Antonio Tarver returning on October 15

With his last win coming two years ago and his last memorable win coming five years ago, former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver is taking a gamble on a move up in weight. On October 15, he'll go to heavyweight at age 42 to fight Nagy Aguilera, reports Lem Satterfield of FanHouse.

Tarver (27-6, 19 KO) is coming off of back-to-back dominant losses to Chad Dawson, one in October 2008 and another in May 2009. "The Magic Man" had won three straight before that, beating Elvir Muriqi, Danny Santiago and a truly awful-looking Clinton Woods. Those wins followed a beating at the hands of Bernard Hopkins in 2006.

Tarver is most famous for his three-fight series with Roy Jones Jr., and for being the man to send Roy over the hill, for all intents and purposes, with a second round knockout of Jones in their rematch on May 15, 2004. It was one of the most memorable moments and most memorable rivalries of the decade, but Tarver never quite capitalized on the sudden fame as The Man Who Took Down Roy Jones Jr., because he split a pair with Glen Johnson after the stoppage of Jones. Since then, Tarver's career has been up-and-down.

He said earlier this year on a Showtime telecast that he was going to return at heavyweight, but has been quiet since. Aguilera (16-4, 11 KO) is most famous for stopping Oleg Maskaev in one round last December, but has gone 1-2 since then. Samuel Peter ended his night in two rounds in his next fight, and he recently lost to journeyman Maurice Harris in Hinckley, Minnesota. The 24-year-old Dominican really has nothing to lose by fighting Tarver, so it's a good gamble for him.

How can we expect Tarver to do at the higher weight? I am mildly confident his skills will allow him to beat Aguilera, but there are some problems with the idea. For one thing, Tarver's not a heavyweight. He's 6'2" with a 75" reach, which are dimensions similar to Tomasz Adamek, but Tarver is 42. Adamek made the brave jump to heavyweight after a fruitful stint at cruiserweight, and he was 10 years younger than Tarver is right now. I actually think quite a bit of Tarver's skills, but those have eroded over time, too, as skills do. He doesn't have the speed or reflexes that he used to have.

Can he take a heavyweight punch? Maybe. Aguilera can bop a little bit (he's not a devastating puncher, but he's not a pillow puncher either), so we could find out. In a way, this reminds me of a reverse Chris Byrd. For years, many felt Byrd should have been fighting at a lower weight, even though he was making money and having success at heavyweight. When Byrd did finally move down, he skipped over cruiserweight and went to light heavyweight at age 37. Lightly-regarded youngster Shaun George beat the hell out of Byrd and stopped him late in the ninth round. The fight was not close, and Byrd looked helpless. Tarver won't have the weight-sapping issues that Byrd had, but fighting at an unfamiliar weight, where Tarver will be close to his walking-around weight, is not easy either, especially at an older age.

Recently, Tarver has been working as a color commentator for Showtime, and has done a fine job in his new role. He'll have a career as a commentator for as long as he wants one, I suspect. But whether it's money or ego that's bringing him back to the ring, you can't say Antonio Tarver is afraid to take a chance.