Dawson Takes Tarver To School - Sam Peter Quits On His Stool!

Saturday evening Showtime Network presented the best and the worst aspects of the Boxing game. While Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver exhibited the skills expected in a classic boxing passing of the torch match, defending WBC heavyweight champion Sam Peter proved that some amateur boxers never quite understand what it means to be a professional prize fighter, no matter how exulted their professional careers might have become.

In the build up to their Lightheavy Weight title match, Antonio Tarver did his usual promotional motor mouth routine, which helps to sell tickets and sometimes manages to unnerve his opponents. For his part Chad Dawson started out portraying the quit unbeaten champion who lets his fists do the talking in the ring, but eventually Tarver's, "I've been the man for a decade and this kid can't carry my jock strap." rap wore away on the lad from New Haven and he was drawn in to uncharacteristic verbal retaliation. The youngster won the war of words when at the final instructions and touching of gloves one upped Tarver's famous, "Did you bring any excuses tonight Roy!" line to Roy Jones with, "No more time for talking Antonio; Time to go to work!".

Then the younger boxer began to back up his words by out speeding Tarver and landing repeated five punch combinations on his 39 year old antagonist throughout the first two rounds. The Magic Man demonstrated a little of his old magic when Tarver landed solid uppercuts, hooks and straight lefts to take the third stanza. For the next couple of rounds Bad Chad looked masterful as he enticed the usually laid back counter puncher Tarver into chasing him and then counter punched the older champion with ease. For some reason Dawson seemed to take round six off, simply played a defensive game and let Tarver take the round, while Dawson took no damage at all. Perhaps he was simply trying to tire the older fighter out? Dawson then took the next two rounds with his draw in and counter strategy and pulled out a lackluster ninth round with quick scoring combinations at the end. The 10th round was a carbon copy of rounds 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, & 8, with a retreating Dawson peppering Tarver with quick counter shots. Tarver had a talent flashback in the 11th round, scored very well and walked away with the round, but Dawson wasn't putting up with that type of behavior from his long toothed foe and dropped The Magic Man, in the 12th with a quick punch that caught Tarver off balance and caused him to touch his glove to the canvas. Although Tarver rallied to take the remainder of the final round it wasn't nearly enough and young Bad Chad Dawson remained undefeated and went home with the IBF Lightheavy Weight crown. Both combatants put on a great show! Antonio Tarver is only done if he wishes to retire, but he could still defeat most of the Lt. Heavyweight division and Chad Dawson has earned a shot at either the winner of Hopkins - Pavlick or the winner of Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones.

Earlier in the day, over in Berlin Germany WBC Heavyweight Champion Sam "The Nigerian Nightmare" Peter and his combacking opponent, WBC Heavyweight Champion Emeritus (What ever the hell that means) Vitaly Klitschko exhibited why boxing matches are sometimes to slow for the pace of life in the twenty first century. With Peter coming off the destruction of Oleg Maskiav and Vitaly coming off an injury laden almost four year lay off, most people, including myself expected the young Nigerian to wear down his older and rusty foe. Instead, for eight rounds we saw the older Klitschko brother circle with his hands down by his thighs, popping continual jabs, occasional thundering crosses and even the once and a while pounding hook into the big head of the Nigerian Nightmare as Peter chugged sluggishly forward, but Never managed to get inside the large Ukrainian's long arms. Someone should have schooled Peter with a library of Rocky Marciano fight films. The Rock had the shortest arms of any heavyweight champion and still managed to be the only heavyweight champion so far to retire undefeated. "Hit their long arms and then work your way in Sam ---- Hit the arms!" But no --- Sam Peter simply rolled forward into successive long arm counter punches until at the end of the eighth round, with his lip badly split and gushing blood and his eyes nearly swollen shut Sam Peter quit on his stool! Aw Man! It would have been the logical outcome of an amateur match, but Peter was paid to give his all for the fans and he didn't do that. He wasn't hurt real bad, he was simply discouraged with his inability to get inside Klitschko's long reach. His corner should have been able to tell the Nigerian lad how to accomplish that. Sam Peter's training program will need a lot of reworking to keep him from fading away like Danny Williams and Kirk Johnson did after the older Klitschko defeated them.
Now boxing's heavyweight division belongs to the Eastern Block. There will be no heavyweight title unification as long as the Klitschko brothers hold three quarters of the titles as Vitali and Wald will never fight each other, but eventually one of the Ukrainian brothers will meet the WBA champion, the Russian giant Nicolai Valuev in a war of Slavic giants. Before that there are two eastern block challengers and a Cuban to be obliged ................... but where are the American heavyweight boxers?

Good Night -- Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"