Sports

Boxing

Once and for all

One stinging knockout of Roy Jones didn't bring Antonio Tarver the acclaim he craves. A win Saturday might convince them ...

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published September 28, 2005

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The shadow cast is so wide, so long, so consuming that even after knocking Roy Jones Jr. out, Antonio Tarver can still feel the chill.

Going into Saturday's fight at the St. Pete Times Forum, Tarver may be a sizable betting favorite, but he has yet to win the majority of fan approval and to bask in the glory of being the world's best light heavyweight.

He can accomplish all that and more with another victory, but he wants to know: Why does it take another victory?

Why not me? Why not now?

"When you look at the scope of boxing, they have not accepted the new and improved," Tarver said. "I am one of those guys ... outside of that they have a lot of old names and comfortable names that they keep rolling out. Their glory days are long gone."

Tarver reasons that his days are just beginning. Some call it one of boxing's oldest rivalries. But obsession is a better word. Since he and Jones met as kids 23 years ago, their paths could not have been any different.

Tarver's career stalled. Jones' took off. While Tarver struggled with drugs, Olympic disappointment and a relatively anonymous pro career, Jones became the biggest star in the boxing universe.

There is no stepping out of the shadow. There is only eliminating it, and to do so Tarver knows he must go right to the source and extinguish the brightly shining light that Jones remains in the eyes of many.

"When a guy gets his butt handed to him, let him go," Tarver said. "When my day comes, we are going to dim Roy Jones' light once and for all."

* * *

They were equals at one point, two 13-year-olds slugging it out in a high school gymnasium in Gainesville, both seemingly destined for success.

At their 1982 Sunshine State Games meeting, Jones was the winner, Tarver the loser. Depending on whom you believe, it was either a clinic by the winner or a closely fought match by the loser.

Though both were highly regarded amateurs, it was far from a precursor to their current rivalry.

"I don't even remember the bout," said Tampa ring announcer Mark Beiro, at the time the Sunshine State Games tournament director for boxing. "It would definitely have been a fight of interest. They were both very good amateurs at the time."

A year later, Tarver's family moved 25 miles away from the gym where he trained. Jones' career continued to progress. Instead of boxing, Tarver turned to basketball and football at Orlando's Boone High School and banked on an athletic scholarship.

When none materialized, a distraught Tarver turned to drugs. He was arrested in 1990 on drug charges and entered rehab.

Inspired by Jones' Olympic performance in 1988 and remembering their first encounter, Tarver returned to boxing and became the best amateur in the world.

Jones was making millions, while Tarver was trying to make amends. When he came home from the 1996 Olympics with the bronze medal, the same promoters who had fought over Jones were nowhere to be found.

So began the professional career of Tarver, and his obsession with Jones.

* * *

Tarver has always, it seems, chased Jones.

"I remember back in 1996, from when he turned professional and I was with the USA Network, that Roy Jones has been on his mind since then," said Brad Jacobs, one of Jones' advisers. "This has been a major focal point of Antonio Tarver's."

As he prepared near his then-Carrollwood home with trainer Jimmy Williams for a fight in 1999 against Mohamed Sulivanji, he told a reporter, "I'm training for Roy Jones. Every damn thing I do is for Roy Jones."

Tarver lost his first bid to become a mandatory challenger to Jones, dropped Williams as trainer in favor of Buddy McGirt and made good on his second try.

He pleaded for a shot, and was brushed aside as if he were a minor nuisance while Jones chased heavyweight John Ruiz.

"Roy had a long and distinguished career long before Antonio Tarver came into the big picture," Jacobs said. "Currently, it's a big rivalry, but going back it was more that Tarver was seeking out Roy Jones than an actual rivalry."

Not until Tarver showed up at the post-fight news conference after Jones had beaten Ruiz did he finally get under his nemesis' skin. He grabbed the microphone, and right in the middle of Jones' greatest moment, called him out.

"That was the defining moment," Jacobs said. "He was successful in getting under Roy's skin."

Finally, Tarver was going to get his wish.

* * *

After dropping a disputed decision in their first fight, Tarver beat Jones in their second meeting, gaining some of the acclaim for which he longs. It only took two decades after he and Jones first crossed paths.

"The difference these days for Antonio is that people are finally starting to recognize him now, but more important, respect him for his talent," said McGirt, the 2002 Trainer of the Year. "I mean, no one wanted to believe me when I told them (about Antonio) and now I've showed him. Now, people have to believe me."

But Tarver wonders why he has so much to prove against a guy he knocked out with one perfect punch.

"I have had more focus for this fight than ever," Tarver said. "I am ready to take my rightful spot in the boxing world. I have been doing this for so long and I feel that I don't have the respect that I deserve when you look at all the things I have accomplished. This fight is more about what Roy Jones lost than for what I took."

Some have compared Tarver to heavyweight Larry Holmes. Now regarded as one of the greatest champions, Holmes was remembered principally for beating Muhammad Ali, a fading legend who quit on his stool. Once fans forgave that, only then could they appreciate an outstanding career.

"I won't be appreciated until I walk away from the game," Tarver said. "Then they will appreciate me. They didn't appreciate Marvin Hagler when he did his thing, but when he stepped away everybody wanted to love him. They are just the cards I have been dealt and (Saturday), I will put an exclamation point on this trilogy and when the comparisons are done you will never be able to say he was better than I was."

[Last modified September 28, 2005, 02:30:38]

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