“Az USA Boxingnak köszönhetem, hogy életemben először adott nekem szerkezetet,” Tarver magyarázta. “Minden be volt ütemezve; kijárási tilalom, enni, edzés, alvás….minden! Ekkor értettem meg, hogy felelősséget kell vállalnom mindenért, amit tettem. Volt tehetségem, de nem voltam strukturált, és ez nagyobb volt nálam. Alkalmazkodnom kellett a tekintélyhez. Elszántságom felszállt, támogatást nyújt, amit korábban soha. Folytattam a felszólalásokat, és szponzorokat szereztem. áttörtem a korlátokat. Minden szinten a legjobb voltam a világon, ahol küzdöttem.”
Tarver kiválóan kitüntetett amatőr volt, akinek csodálatos volt 158-12 rekord. Ő az egyetlen bokszoló, aki aranyérmet szerzett az amatőr világbajnokságon, Egyesült Államokon kívül. Országos Bajnokság és Pánamerikai Játékok ugyanabban az évben (1995). The Orlando, Florida-born southpaw won a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, losing in the quarterfinals to future world champion Vassiliy Jirov, who Tarver had defeated in the semifinals of the 1995 World Amateur Championships. Tarver also won top honors at the 1994 National Golden Gloves Tournament and 1995 World Championships Challenge.
“I went on a winning roll in 1995 and went into the Olympics in rare form,” Tarver mondta. “And that’s why I was favored to win a gold medal. I was hitting him (Jirov), the same guy I’d beaten in the World Championships, but no points were registering for me. I had a good second round, but I was down three points, so I threw my game plan away in the third round. I felt I had to do more and got away from my style: counter punching, not getting hit, and being patient. Azt hittem, hogy én nyertem, és így döntöttek sokan. ezt bepótoltam, bár, aranyérmes profi karrierrel.
“A ’92-es olimpiai próbaverés után azzal a döntéssel szembesültem, hogy profi leszek. Úgy döntöttem, maradok az amatőröknél, annak ellenére, hogy semmilyen garanciát nem vállaltunk az elkészítésére 1996 Egyesült Államokon kívül. Olimpiai Csapat. Profi karrieremből négy évet feláldoztam, ezért is váltam viszonylag későn profivá (27). Elhatároztam, amikor megtudtam a 1996 Az olimpia Atlantában volt. Azt hiszem, jól döntöttem, és nem bántam meg.
“Mindig is arról álmodoztam, hogy kijussak az olimpiára. Láttam Roy Jonest, Jr – először verekedtünk egymással 13 – elrabolják az aranyat. Ezt néztem a tévében, felugrott, és tudta, merre tartok: Az Olimpia! We both suffered horrible decisions in the Olympics and I knew then that our careers would be parallel.
Tarver made his pro debut February 18, 1997 Philadelphiában, megállítás Joaquin Garcia (4-0) a második fordulóban.
“I was an Olympic bronze medal winner but when I first turned pro,” Tarver added, “I didn’t have a promoter or manager. Nobody was willing to take a chance on me until I was 4-0, when I signed by first contract with Russell Peltz. I felt nobody could beat me.”
Nobody was able to beat Tarver, at least until his 17th pro harc, amikor Eric Hardingdefeated Tarver by way of a 12-round unanimous decision.
Két évvel később, Tarver embarked on a 12-fight murderer’s row stretch during the next seven years, arguably establishing him as the No. 1 font-for-pound harcos a világon. It all started with a successful rematch with Harding (21-1-1) in Indianapolis, when Tarver dropped Harding in the fourth round, plus twice more in the fifth, on his way to a fifth-round technical knockout to avenge his lone pro loss to that date.
Next up for Tarver was a showdown with 44-3 Montell Griffin for the WBC and IBF 175-pound division titles, which were vacated by Roy Jones Jr., Április 26, 2003 Foxwoodsban Resort Casino Mashantucket, Connecticut. In his first world title shot as a pro, Tarver pitched a complete shutout, decking Griffin in the first and last rounds to shut out his opponent by scores of 120-103 mindhárom bíró.
Hét hónappal később, viszont, Tarver lost a controversial 12-round majority decision and his WBC crown (he was stripped of his IBF belt) to WBA Super and IBO champion Jones in Las Vegas. The following May at the venue, Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, bár, Tarver became the first to knockout Jones, putting him to sleep in the second round.
