Antonio Tarver

Name: Antonio Tarver
Alias: Magic Man
Birth Name: Antonio Deon Tarver
Hometown: Tampa, Florida, USA
Birthplace: Orlando, Florida, USA
Stance: Southpaw
Height: 188cm
Reach: 191cm
Promoter: Record
Pro Boxer: Record
Amateur Boxer: Record

• Manager: Al Haymon
• Trainer: James (Buddy) McGirt
• Antonio Tarver Gallery

Olympic Games results

1996 Bronze medalist representing the United States at Light Heavyweight (81 kg), in Atlanta, United States.

• Defeated Dmitri Vybornov (Russia) 5-2
• Defeated David Kowah (Sierra Leone) RSC 1 (2:43)
• Defeated Enrique Flores (Mexico) RSC 3 (1:54)
• Lost to Vassiliy Jirov (Kazakhstan) 9-15

Professional Career

• Has a record of 3-3-0 (1 KO) in World Title fights.
• Has a record of 7-5-1 (2 KO) against former or current world titleists.
  • Won against Reggie Johnson, Montell Griffin, Roy Jones Jr. (twice), Glen Johnson, Clinton Woods, Danny Green.
  • Lost against Roy Jones Jr., Glen Johnson, Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson (twice).
  • Drew with Steve Cunningham.

World Amateur Championships results

1993 (as a Light Heavyweight, in Tampere, Finland)

• Lost to Jacklord Jacobs (Nigeria) 3-11

1995 World Champion (as a Light Heavyweight, in Berlin, Germany)

• Defeated Milorad Gajovic (Yugoslavia) +6-6
• Defeated Pietro Aurino (Italy) +7-7
• Defeated Vassiliy Jirov (Kazakhstan) 9-6
• Defeated Dihosvany Vega (Cuba) 7-3

Pan American Games results

1995 Pan American Games Champion (as a Light Heavyweight, in Mar del Plata, Argentina)

• Defeated Oscar Amador (Mexico) RSC 2
• Defeated Dihosvany Vega (Cuba) 11-10
• Defeated Gabriel Hernandez (Dominican Republic) RSC 1
• Defeated Thompson Garcia (Ecuador) RSCH 2

Other Amateur Achievements

• 1993 and 1995 United States amateur Light Heavyweight Champion
• 1994 National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight Champion
• 1995 World Championships Challenge Light Heavyweight Champion in Macon, United States.
• Defeated Dihosvany Vega (Cuba) 9-5
• 1996 US Olympic Trials Light Heavyweight Champion in Oakland, California.
• 1996 US Olympic Box-Offs Light Heavyweight Champion in Augusta, Georgia.
• Defeated Anthony Stewart 17-0

Known amateur bouts

1992 State Amateur Boxing Championships
1992-01-18 KO1 win over unnamed opponent
1992-01-19 KO2 win over Henry Blue, weight 178 pounds, finals. Tarver returned to boxing at the end of 1990 (after cutting off with drugs), and for 7 months had been trained by Pinklon Thomas.

1992 United States Boxing Federation's nationals (in Colorado Springs, CO)
Tarver lost in quarterfinals and thus missed the chance to get to the Olympics. Tarver parted with Pinklon Thomas shortly before this tournament.

1993 United States Boxing Association Championships (in Colorado Springs, CO)
1993-03-06 Tarver (record 92-6) wins in the final at 178 pounds, he defeated on points Frank Vasser (record 50-21).
On the way to the final he defeated one opponent by TKO, second by KO, third by unanimous decision (exact names not given).

USA vs Commonwealth of Independent States (Birmingham, Alaska)
1993-03-26 Tarver beats BY TKO3 Igor Kshinin, 178 pounds (USA won 11 fights out of 12), referee Rich Neves stops it 25 sec before the end of the round, after 3 knockdowns.

1993-04-09 Tarver (record 95-6) outpoints Frank Vassar (66-26), light heavyweight. Judges counted 66 landed punches for Tarver in 3 rounds.

