big money match.

Tarver had a great amateur career that saw him win the gold medal in the Pan American Games and World Amateur Championships in 1995, and the bronze medal at 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games all representing the United States at 178 pounds.

The Tampa, Florida resident turned pro on February 18, 1997, and achieved his greatest victory in avenging a loss to then pound-for-pound best Roy Jones, Jr. on May 15, 2004. Tarver won 8 different versions of the championship at 175 pounds by defeating Jones via technical knockout in round 2 on that night.

However, following a long layoff to film Rocky Balboa (aka Rocky VI) Tarver was accused of being unfocused and lost a wide unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins on June 10, 2006.  Tarver blamed the loss in part on him being poisoned the night before, despite test post match test results saying he was fine. It is speculated he may have been drained from cutting too much weight, because he added cosmetic muscle for his role in Rocky Balboa that was counter productive to his boxing career. The loss caused Tarver to take another long lay off before he returned to the ring for his last match, calling himself a boxer and an actor.

Tarver's win over Muriqi was unimpressive.  The 1996 Olympian looked good in spots, but was completely out of gas by the end of the match indicating poor preparation for the match. His workrate was inconsistent throughout the match and his punches became wild arm punches by the end of the night. The only intensity Tarver showed relating to the match was the anger he showed after he hearing the awful scoring of the match. The kindest score cards could have had Tarver winning by 4 points, and my card had him winning by 8 points. On one scorecard the match was scored a draw, and another gave Tarver a 2 point advantage. After that match, Tarver said he was going to be competing again in September.

The champion is ranked by The Ring as the number 3 contender at 175 pounds to its champion in the weight class, Bernard Hopkins.

Santiago had a good amateur background. He won various United States regional championships in 1995 and 1996 at 178 pounds. However, to qualify for the larger tournaments he had to go through the stellar amateur Tarver in his home state of Florida and nationally.

Santiago was picked for the most recent season of the reality show "The Contender" (Season 3), but failed to earn a match in that show's tournament. Santiago is coming in as a late replacement for this match on 4 weeks notice, and there was talk that the IBO would not sanction him for a title match. The challenger usually has a 9 week training camp to prepare for his matches. The short training my be a factor with conditioning the longer this match goes, and Tarver has gone the full 12 rounds with 7 of his last 8 opponents. However, when looking at common opponents, Santiago scored a round 4 technical knockout victory over Muriqi on October 2, 2004 at Madison Square Garden.

The resident of Ocala, Florida's last match was a round 8 technical knockout loss to Zsolt Erdei on January 27, 2007 at Burg-Waechter Castello in Dusseldorf, Germany. Santiago was knocked down in rounds 2 and 8, before the match was finally stopped with 1:55 to go in round 8.

The challenger is unranked by The Ring, and the number 59 ranked boxer at 175 pounds by boxrec.com.

Santiago has the age advantage at 34-years-old, compared to the 39-year-old Tarver. Tarver has a large height advantage standing 6' 1.5" tall, while Santiago stands 5' 8.5" tall. The champion probably has the reach advantage with a 74" wingspan, but there is no reach numbers available for Santiago. The reason there are no reach numbers available for Santiago is because his trainer refused to allow the boxer's wingspan to be measured, because it would give something away. Neither boxer's unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, Santiago may be the heavier boxer at match time, because he has had weight issues in the past and makes a large cut to get down to the weight limit. The champion will employ the southpaw stance, and the challenger will employ the orthodox stance.

Two of the judges keeping official score of this contest are from Florida, while the other is from Connecticut. The referee is Steve Smoger, who appears to have gotten a new tie.

Close and ugly round 1 filled with lots of holding and little clean punching. Santiago may have barely won round 1, 10-9.

Another champion at 175 pounds, Chad Dawson, does an interview with Showtime's Jim Gray. Dawson, a Connecticut native, wants a match with Tarver making his appearance at the event part of that statement. Dawson is scheduled to box next in April, potentially against Glen Johnson, but Dawson wants Tarver.

Tarver wins round 2, 10-9. The crowd boos the match after round 2, which seems fair even though Tarver showed a little bit more at the end of the round behind a good straight left hand. Tarver wins round 3, 10-9. Santiago had some good moments in the round and was pushing Tarver back at points in the round. However, Tarver finished the round strong landing a straight left that had Santiago in trouble in the last minute, which is what won the champion the round. After 3 rounds, Tarver leads on my scorecard, 29-28.

A series of body punches followed up by some left hands to the head sends Santiago stumbling and through the ropes with 34 seconds to go in round 4. Santiago satisfactorily answers the referees count and the action is resumed with 18 seconds to go in the round. Tarver goes back to work on the body of the challenger and then follows up with a combination to the head that sends Santiago to the canvas with 10 seconds to go in round 4. The referee stops the contest when Santiago hits his knees, ending the contest. The crowd boos the finish.

The official decision is: that at 2:53 of round 4 the winner by way of technical knockout, and still IBO Light Heavyweight Champion of the World, "The Magic Man" Antonio Tarver. The win moves Tarver to 26-4 with 19 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

In Tarver's post match interview he said he would like to face the winner of Jeff Lacy vs. Peter Manfredo, Jr. in April. That would presumably be Lacy, and set up a match with Calzaghe after Calzaghe defeats Hopkins, with Lacy being used as the measuring stick to compare Calzaghe and Tarver.

The judges had it unanimously in favor of Tarver all by the identical score at the time of the stoppage, 30-27.

The performance by Tarver could be classified as an unimpressive round 4 technical knockout victory. The last 2 performances from Tarver show that he is either performing well below his perceived abilities, or the public assessment of Tarver's abilities are too high and the champion is well past his prime. Santiago was available to be hit all night, and his power was not a threat to Tarver. However, Tarver did not box aggressively, and a performance like this against top opposition would result in a loss for the Tampa resident.

Santiago performed well in losing. All 4 of his losses have come via knockout. The vulnerability Santiago showed to body punches, and the height he is giving up at this weight class show he is boxing in the wrong division. Santiago cannot box at a top level above 154 pounds, and ideally should drop 5 weight classes to 140 pounds to be able to match size with the boxers at the elite level.