MY FIRST TIME: ANTONIO TARVER
MY PERFECT PUNCH MAY 15, 2004 OPPONENT: ROY JONES JR.
ass dressing room. I mean, the whole card was in there. You’re in there looking at the guy you’re gonna fight!
(laughs hysterically) He’s wrapping up right next to you! In the amateurs, I got everything first-class, and now I’m back on skid row. “The fight took place at the Blue Horizon [in Philadelphia], which is gritty, it’s dark, it’s small. It feels like the crowd is right on top of you there, but it’s full of very knowledgeable boxing fans. They really love the sport, and it was a great start. “At that time, [boxing promoter] Russell Peltz wasn’t just about building fighters and
“The knockout of Roy Jones Jr. changed the
game and changed my life. “I can say a lot of things, but that punch came down to a lot of work, a lot of practice, a lot of reps. You just throw the perfect punch at the perfect time. It’s what I already knew going into that fight – it was my time and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. I earned it and I believed it. “After falling on hard times and being out of the game for over five years,
I turn on the TV and Roy Jones is in the ring [at the Seoul Olympics]. Now remember, I’d fought Roy at the Sunshine Games and he’d beat me, but it was a hell of a fight. It was the two best guys in Florida. I won the first round, he rocked me in the second round, and he won the third round. Roy won a split decision. But when I look back now, Roy had his daddy with him, he was more experienced, and he was stronger than everyone else. Roy had a reputation in Florida, but I gave him a hell of a fight. “After watching Roy get robbed in the Olympics, my plan was to win the gold that eluded him. He was my homeboy from Florida. That’s what inspired me to get back into boxing, chasing the Olympics. I did that, but it wasn’t until later that Roy started campaigning in the light heavyweight division [as a professional]. My dream after the Olympics was to be the best world champion I could be, so I switched my goal to fight Roy. “All of that led to that punch. I was robbed in the first fight (lost MD 12) and, to be honest, the second fight was a curse. What have I really got from that other than disdain and hate? I didn’t get no credit for it – they took that, too. I didn’t get any real praise or credit for that. Do you know how many people I walk up to with a smile on my face and they say, ‘Man, you broke my heart!’ I never really got respect for knocking out Roy Jones. “And I proved it wasn’t a fluke when I beat him again.” You can follow Antonio Tarver on Facebook, Instagram and X. The former four-time light heavyweight champion’s podcast, Tarver’s Take, is available on YouTube.
champions – it was all about the event. He’s going to put you in there, and he wasn’t protecting you. That wasn’t even thought about. The only way you were protected was to fight and win. “Garcia came out with his aggression and his attitude like most fighters. He thought his aggression was going to slow me down and stop me, so I just went about things systematically, set my traps and worked my magic. I landed a counter left, there were some uppercuts, and I won by stoppage in Round 2. “What I remember most was it was the first time I wore the top hat with the cane. It was ‘Welcome to The Magic Man’ and it was a beautiful thing. I had the magic colors on, too. My color scheme is black, metallic silver and grey. I had a nice blue suede boot to match my uniform. At that time, we were on a budget and we didn’t have a lot of resources. I think someone I knew made my outfit for me, just sewed that shit together. “After the fight, I spent some time with the fans in the hotel lobby.”
Tarver ’ s distinguished amateur career led to Olympic bronze in 1996.
was my signature punch back then, and I threw it so effortlessly from anywhere. If you look at my fight against Elvir Muriqi (UD 12 in June 2007), I fought orthodox in [portions of] that fight. Look at my jab. Look at my left hook. I didn’t give many people that look, but I can box orthodox at the drop of a dime. “After all our fights in the amateurs, we looked forward to going to McDonald’s or Burger King. We’d go in there and get four or five Happy Meals, and we’d look forward to that
shit. (laughs) We’d travel for four or five hours to amateur tournaments and come back really late at night. That camaraderie, that structure really helped me at a young age.” MY FIRST PROFESSIONAL FIGHT FEBRUARY 18, 1997 OPPONENT: JOAQUIN GARCIA “Nobody thought I was going to make a mark in boxing after the Olympics. They pretty much folded on me. So
my pro debut wasn’t normal for an Olympian. Floyd [Mayweather] had taken off. Fernando [Vargas] took off. David Reid took off. “It was just me, Jimmy Williams, who was one of the greatest trainers of all time, and my cut lady for my whole career, Angela Mitchell. It was a small-
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