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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

October 11, 2008

Palms Casino-Las Vegas, Nevada

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

Antonio Tarver (27-4, 19 KO's, 174 pounds) (c) vs. Chad Dawson (26-0, 1 NC, 17 KO's, 174 pounds)

Tarver won his IBO title when it was vacant via 12-round unanimous decision over Elvir Muriqi on June 9, 2007 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The original recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/10/10/preview-of-antonio-tarver-vs-chad-dawson-part-1.html The previous champion was Bernard Hopkins who vacated the title to take a bigger money match against Winky Wright. This is Tarver's third defense of this title.

The Tampa, Florida resident won the IBF Championship in his last match, a 12-round unanimous decision over Clinton Woods on April 12, 2008 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. Tarver was dominant in defeating the highly ranked Woods. However, there were still numerous things to criticize in Tarver's performance. Tarver appeared to only be interested in doing enough to win the match, which was very little. Tarver is making his first defense of this belt.

Tarver has not had a truly impressive performance in the ring since he defeated Roy Jones, Jr. on October 1, 2005 at the St. Pete Times Forum. Following that Tarver was dominated by Bernard Hopkins in his next match on June 10, 2006 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Tarver followed that up with his lackluster win over Muriqi, and a somewhat unimpressive technical knockout victory at 2:53 of round 4 over Danny Santiago on December 1, 2007 at the Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. That built to Tarver's domination of Woods, who appeared to be jet lagged from his trip from England to the United States and never mentally in the match.

Tarver is The Ring magazine's number 2 contender at 175 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Joe Calzaghe.

Conversely, Dawson has been piling up impressive victories while stalking Antonio Tarver. In the last 16 months, the two boxers have been put on the same card twice. When Tarver had a boring match with Muriqi in the main event on June 9, 2007. Dawson went on right before Tarver and stopped Jesus Ruiz in exciting fashion via technical knockout at 2:00 of round 6. After the match, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., who was training Dawson at the time, cut a promo on how Dawson wanted Tarver next. It was then emphasized how Dawson had never seen Tarver live before and was rushing to get changed to watch the main event. Then as promised, Dawson was shown several times in the crowd scouting Tarver during the main event to build the feud. The recap of this match can be found at the same link as the one above.

Dawson defeated his next opponent, Epifanio Mendoza with another impressive technical knockout at 2:30 of round 4 on September 29, 2007 at Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. Then was paired on the same April 12, 2008 card with Tarver.

That night Dawson had probably the best match of the year at 175 pounds with Glen Johnson. The match featured exciting back and forth action that had many observers scoring the match a draw. However, the official judges gave the match to Dawson in a narrow 12-round unanimous decision. After the match, Dawson again called out Tarver. Finally, Tarver concluded his interview after the main event accepting the challenge of Dawson and cutting a great promo on the young boxer. The recap of that entire event can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/10/10/preview-of-tarver-vs-dawson-part-4.html

Dawson is The Ring's number 3 contender at 175 pounds.

At 26-years-old, Dawson is 13 years younger then the 39-year-old Tarver. Tarver has the height advantage standing 6' 1.5" tall, while Dawson stands 6' 1" tall. Dawson has the reach advantage with a 76.5" wingspan, compared to the 74" wingspan of Tarver. Neither boxers' unofficial weights approaching match time are available. However, Dawson's camp believe Tarver had to do a severe weight cut to make weight for this match. That means the champion will come into the ring heavy and possibly dehydrated. Dawson is a small 175-pounder who makes the weight easily and could probably box at 168 pounds comfortably. Both boxers will employ the southpaw stance, even though Dawson is naturally right handed.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. Two of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from Nevada and the other is from California. The referee is Jay Nady.

Landing several good combinations, Dawson wins round 1, 10-9. Dawson uses his superior hand speed to easily win round 2, 10-9. Behind some strong power punching, Tarver wins round 3, 10-9. Dawson his superior speed to win round 4, 10-9. After 4 rounds, Dawson leads on my scorecard, 39-37. The members of the press keeping unofficial score of the match from ringside for Showtime all have Dawson ahead after 4 rounds: 39-37, 40-36, 39-37.

