By Mark Workman

On October 1st, Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver will enter the ring to meet Roy Jones, Jr. for the 3rd time to not only prove supremacy in the light heavyweight division but to gain Tarver the respect he’s been seeking his entire career.

With both Jones (49-3, 38 KOs) and Tarver (23-3, 18 KOs) hailing from the great state of Florida, it’s doubtful either will walk into the ring at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa with any big home court advantage, even though Tarver, originally from Orlando, calls Tampa his home and has fought there 2 times as a pro.

No stranger in Tampa, either, Roy has fought there twice as a pro against Mike McCallum and Derrick Harmon. And it’s absolutely certain that Roy will have his strong contingent from his hometown of Pensacola—a city he’s fought in 20 times as a pro—with him in Tampa to cheer him on to a hopeful victory. But is that victory assured?

If Antonio Tarver has anything to say about it, it’s all over except his victory party.

The rubber match between Jones and Tarver is called “No Excuses” and is the result of a famous question Tarver asked Jones during the final instructions before their 2nd fight. In the middle of the ring, with only seconds to go, Tarver asked Jones, “You got any excuses tonight, Roy?” Those words set the tone for their 2nd explosive fight.

Jones commanded the first round, but then Tarver knocked Roy out in the 2nd round with a big left hand out of nowhere that Roy never saw coming, the first time Jones had ever been knocked out. Could those words from Tarver right before the fight began have played a mind game with Roy, rattling him mentally and helping Tarver win the fight? Only Roy knows the true answer to that question.

Antonio Tarver has been set to collide with Roy Jones, Jr. since they first fought each other as amateurs at the Sunshine State Games in Gainesville, Florida 23 years ago. Roy claims to have beaten Antonio convincingly, while Tarver remembers it differently, saying the fight “was a competitive fight and Roy won a split decision.”

In many ways, knowing that he would one day meet Roy Jones, Jr. in the ring again and prove he was the better fighter has been the fuel that has fed the Tarver machine for years.

After their 3 rounds fought as children, both Tarver and Jones went on to fight as Olympians. Roy won a Silver medal in the 1988 games in Seoul, Korea where he was robbed of the coveted Gold in a corrupt judging decision but still named Most Outstanding Boxer.

Tarver then culminated one of the most successful amateur careers in USA Boxing history when he won the Bronze medal in the 1996 Olympics games in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tarver began boxing at the age of 10 at a local Boys and Girls Club and fought for 5 years before moving to another neighborhood and taking a break from boxing, choosing football as the new sport that motivated him. But upon realizing that his destiny was not in football and seeing Roy Jones, Jr. fight in the Seoul Olympics, Antonio re-energized his passion for boxing and began a march to the light heavyweight championship of the world.

Growing up in a family with no father, Tarver had his share of low points in his life. With the support of his mother, he overcame an addiction to drugs that caused him to temporarily veer off his championship path.

Refocused and ready to resume his boxing career, Antonio ripped through the amateur ranks and became the first fighter to win the National championship, the Pan-Am Games and the World championship in the same year of 1996, earning him a spot on the 1996 Olympic team.

Although disappointed with only winning the Bronze medal, Tarver carried on, and at the age of 28 turned pro in February of 1997, an age where the average fighter is nearing his peak. Bitter that he wasn’t being offered big-money contracts and receiving the kind of media attention that some of his Olympic teammates were getting, and Roy Jones, Jr. had gotten, he took the hard road fighting smaller fights for lesser purses and gradually built himself into the fighter he is today.

Antonio went on to win his first 16 fights before losing a unanimous decision to Eric Harding in June of 2000. Suffering a broken jaw in the 9th round and getting dropped by Harding in the 11th round, Tarver suffered his first heartbreaking defeat despite dominating the first half of the fight. After that loss, many in the boxing world began to write Tarver off, but he used that loss to prove he was not to be counted out and was the master of the rematch.

After enlisting the services of ex-champion and renowned trainer Buddy McGirt, Tarver went on to win his next 3 fights against Lincoln Carter, Chris Johnson and Reggie Johnson before fighting Eric Harding again in July of 2002. Knocking Harding out in the 5th round, Tarver proved his detractors wrong and that he was definitely a force to be reckoned with in the light heavyweight division.

In April of 2003, Antonio fought Montell Griffin for the vacant WBC and IBF titles, both of them vacated by Roy Jones, Jr. when he moved up to heavyweight to fight WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz, a fight Jones won. In a complete shutout, Tarver won a unanimous decision against Griffin, knocking him down in the 1st and 12th rounds with a final score of 120 to 106 on all 3 judge’s scorecards.

