Tarver Calls Out Calzaghe; Still Delusional

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Tarver Calls Out Calzaghe; Still Delusional

Filed on April 21st, 2008 in Boxing ⋅ ⋅

Antonio Tarver, under the belief that he is a legitimate light heavyweight champion, is calling out Joe Calzaghe to try to get his piece of the international money that comes with fighting a European legend.

Tarver, fresh off of his impressive victory over Clinton Woods, released a statement saying:

“Everyone was mentioned as Calzaghe’s potential next opponent but me, the true light-heavyweight world champion.”

“I am the real ‘legend killer’. I beat Roy Jones not once but twice.

“I have also beaten Glen Johnson, Clinton Woods and many more top fighters in the light-heavyweight division.

“I am the only light-heavyweight champion who currently holds two belts and on my way to unifying the belts this year.”

Okay, now let’s take a look at this. “The true light-heavyweight world champion.” Really? Does he not remember losing badly to Bernard Hopkins just three fights ago. So Hopkins beats Tarver, and Calzaghe beats Hopkins, so now Tarver once again is the champion? How does that work?

“Real legend killer?” I’ll give him credit that he used that phrase before Calzaghe. Beating Glen Johnson and Clinton Woods are nice wins. Throw in Roy Jones, Rocky Balboa, Montell Griffin and Eric Harding and you have listed every notable win that Tarver has on his career. And Woods and Griffin are the only ones who Tarver didn’t also lose to. He went 1-1 against Johnson, 1-1 against Harding, 2-1 against Jones, 1-0 against both Woods, Griffin and Balboa, and 0-1 against Hopkins. Hardly the world’s best resume there, Antonio.

As for being the only light-heavyweight champion with two belts, well that’s just plain stupid. First of all, he holds the IBO and IBF belts, only one of which is even recognized by the average boxing fan (SHOWTIME not included). The IBO belt he won from Roy Jones the first time he beat him. He went on to lose that belt to Johnson, win it back, then lose it to Hopkins. Tarver then won the IBO belt against Elvir Muriqi after Hopkins vacated it.

So losing the “belt” to Hopkins and winning that same belt back from Muriqi makes him the champion again? Linearly speaking, Calzaghe also holds that title.

There are a lot of people who claim champion status at light-heavyweight. Calzaghe is the Ring Champion. Tarver has the IBF and IBO titles. Chad Dawson has the WBC title. Zsolt Erdei has the WBO and linear title. The way I see it (and most who follow boxing closely), Calzaghe is the champion, Dawson is the future, Erdei is a mystery and Tarver is delusional.

Tarver needs to understand that A) he’s not marketable at all, and B) he got his ass kicked by the guy who Calzaghe just beat. There is no reason in the world for Calzaghe to be interested in a fight with him.

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