Boxing

Tarver, Hopkins meet in middle of weight divide

Antonio Tarver is slimming down and Bernard Hopkins beefing up to reach 175 pounds.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published June 7, 2006

It seems so silly, what with all the years of training and the punches and the running and the impressive histories of Bernard Hopkins and Tampa's Antonio Tarver, but for almost everyone determining a favorite for Saturday's fight in Atlantic City, it will come down to this:

Two men, in their underwear, standing on a scale in front of hundreds of cheering onlookers.

The limit for the light heavyweight fight is 175 pounds, but how close each fighter comes to that number at Friday's weigh-in, and how good they look doing it, will influence who many think will win.

Weight is always an issue in boxing. Just ask Jose Luis Castillo, who cost himself hundreds of thousands of dollars last week by failing to come close to the 135-pound limit for his fight with Diego Corrales. But rarely does it take center stage like it has for Saturday's 9 p.m. showdown on HBO pay-per-view.

Hopkins (46-4-1, 32 knockouts) is coming up in weight. Tarver is going down. Somewhere in the middle, the two men will slug it out.

"Everybody is mentioning one side - Bernard Hopkins and having to fight heavier," said boxing historian Bert Sugar. "I think coming down is tougher, though. Just ask Jose Luis Castillo."

When Tarver (24-3, 18 KOs) fought Roy Jones Jr. the first time, it came on the heels of Jones' successful move to heavyweight, where he beat John Ruiz for the WBA title. Jones escaped with the victory over Tarver, but the 30-plus pounds he had to lose were used by the fighter and his camp as the excuse for a lackluster showing.

Tarver derided the excuse (and knocked him out in the rematch), and is insisting he won't use it.

He packed on roughly 45 pounds for his role as heavyweight Mason Dixon in the upcoming Rocky movie. He has not revealed his exact weight at the time of filming, but Sugar said it was 218.

"I was on the set because I have a cameo, and in one of the the scenes Tarver, or Mason Dixon, got on scale," Sugar said. "It was 218."

But filming wrapped in January, and Tarver says he is on target to make 175.

"That's part of our job," Tarver said. "And I mean, we've got to lose weight. I mean we all lose weight. That's not a problem. Only people like Roy Jones make excuses for it. I don't have a problem with it. I'm lean, mean, I'm ready to go."

Many fighters walk around 15-20 pounds heavier than their fighting weight. (Hopkins is an exception). It's those who must lose a lot quickly who pay the stiffer price.

Tarver has followed a careful plan to take the weight off safely so he is not drained on fight night.

"What people fail to realize, and they won't recognize until June 10, is that actually, I've been training since the middle of October," Tarver said. "Do you think I was sitting around eating doughnuts out there with Sylvester Stallone? I was working out with one of the most revered trainers on the West Coast. We worked hard to put on the muscle, we lifted weights, we did exercises, we worked."

With the exception of his first fight, a loss that ironically helped convince Hopkins that 175 was too heavy to fight at, the Philadelphia legend has campaigned his entire career at 160. He won a middleweight title and set a division record by defending it 20 times, knocking out the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya, before losing to Jermain Taylor twice.

With Taylor in control of the division, Hopkins looked elsewhere for his career finale. Instead of moving up one division to 168 pounds, he decided to jump two classes to meet Tarver, with whom he has long had a tempestuous relationship.

Only one notable boxer, Sugar Ray Robinson, tried the feat, losing in 1963 to Joey Maxim.

Hopkins moved his camp to the home of renowned New Orleans fitness guru Mackie Shilstone, hiring him to help pack on pounds in a way that adds power but retains speed.

Shilstone has worked with hundreds of athletes. He got Jones ready for Ruiz, and his most famous project was helping light heavyweight champ Michael Spinks dethrone much bigger heavyweight champ Larry Holmes in Ring magazine's Upset of the Year in 1985.

Hopkins has been coy about his goal weight. One thing is certain: Hopkins and his team don't seem very concerned with hitting 175.

"Well, I'm not sure why you think he has to go up over 170 because Bernard Hopkins is a seasoned veteran," Shilstone said. "And I think the best way to put it is (we want him at) a championship weight. I think it's what he does with what he has."

Tarver is taller, bigger and by extension, the harder puncher. Regardless of what the scales say, when they tangle Saturday he will be heavier, maybe by 20-30 pounds.

Consider: Corrales declined to fight Castillo at what would would have been a similar disadvantage, which most boxers feel can be the difference between life and death.

"It favors Tarver; so does his reach and so does his height," Sugar said. "But what he gains after the weigh-in won't make any difference. It's how he loses the weight, if he makes it easy, or if it's a struggle. It comes down to what he has left."

[Last modified June 21, 2006, 09:53:24]