7 months later, Antonio Tarver reached the pinnacle of his career when he squared off against Roy Jones, Jr. at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, but victory would not be his. In a fight that most in attendance felt Antonio won, he lost a majority decision and walked away bitter with Jones retrieving the WBC title he had given up to fight John Ruiz.

But as Tarver had proven against Eric Harding, betting against him in a rematch was a big mistake. In May of 2004 Tarver and Jones met again at the Mandalay Bay for a grudge match that would end in a shocking knockout with Roy Jones, Jr. turned into a wobbling, rubbery mess before the eyes of the world. In Antonio’s eyes, justice was his and he regained the WBC light heavyweight title and also picked up the WBA light heavyweight belt.

With many thinking that Roy Jones, Jr. would retire after such a shocking defeat, Antonio went on to fight top-ranked contender Glen Johnson but lost a controversial split decision at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in December of 2004. But he was far from down and out.

6 months later, Tarver, the master of the rematch, once again rose to the occasion and defeated Glen Johnson by unanimous decision at the Fed Ex Forum in Memphis, TN. This win set the stage for the rubber match with Jones that Tarver and boxing fans had been clamoring for.

But in Tarver’s mind, he’d already beaten Roy Jones, Jr. twice, and the 3rd match in their trilogy was nothing more than a final statement of that fact. Everything he’d done in his career was all coming down to the final fight with Roy Jones, Jr.

But will he earn the respect he’s sought his entire career?

Should he win against Roy Jones, Jr. many will say he beat a great fighter that was merely past his prime, and some will even have the gall to say that Roy really wasn’t that great to start with. If Antonio loses, many will say he’s not the future great that he claims destined to one day become.

Regardless of who wins their rubber match, both fighters will have proved that they’re 2 of the best light heavyweights to ever entertain us; but are they among the all-time greats? That’s a question to be pondered and answered when their careers are finally said and done.

Tarver will certainly continue on, but it’s doubtful if Roy will fight again. He’s nearing the end of his long career and continuing to fight will only jeopardize his health. Tarver, with what will only be 27 fights under his belt after the 3rd Jones fight, still has more left in him, but at the age of 36 time isn’t on his side.

What will be left for him to prove in the light heavyweight division should he defeat Roy Jones, Jr. on October 1st?

There are fights to be made against the current light heavyweight belt-holders: Tomasz Adamek, Fabrice Tiozzo, Clinton Woods and Zsolt Erdei; but how much demand will there be against these current champions who, combined, don’t have the drawing power of Antonio Tarver? How much motivation will exist within Tarver to fight such opponents in fights that will never equal the magnitude of the 3 fights against Roy Jones, Jr.?

It’s inevitable that IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy will one day move up to light heavyweight after hopefully cleaning up the 168-pound division; but will Tarver still be fighting when that happens? He turns 37 on November 21st. Maybe that fight will happen sooner than we think if fighters such as Joe Calzaghe continue avoiding Jeff Lacy in super middleweight unification fights that need to happen.

Tarver reportedly walks around between fights at upwards of 220 pounds and is 6’ 2” tall with a 75” reach, so fighting some of the smaller heavyweights isn’t unrealistic but does it make sense for Tarver? It might end up being one of the few big-money options down the line as he nears the end of his career.

With the Klitschko brothers getting closer and closer to locking up all 4 parts of the heavyweight title, the smaller current heavyweight champions such as John Ruiz, Chris Byrd and Lamon Brewster may be out of the picture by the time Antonio could have any interest in fighting heavyweights, should he ever decide to do so. And the thought of Tarver fighting either of the much bigger Klitschko brothers is a disaster in the making for him.

Most fighters are seeing the twilight of their career at the age of 36, but with only 26 pro fights under his belt at this time, Tarver seems to be just getting started. Not to overlook the great Roy Jones, Jr., but it’s doubtful that Roy can turn back time and beat Antonio Tarver on October 1st.

Roy’s got twice as many ring wars under his belt and the last 2 brutal knockouts he’s suffered at the hands of Tarver and Glen Johnson may prove to have taken a heavy toll on him mentally and physically. And even with Roy Jones, Sr. back in Roy’s corner to give him a supposed “tune-up,” how much can that really add to Roy’s seemingly fading arsenal?

The long road to respect that Antonio Tarver has traveled for the past decade is finally coming to its end; and I believe on October 1st he’ll walk out of the ring victorious and into the post-fight press conference where he’ll not only be referred to as “champ” but even more deservedly, “Mr. Tarver.”