Bad Left Hook Fight Preview: Antonio Tarver Takes Final Stab at Glory Against Danny Green

It's amazing how fast it can leave you in boxing.

Seven years ago, Antonio Tarver effectively ended the legend of Roy Jones Jr and turned him into just another fighter with a brutal second round knockout in Las Vegas, live on HBO. That netted Tarver the legit world light heavyweight championship, seven months after he lost a disputed majority decision to Jones in their first meeting. Before the rematch got underway, Tarver stood center ring with supreme confidence, believing he was already the better man -- and that he'd already proven it once. When referee Jay Nady asked if the fighters had any questions after their instructions, he responded, "You got any excuses tonight, Roy?"

But like Jones the dominant force, Tarver the conqueror is a long way in the past.

He lost his next fight, to Glen Johnson. It was a stumbling block against a very good fighter, and Tarver came back to win a rematch six months later, then faced and beat Jones again. Then came 2006, and Tarver has never recovered.

After shooting Rocky Balboa, where Tarver portrayed maligned modern heavyweight champ Mason "The Line" Dixon, he had the same "excuse" that Jones had a couple of years before: He had gained too much weight, though Jones did it to win a heavyweight belt in real life, while Tarver did it simply to portray a heavyweight champion.

He faced former middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins in what most felt would wind up being a fairly easy title defense. Not that Hopkins hadn't earned respect, because he had. But "The Executioner" had gotten old, had lost two straight to Jermain Taylor, and was coming up not one but two divisions for the fight.

Instead of knocking off another top name, Tarver was routed, demoralized, and embarrassed by Hopkins, who won on scores of 118-109 across the board. Tarver got some bad headlines later for claiming his water had been tampered with, but the more realistic post-fight reaction he had was the honest one: That Hopkins could have taken him out in the fight had he chosen to go for that. Hopkins didn't, but Tarver has never been the same fighter.

He was off for a year after being dominated by B-Hop, and came back to face tough but limited New York club fighter Elvir Muriqi. Tarver's performance was not encouraging. Here's a quick rundown of what he's done since Hopkins:

• W-MD-12 vs Elvir Muriqi: A weak performance against a fighter that should not have been able to hang around with Tarver the way that he did.
  
• W-TKO-4 vs Danny Santiago: Santiago replaced Danny Green here. Though that has been largely brushed over in the build-up, fact is that Tarver appeared to duck Green back in '07. Santiago was nowhere near Green's level and was easily dispatched, even though Tarver again looked slow and old.
• W-UD-12 vs Clinton Woods: It appeared impressive on paper, but Woods was at the end of his line and was mentally distracted due to some personal issues at the time. Anyone who saw the fight is likely to agree that Woods was not himself that night, and Tarver cruised.
• L-UD-12 vs Chad Dawson (twice): Neither of these fights drew worth a damn, either at the gate in Vegas (where the attendances were embarrassing) or on TV (where they flopped on Showtime and HBO both). Tarver looked ancient against Dawson.
• W-UD-10 vs Nagy Aguilera: A step up to heavyweight after 17 months off, and Tarver did not look good at all.

Now he's gone back to Danny Green. Green went through his own fairly brief retirement after beating Drews in 2007, returning in 2009 with a pair of wins that led up to a fight with Roy Jones Jr, a fight that was meant to set up a long overdue Jones vs Hopkins rematch in 2010. Green floored Jones in the first round and the referee stopped it moments later. While it didn't actually cancel the dreadful Jones-Hopkins fight, it did turn Green into a person of interest at cruiserweight, or at least at the catchweight he fought between light heavy and cruiser.

Green has made the Jones fight something of a blueprint here in the twilight of his own career. He battered Manny Siaca, who hadn't really been relevant in years, and then faced a pathetic version of Paul Briggs, who went down on a phantom jab in 29 seconds. In his last fight, Green beat BJ Flores, who at least was in his prime.

Green vs Tarver is something of a novelty fight in a lot of ways. Green is a good fighter, but Tarver, now 42, is another in a line of faded stars that Green has called out in the last couple of years. At 38, Green is able to earn good money taking these fights at home, and it's hard to blame him, but it's also hard to really see him as a top cruiserweight based on what he's done in the division.

It's the last chance for Antonio Tarver to be considered a contender. It's the last chance for the "Magic Man" to back up his talk. And if he can do it, I'll be surprised.

The Pick: The truth is, Tarver hasn't looked impressive in years -- his last good performance, in my opinion, was the rematch with Johnson. Even the third fight with Jones wasn't all that great. I thought Danny Green was going to pull the "upset" when the two were in line to fight in 2007. I liked Green's toughness and power in that fight, and with Tarver's enormous decline in hand speed, I just felt he was perfectly set up to get a big win over a faded veteran. Tarver is just too far gone, I think.

Green is slowed down and is coming off of some injuries since the win over Flores, but I think he's just too strong, and still just has far more in the tank than does Tarver. I also think Green sees this as a bigger fight than Tarver does. Green treats these fights like major events, because they are in Aussie boxing. I can see Tarver going in treating this like a big deal, but as soon as he finds out he's in a tough fight, I think he'll fade. I just don't think the fire is still there for him. He's fighting because he can, because he's taken minimal punishment in his career, and this is a good payday and a chance to call himself "champion" in another division. But is he ready to go the extra mile? I doubt it. I think Green will go out on his shield if he has to, though. Danny Green by unanimous decision.