Round 5 is Dawson's best of the night and he wins it, 10-9. Dawson is making Tarver look old and slow. The challenger intentionally lost round 6. Tarver wins a bizarre round 6, 10-9. Dawson appeared to be taking round 6 off to preserve his stamina. However, as the round wore on it became apparent that the young challenger was actually trying to play mind games with the veteran champion. Dawson was daring Tarver to hit him and refusing to punch back. This was tiring Tarver out and the punches were having no effect on Dawson. It is unclear what effect this will have on Tarver's strategy. However, it appears that Dawson was able to bother the champion with that show of contempt for the veteran's punching power and stamina. After 6 rounds Dawson leads on my scorecard, 58-56. All of the members of the press keeping unofficial score for Showtime have Dawson ahead after 6 rounds: 58-56, 59-55, 58-56. After round 6, Tarver is breathing heavy in the corner and appears on the verge of being sick.

In the break before round 7, Floyd "Money" Mayweather, Jr. is shown in the crowd (wearing what appears to be a very expensive diamond necklace). Mayweather is apparently a fan of Dawson. A few rounds earlier Showtime interviewed the co-owner of the Palms Casino that is hosting this event, Gavin Maloof and he is a huge Dawson fan. Gavin's brother and the other co-owner of the Palms, Joe Maloof, wanted to be there to cheer on Dawson, but is stuck in Sacramento following reconstructive surgery on both knees. Tarver is not getting a close decision, here.

Dawson went back to work in round 7 and won it easily with his faster hand speed and consistent ability to land combinations, 10-9. After round 7, Tarver's corner told him he needed a knockout to win. He should not be down quite that far, but the champion is going to need to win the rest of the rounds to win the match on my scorecard. In round 8, there is some swelling beginning to form around the right eye of Dawson. It does not look like it will be a factor in this match. Dawson wins round 8, 10-9. After 8 rounds, Dawson leads on my scorecard, 78-74. In the corner after round 8, Tarver's trainer emphasized to his boxer that he needed a knockout and to work on landing power punches. At this point, Tarver's trainer is probably right. Tarver cannot match Dawson's hand speed or ability to land combinations. The champion is going to need to catch the challenger with a few hard straight left hands to retain his titles. After 8 rounds, all of Showtime' unofficial scorekeepers along press row have Dawson ahead: 78-74, 79-73, 78-74.

Round 9 was the closest of the match. Tarver was probably going to win the round, but Dawson landed a combination in the last 10 seconds to steal round 9, 10-9. After 9 rounds, Dawson leads on my scorecard, 88-83.

Now we have an interview between rounds with Mayweather. Mayweather starts the interview being uncharacteristically politically correct. He says that he likes Tarver. Mayweather mentions that they were teammates on the 1996 United States Olympic boxing team in Atlanta, where they both took home bronze medals. Mayweather then said that he also likes Dawson, because Dawson has been trained by his father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., in the past. Junior said he just came to watch a good match. Then Mayweather kicked the controversy into full gear. He called Dawson the best boxer pound-for-pound in the world and that he did not get enough credit. Mayweather clearly has $25,000 on Dawson ($25,000 is the limit you can place on one bet at most Las Vegas sports books). This can also be deemed somewhat of a slap at Manny Pacquiao who is facing De La Hoya in December and is The Ring's number 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. It is the perfect comment to make to put steam on another match with De La Hoya, because if De La Hoya beats Pacquiao it would denigrate that win. Also, if Pacquiao beats De La Hoya, Mayweather has now insulted Pacquiao and has put steam on a potential match there. This comment by Mayweather may not be an angle, but with a worker like Mayweather involved this seemingly innocent comment seems like the beginning of an angle. Mayweather is probably too smart a promoter and knowledgeable heel to say something like that without a bigger plan in mind. He then said he is staying in shape, but retired. Mayweather said he is enjoying watching MMA on Showtime and all the other young competitors out there. Somehow a call of shenanigans seems in order, here.