Tarver then became a mainstream celebrity, appearing on late-night shows and covers ofA Ring magazine and KO Magazine, and co-hosting an ESPN Péntek Night Fights tv-közvetítés.
“I was robbed in my first fight with Roy,” Tarver insisted. “They called my knockout of Roy the greatest upset in light heavyweight history. Why didn’t they see me coming? I had beaten everybody ranked ahead of me. Roy was the pound-4-pound king, but he knew. I may not be the fastest, the quickest, or the strongest, but I doubt that there’s ever been a pro fighter to enter the ring with a higher IQ than me. Even at my age, I still feel that way today.”
The WBC stripped Tarver of his title in 2004 for fighting IBF champion Glen Johnson (41-9-2) instead of the WBC mandatory challenger. Johnson, ironikusan, was stripped of his IBF title for the same reason right before his fight in Los Angeles with Tarver. Tarver and Johnson fought for A Ring and IBO titles and Johnson won a 12-round split decision.
In their rematch six months later Memphis, Tarver won a unanimous 12-round decision over Johnson to capture the IBO strap. Tarver completed his trilogy with Jones, retaining his IBO title with a unanimous 12-round decision (117-111, 116-112, 116-112).
Tarver lost a 12-round decision June 10, 2006 in Atlantic City to Bernard Hopkins for the IBO championship, which was soon vacated and recaptured by Tarver with a 12-round majority decision over Elvir Muriqi (34-3).
Tarver traveled to Australia in 2011 to challenge IBO cruiserweight champion and local hero Danny Zöld, who retired after nine rounds, as Tarver added another title belt to his display case.
Decemberben a 2013 Temecula-ban, Kalifornia, Tarver knocked out Jonathon Banks (29-2-1) a hetedik fordulóban, and Tarver’s last fight was a 12-round split decision draw with former world champion Steve Cunningham (28-7) Newark, New Jersey.
-ban 2006, Tarver starred as Mason “The Line” Dixon, the heavyweight champion in the film,Rocky Balboa.
Tarver, as he marches towards his planned history-making performance by becoming the oldest heavyweight world champion of all-time, also has served as a color commentator in boxing for Spike TV and Showtime.
Ma, évesen 49, Tarver is still technically active, and he also trains his son and undefeated middleweight prospect, Antonio Tarver, Jr. (5-0 (4 KO), where they live in Tampa, Florida.
“I was older than the rest of the boxers on the U.S. Olympic Team and the U.S. National Team,” Tarver megjegyezte. “What a team! Guys like Diego Corrales és Zab Judah didn’t make that Olympic Team. I gave Floyd Mayweather, Jr. his first moniker, ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’, until he changed it years later to ‘Money’. We had a bond on that Olympic team with Floyd, Fernando Vargas, David Reid, Zarim Raheem and the others.”
Although at the age of 49 he is still an active fighter, Tarver occassionally does some color commentating and he trains pro and amateur boxers at a gym in Tampa, Florida. “I’m not retired as a fighter,” Tarver commented. “I started a program, ‘Train with The Champ’, and it includes room rent and training. I like to say it’s an AirB&B for boxing. I train my son (5-0 középsúlyú Antonio Tarver, Jr. ott. I learned a lot from my early days, training in Orlando with my coach, Lou Harris, and I reunited with Jimmy Williams, aki 90 most, training my son together in Tampa.
Tarver also is an advocate of the relatively new “USA Boxing Alumni Egyesület,” which was created to champion a lifelong, kölcsönösen előnyös kapcsolatok az USA Boxing és öregdiákjai között, –bokszolók, tisztviselők, edzők és ökölvívók — the Alumni Association connects generations of champions, inspirálja és visszaadja az USA Boxing jövőbeli bajnokai számára, ki-és a gyűrű.
“I’m going online to join,” Tarver mondta. “I’m looking forward to attending an Alumni Association meeting, Június 24-30 during the Junior Olympics in Charleston, West Virginia.
Everything that goes around, jön körül, in USA Boxing. Just ask future Hall of Fame candidate Antonio Tarver.
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Colorado Springsben, Öl. (Május 21, 2018) – 
