“I credit USA Boxing for giving me structure for the first time in my life,” ארבר הסביר. “Everything was scheduled; curfew, eating, אימון, sleep….הכל! I then understood that I had to be accountable for everything I did. I had talent, but I wasn’t structured, and that was bigger than me. I had to adjust to authority. My determination took off, giving me support I never had before. I went on to make speaking engagements and get sponsors. I broke barriers. I’ve been the best at every level that I fought at in the world.”
Tarver was a highly decorated amateur who had an amazing 158-12 שיא. He is the only boxer to capture gold medals at World Amateur Championships, מתגורר בארה"ב. National Championships and Pan-American Games in the same year (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,” ארבר אמר. “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. I thought I had won and so did a lot of people. I made up for that, למרות ש, with a gold-medal professional career.
“I had been faced with a decision about going pro after I was beaten in the ’92 Olympic Trials. I decided to stay in the amateurs, despite not having any guarantees about making the 1996 מתגורר בארה"ב. נבחרת אולימפית. I sacrificed four years of my pro career, which is why I turned pro at a relatively late age (27). I was determined when I found out the 1996 Olympics were in Atlanta. I think I made the right decision and I have no regrets.
“I had always dreamed of going to the Olympics. I saw Roy Jones, ג 'וניור – we first fought each other at 13 – get robbed of gold. I was watching that on television, jumped up, and knew where I was heading: The Olympics! 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 בפילדלפיה, עצירה Joaquin Garcia (4-0) בסיבוב השני.
“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 ראסל פלץ. I felt nobody could beat me.”
Nobody was able to beat Tarver, at least until his 17ה מאבק פרו, כאשר אריק הרדינגdefeated Tarver by way of a 12-round unanimous decision.
שנתיים לאחר מכן, Tarver embarked on a 12-fight murderer’s row stretch during the next seven years, arguably establishing him as the No. 1 לוחם קילו-לק"ג בעולם. 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 מונטל גריפין for the WBC and IBF 175-pound division titles, which were vacated by רוי ג'ונס ג'וניור., אפריל 26, 2003 בFoxwoods נופש הקזינו בMashantucket, קונטיקט. 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 מכל שלושת השופטים.
שבעה חודשים מאוחר יותר, עם זאת, 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, למרות ש, 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 ofהטבעת magazine and KO Magazine, and co-hosting an ESPN יום שישי קרבות הלילה שִׁדוּר בְּטֵלֵוִיזִיָה.
“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 גלן ג'ונסון (41-9-2) instead of the WBC mandatory challenger. ג'ונסון, באופן אירוני, was stripped of his IBF title for the same reason right before his fight in Los Angeles with Tarver. Tarver and Johnson fought for הטבעת and IBO titles and Johnson won a 12-round split decision.
In their rematch שישה חודשים לאחר מכן בממפיס, 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 ברנרד הופקינס 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 דני גרין, who retired after nine rounds, as Tarver added another title belt to his display case.
בחודש דצמבר של 2013 בטמקולה, קליפורניה, Tarver knocked out Jonathon Banks (29-2-1) in the seventh round, and Tarver’s last fight was a 12-round split decision draw with former world champion סטיב קנינגהאם (28-7) בניוארק, ניו ג'רזי.
ב 2006, Tarver starred as Mason “The Line” Dixon, the heavyweight champion in the film,רוקי בלבואה.
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.
היום, בגיל 49, Tarver is still technically active, and he also trains his son and undefeated middleweight prospect, אנטוניו Tarver, ג 'וניור. (5-0 (4 קוס), where they live in Tampa, פלורידה.
“I was older than the rest of the boxers on the U.S. Olympic Team and the U.S. National Team,” ארבר העיר. “What a team! Guys like דייגו קוראלס ו Zab יהודה didn’t make that Olympic Team. I gave פלויד Mayweather, ג 'וניור. his first moniker, ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’, until he changed it years later to ‘Money’. We had a bond on that Olympic team with Floyd, פרננדו ורגס, 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, פלורידה. “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 בינוני אנטוניו Tarver, ג 'וניור. שם. I learned a lot from my early days, training in Orlando with my coach, Lou Harris, and I reunited with ג'ימי וויליאמס, מי הוא 90 עכשיו, training my son together in Tampa.
Tarver also is an advocate of the relatively new “ארגון בוגרי איגרוף ארה"ב,” which was created to champion a lifelong, יחסים מועילים הדדית בין איגרוף ארה"ב לבין בוגריו, –מתאגרפים, פקידי, מאמנים ואוהדי אגרוף — the Alumni Association connects generations of champions, השראה ולתת בחזרה אלופי איגרוף העתיד של איגרוף ארה"ב, ובמחוץ לזירה.
“I’m going online to join,” ארבר אמר. “I’m looking forward to attending an Alumni Association meeting, יוני 24-30 during the Junior Olympics in Charleston, מערב וירג'יניה.
Everything that goes around, מגיע, in USA Boxing. Just ask future Hall of Fame candidate Antonio Tarver.
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מעיינות קולורדו, Lap. (מאי 21, 2018) – 