Can Clinton drag Tarver into the Woods? by Terry Dooley Apr 11th 2008

Clinton Woods goes into his latest light-heavyweight title showdown, against American Antonio Tarver, occupying his own unique niche in British boxing; for too long British fight fans feared seeing our fighters travel abroad for bouts, yet it now seems such an effortless transition that many of us are writing off Tarver's chances ahead of Saturday's showdown. Credit for this confidence lies with Clinton, who learned his lessons well in contention, before putting everything together when destroying US hope Rico Hoye for the IBF title in 2005. Since then, also, Clinton has gone from strength-to-strength whilst defending his title, most notably in the third match with Glen Johnson, who fights Chad Dawson on Saturday's undercard.  All this, coupled with Tarver's woeful recent form, seems to indicate that Clinton is going to go out there and grab his biggest win to date. However, this could be a 'glass half full' way of viewing the fight. It could be that Tarver, after years of hubris based on his KO of Roy Jones, in their second encounter, is not now merely an avatar of the athlete who ruined Roy Jones, an out-of-control ego waiting to be consumed by Woods, perhaps Tarver himself has realised that he actually needs to fight as well as he can talk in order to go down, improbably, as the great fighter he seems to think he is. If this is the case, if Tarver is serious about this fight, then Woods, in going out to American, could be in for a big surprise. An accomplished amateur Tarver won world and national titles before entering the 1996 Olympic finals as the man favoured to win gold in the lightweight division; in the end he won a bronze medal; finding future IBF cruiserweight title holder Vassily Jirov too troublesome a hurdle to pass; in failing to pass Jirov Tarver seemed to show clear evidence that his undoubted physical talent had a ceiling, a top limit set by his fragile mental prowess.  This criticism of Tarver is overturned when one considers his out of the ring road to the Olympics. Nine years prior to the 1996 games Tarver had been mired in the depths of a dangerous drug addiction, the worst kind of drug addiction, crack cocaine. Burdened with a child at a young age, and laden with the expectation of having no future expectations, Tarver had turned to drugs to ease his pain, in using cocaine he could turn his back on the frustrations of his life.  After intervention from his family Tarver turned himself around, dropping the drugs; he was also inspired by the progress of his former amateur nemesis Roy Jones Junior during the 1988 games. This began a trail back for Tarver that, although not resulting in a gold medal win, was a remarkable story of a young man who had faced the precipice before coming all the way back from the dark cliffs of addiction.  Tarver would later be honest about his drug misuses, whilst at the same time hoping not to be judged on them, not wanting to find himself synonymous with the image of former drug addict done good Tarver merely hoped that he would be judged on his character, a character forged by the overcoming of what to many people becomes a destructive way of life, leading often to death. Tarver entered into his pro career again having to prove something to himself and others, once considered red-hot his image was now sullied by the feeling that he had underperformed on the big Olympic stage, and would do so again.  After putting away some of the usual characters a fighter meets in his contention fights Tarver's big test, and first stab at redemption, came against the tough Eric Harding in 2006. Hit hard, bullied, and with his jaw broken, Tarver faded so badly over the last four rounds, including a knockdown in the eleventh, that by the final round he was little more than a punching bag. In a metaphorical link to his amateur career Tarver had started brightly in the fight, landing some strong combinations, only to fade late, with most people, naturally, remembering only his latter rounds fade. Tarver was once again facing the abyss, a couple of quick wins were followed by a win over that reliable name Reggie Johnson, once again Tarver fought well, although his vulnerable edge surfaced when he was dropped in round nine, this time, however, Tarver sucked it up to grind out a tight split-decision win. Tarver was now in contention for the IBF light-heavyweight title, yet his form was not creating a demand for a showdown with the man, Roy Jones, he felt he was fated to face. Instead it was determined that Tarver would again have to take on his vanquisher Eric Harding. This time Tarver made no mistake, twice dropping Harding on route to a fifth round stoppage win. Finally, it seemed, Tarver was blossoming into the fighter he had always assured people he would be.  A fight against the awkward Montell Griffin for the IBF and WBC titles vacated by Roy Jones saw Tarver drop his foe twice whilst pitching a shutout win on the cards. A talent that had seemed to take an eternity to blossom was now shooting up as unexpectedly as a rose in desert land, a sign of purpose finally reaching its goal.  