1993 World Championships (Tampere, Finland)
1993-05-10 Tarver lost on points to Jacklord Jacobs 3-11.

USA vs Cuba (Biloxi, Mississippi)
1993-09-25 Tarver lost to Ramon Garbey 0-5.

1994 U.S. Olympic Festival
1994-07-04 Tarver wins semifinal by outpointing (17-13) Anthony Stewart. After 1st round he was ahead 9-0.
1994-07-05 Tarver wins final by outpointing Byron Mitchell, unanimous decision 3-0 (electronic system of scoring the rounds was broken)

1994 U.S. Nationals
Tarver loses in quarterfinal.

1994 National Golden Gloves
Tarver won the tournament.

1994 USA vs Cuba
Tarver lost close decision to Juan Carlos Gomez 10-10+.

1995-01-22 Tarver defeats Benjamin McDowell, light heavyweights, and earns a go to the Pan-American Games.

1995 USA vs Russia
1995-02-18 Tarver beats Evgeniy Makarenko, by UD. He scored 2 standing knockdowns and at the end of the 2nd round even knocked off Makarenko's helmet.

XII Pan American Games (Mar Del Plata, Argentina)
1995-03-19 Tarver stops Oscar Amador (Mexico) 17 sec. before the end of the 2nd round. 4 days before the fight Tarver weighed 170.
1995-03-21 Tarver wins quarterfinal by outpointing (11-10) Diosvany Vega (Cuba). After 1st round Tarver was ahead 6-2, although he received a standing KD count from a left.
1995-03-24 Tarver wins semifinal by stopping Gabriel Hernandez (Dominican Republic) in the first round.
1995-03-26 Tarver wins final by stopping (RSCH) Thompson Garcia (Ecuador) at 3rd second (that's official time, probably not quite correct) from the beginning of the 2nd round, after he knocked the opponent down with two lefts.

1995-04-05 Tarver outpointed (24-6) Joseph Busse.

1995 World Championships
1995-05-09 Tarver got to quarterfinal against Milorad Gajovic (Yugoslavia). Tarver lost 1st round 0-2, then scored 2 standing knockdowns in the 2nd round, was 3 points ahead a minute before the end of the fight, but ended it as a draw 6-6. Judges gave the bout to Tarver.
In quarterfinal Tarver closely outpointed Pietro Aurino (Italy) +7-7.
1995-05-12 Tarver wins semifinal by outpointing (9-6) Vassily Jirov (Kazakhstan).
1995-05-14 Tarver wins the final by outpointing (7-3) Diosvani Vega (Cuba).

1995 Olympic Festival
Tarver missed this tournament due to hand injury.

1995 USA vs. Puerto Rico (Orlando, FL)
1995-09-09 Tarver was supposed to meet with Jose Gomez, but instead he faced Edgar Santos, and defeated him on points.

1995 World Championships Challenge
This is a tournament where two best fighters in the world meet in each of 12 weight divisions.
1995-10-28 Tarver outpoints (9-5) Diosvani Vega (Cuba) in five 2-minute rounds.

1995 National Police Athletic League Boxing Championships
1995-11-04 Tarver got to U.S. Olympic Trials by unanimously outpointing Orlanda Anderson (Fort Huachuca, Ariz.).

1996 Olympic Trials (Oakland, Calif.)
1996-04-03 Tarver stops Limmie Young at 1:36 of the 3rd round, when Tarver was ahead on points 12-0.
1996-04-04 Tarver wins semifinal by outpoints (8-1) Tim Williamson, although by the middle of the bout Tarver didn't score a single point, but then he started flurrying and after a left his opponent received a standing KD count.
1996-04-06 Tarver was supposed to meet Glenn Robinson in the final, but the latter didn't attend the fight on time (claiming he thought the fight was to be held at a latter time, but he lost his appeal, as three trainers confirmed they told him the fight was at noon, not in the evening), he was disqualified and lost a chance to get into Box-Off's too and was replaced by Anthony Stewart, who beat Tarver in 1994, but has lost to him twice since then.