After Mayweather's interview and as round 10 begins, the announcers inform the audience that Paulie Malignaggi is in the building, but does not show him. Similarly, Malignaggi will not be given interview time to build up his November 22 match with Ricky Hatton on HBO. This is not TNA and they do not need to tell the audience that the other guys have a great show coming up they should watch. Dawson dominates round 10 and wins it, 10-9. After round 10, Showtime puts Vic Darchinyan on camera in the audience and uses the opportunity to promote his November 1 title unification match with Cristian Mijares on Showtime. Dawson leads on my scorecard after round 10, 98-92. The members of press row all have Dawson ahead after 10 rounds: 98-92, 99-91, 98-92.

Dawson seems to take round 11 off, which allows Tarver to win it, 10-9. The final instructions to Tarver before he left his corner to start round 12 were that he needed a knockout to win. Dawson's corner told him to not give away round 12. That should ensure an exciting last round. Amazingly, it is a right hand from Dawson that sends Tarver spinning down to the canvas for only the third time in his career with 2:16 to go in round 12. Tarver is arguing that it is a slip. That is not true. The right hand from Dawson sent Tarver spinning counter-clockwise out of control. That forced the veteran to put his glove on the mat to avoid doing a face plant on the logo in the center of the ring. A distraught Tarver easily answers the referee's count to continue with 2:06 to go in the final round. Tarver continued to pressure Dawson the last 2 minutes of the round, while the challenger refused to back down. That resulted in a very good final round that Dawson won, 10-8. Dawson wins the match on my scorecard, 117-110.

The official decision from the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored this match: 118-109, 117-110, 117-110, all for the winner by unanimous decision the undefeated and new IBF and IBO Light Heavyweight Champion of the World, "Bad" Chad Dawson. The win moves Dawson to 27-0 with 17 of those wins coming by way of knockout and 1 no contest.

Tarver said in his post match interview age was not a factor, but Dawson's superior work rate did enough to beat him. Of course, the former champion wants a rematch.

Dawson said in his post match interview that Tarver was better then he thought he would be. The new champion agreed that the difference in work rate was a big key. Dawson was never asked about a potential next opponent.

Dawson was great in this match. It is hard to think of anything in his performance that would need obvious improvement. In the new rankings the only 2 boxers that will be ahead of him at 175 pounds will be Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins. A match between Dawson and Calzaghe could be great, with Calzaghe once again trying to stave off the challenge of another young lion to remain on top as he has done so many time before. However, that match will never happen. Dawson vs. Hopkins would be awful to watch and difficult to market on PPV so that match will not happen. Dawson vs. Pavlik at a catch-weight of 170 pounds would be a good match, but would probably not do great business on PPV. Glen Johnson has been Dawson's toughest opponent and a rematch between those two would be great and make a lot of sense. However, the match would probably not do great business. That makes that match unlikely to happen next. For Dawson to have a good paying next match, probably the only viable opponent is Tarver. There is no reason to expect a different outcome in a rematch, but it is the most marketable of the potential matches Dawson will have available. Therefore, expect to see Dawson vs. Tarver II around February.

Age was not the reason Tarver lost this match. Dawson is simply better then him at this point. Tarver has very little wear on his body for a boxer his age and is easily among the top 10 boxers at 175 pounds. It appears he can stay at that level making good money for several years. Financially, it makes sense for his next match to be a rematch with Dawson. Tarver has a rematch clause in his contract and he will probably invoke it. It is not an immediate rematch clause. That would allow each boxer 1 match against a softer opponent, before what appears to be their inevitable rematch.

This part of the show was slightly above average. The match was one-sided, but somewhat entertaining. There are going to be numerous replays and if nothing else is on this is worth watching.