With momentum on his side Tarver went into his long-awaited showdown with Roy Jones brimming with confidence, unfortunately, despite Jones being there for the beating, Tarver's natural lethargy saw him fight sporadically, consequently giving Jones enough space to time his shots and claim a deserved, if close, win on the cards.  Post-fight Tarver showed more energy than he had shown in the ring, he protested the defeat to such an extent that, with compliance from those who do not know the difference between a controversial and a close fight, a rematch was set. Dubbed Superman in some quarters Jones, in grabbing a vanity title at heavyweight then losing a lot of muscle mass to go back down in weight, was not the same fighter he had once been. Tarver detonated a Kryptonite left hook onto the chin of Jones in round two to leave Jones' cape of invincibility tattered forever. Afterwards motor mouth Tarver tried to convince the audience that they had watched two great fighters engaging in a war when the fight was anything but, it was a Hoodoo man putting one over on a fighter, Jones, who was in the wrong place, at the wrong weight. At this point Tarver again seemed to fall under the spell of drugs, the drug of his own success, citing himself as a great fighter who had defeated the great Roy Jones, Tarver then went into a fight with the man who had defeated Jones right after Tarver. Antonio found Glen Johnson a much tougher proposition. It took Tarver 24 rounds, plus one points defeat, to stamp his authority over Johnson, he would not then knuckle down to establish his own authority over the division, instead he opted to pile on weight to star in the last 'Rocky' movie; before then dropping this weight, getting dropped, and dropping a decision to Bernard Hopkins, Tarver had made the same mistake as Jones, and has not looked the same force since. After making innumerable excuses about the Hopkins fight Tarver has failed to provide a sign that he was off-form in the only place it must be proven, the boxing ring, his recent wins over Elvir Muriqi and Danny Santiago have answered few questions about Tarver.  Consequently a whole dollop of intrigue is thrown on top of what looks to be an excellent contest between Woods and Tarver. Already the press conference has whetted the British appetite for this bout. Tarver ran away at the mouth, writing a huge cheque for his fists to cash; Woods, as ever, was composed and adamant in his belief that, come the night, his fists will provide an eloquent riposte, forcing Tarver's boasts down the American's throat. Far from being an intercontinental title fight that will lead to nowhere this fight is an intercontinental grudge match that could see Woods move a big step closer to taking charge of this division, with the winner of Hopkins-Calzaghe awaiting him in his next fight. With Tarver seemingly shot, overrated, jaded, and finished as a force the fight is seen as being there for Woods to take, however it could be that the negative image Tarver accrued since that Jones win is causing us to predict the fight based on a liking of Woods and an active disdain of Tarver. Recent form favours Woods, he has looked good ever since winning the title, his right hand, a punch Jones used so effectively to the body of Tarver in their first fight, is a capable weapon against the lazy southpaw style of Tarver; on the other hand, literally, Tarver possesses a straight left hand that can spear Woods, with a right hook that could catch Woods as he comes forward.  Overall form favours Tarver, Antonio has mixed better in the higher class, he lapsed versus Johnson the first time out, in a fight that should have gone his way, yet holds wins over a man, Jones, who dominated Woods; for his part Clinton last mixed at the higher class when fighting Johnson for the third time, getting his first win over the ‘Road Warrior', although Johnson pushed Clinton to the brink, hurting him badly, this spells danger for Clinton in this bout with Tarver. Stylistically one cannot help but feel that Tarver has won at the higher level despite a natural lethargy, also that he can do this again, he just needs the drive to produce; Woods is a man driven like no other, he is honest graft and will take the fight to Tarver in his own backyard, consequently leading me to believe that he will force Tarver to counter hard and that this in turn will lead to Tarver hurting Woods, perhaps even forcing a stoppage later in the bout. This is certainly a bout to grip the passions, many will be hoping that Woods, who is very British in his manner and career path, will not become a link in what could be a bad 2008 for British boxing, given boxing's cyclic nature the recent uprise in British boxing will naturally produce a downturn, this writer feels this downturn will begin in earnest this Saturday. Disdain for the hype-over-substance attitude of Tarver should not sway the mind; Tarver may act like a plank but he is a prize plank, and that higher level pedigree should be enough to see him win this prize fight, unfortunately for Woods, and British boxing.

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