1996 Olympic Box-Offs
1996-04-19 Tarver outpoints (17-0) Anthony Stewart and goes to the Olympics.

1996 USA vs Germany (Portland, Ore.)
1996-05-18 Tarver outpointed (9-5) Thomas Ulrich.

1996 USA vs Russia
1996-06-17 Tarver outpointed (31-11) Igor Dzagoyev. Tarver received a flash knockdown in the 1st round, although he still won the round 6-2, he was ahead after 2nd round 22-5.

USA Boxing - A Night With America's Team
1996-06-22 Tarver stops Corey Maxey 40 sec. before the end of the 3rd round. In 1st round he scored a standing KD. Maxey won Florida Golden Gloves, was 2nd at the National Police Athletic League tournament, won Sunshine State Games three times, he sparred with Tarver often at that time too.

1996 Olympic Games (Atlanta)
1996-07-24 Tarver outpointed (5-2) Dmitriy Vybornov (Russia). Both soutpaw counter-punchers, at the start of 3rd round Tarver was ahead 3-2. A day before the fight Tarver was seven pounds above the 178 pounds limit.
1996-07-28 Tarver got to quarterfinals by KO1 of David Kowah (Sierra Leone).
1996-07-31 Tarver got to semifinal by stopping Enrique Flores (Puerto Rico) 1:06 before the end of the 3rd round. Tarver was ahead 3-1 after 1st round, scored one or two (sources differ) standing KD's, and two more standing KD's in the 3rd round after which the bout was stopped. Tarver was ahead 18-3 at the time, although his trainer tricked him before the start of the final round by telling him he was only one point ahead, the real score was 13-2.
1996-08-02 Tarver loses (15-9) in semifinal to Vassily Jirov. At the middle of the 2nd round the score was 4-4, but then Tarver abandoned his mobile style and began to slug it out, losing the round 9-8 and exhausting himself.

Commonly accepted amateur record of Antonio Tarver is 158-8, but as can be seen from the above data, he had 6 losses in 1993 already (including one loss to Roy Jones Jr in 1982 Sunshine State Games finals), and has lost at least 6 times since then, so his record should contain at least 12 losses.

World Title Recognition

Tarver has been recognized as World Light Heavyweight Champion on three different occassions. Tarver, first won recognition when he captured the vacant WBC and IBF titles with a unanimous decision over Montell Griffin. Tarver then lost the WBC title via majority decision to Roy Jones Jr., while stripped of the IBF belt.

Tarver regained the WBC light heavyweight title, as well as Jones's WBA (super champion) title and the IBO title, with a second round kayo over Jones. He was stripped of the WBC and WBA titles, after failing to face his mandatory challenger, and put his IBO belt against Glen Johnson, who defeated him on split decision.

On June 18, 2005, Tarver defeated Johnson by unanimous decision to regain the IBO belt, and general recognition as the best Light Heavyweight in the world. He was recognized as Light Heavyweight Champion by The Ring, who also recognized him after his kayo of Jones. He defended these belts in a rubber match with Jones.

He took time out in 2005 to play the character Mason Dixon in the last Rocky movie, Rocky Balboa.

On June 10, 2006 he was easily defeated by Bernard Hopkins via unanimous decision and lost his titles.

Preceded by: Roy Jones Jr. Vacated	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion 2003 Apr 26 – 2003 Nov 8	Succeeded by: Roy Jones Jr.
Preceded by: Roy Jones Jr. Vacated	IBF Light Heavyweight Champion 2003 Apr 26 – 2003 Nov 8 Stripped	Succeeded by: Glen Johnson
Preceded by: Roy Jones Jr.	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion 2004 May 15 – 2004 Dec Stripped	Succeeded by: Tomasz Adamek
Preceded by: Roy Jones Jr. Super Champion	WBA Light Heavyweight Champion 2004 May 15 – 2004 Dec Super Champion Stripped	Succeeded by: —
Preceded by: Clinton Woods	IBF Light Heavyweight Champion 2008 Apr 12 – 2008 Oct 11	Succeeded by: Chad Dawson