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A Magnificent Obsession
Commentary by Thomas Gerbasi (MaxBoxing.com) May 16, 2004 
Photo © HoganPhotos.com
For the better part of two decades, Antonio Tarver chased after Roy Jones Jr. When he made it to the 1996 Olympics, Jones was in his head; when he battled through boxing's political landscape, Jones was there; and even when he finally won a world title, the specter of Jones filled his head.

But tonight, with a picture perfect left hook that rivaled those thrown by Sugar Ray Robinson against Gene Fullmer and Joe Frazier against Muhammad Ali, Tarver shed Roy Jones Jr. from his back once and for all, in the process not only regaining his light heavyweight championship, but putting the boxing world on notice that a new star is born.

"You got any excuses tonight Roy?" - Tarver to Jones

When Tarver dressed down Jones during referee Jay Nady's pre-fight instructions in the middle of the Mandalay Bay ring, it was one of those Kodak moments that boxing fans will talk about for years. And such bravado shouldn't have been a surprise coming from a man who has burned out tape recorders and broken pencil points ever since his controversial decision loss to Jones last November. Tarver made no bones about the fact that he felt wronged by the majority decision defeat, and while telling anyone within earshot about it, he vowed to right the wrong the second time around.

Yet bravado is usually just that. Practically every fighter talks a good fight. Only the rare few back it up. And if Tarver needed any more ammunition entering the bout, he got it from the observers who compared this bout to Jones' rematch with Montell Griffin.

Those of us who made that comparison at least got the early KO prediction right.

"Don't say that word, respect." - Tarver to trainer Buddy McGirt between Rounds One and Two

After a tense first round that saw Jones do much of the punching, albeit in spurts, Tarver didn't want to hear about respect from his trainer McGirt. He had idolized Jones, and even in the midst of the most heated tirades leading up to the bout, he acknowledged Jones' status in the fistic pantheon. He would just not show that in the ring. He couldn't. Too many fighters respected Roy Jones too much and lost because of it. One hesitant step against Jones and you've been hit with a flurry of blinding shots, left to fire back at what used to be the image of a fighter in front of you, but instead was just a corner post. Tarver couldn't respect Jones tonight. He would lose. He had to treat him like every one who doubted him, every one who put him down, and every one who called him a footnote in the history of one of the greats.

And he did.

For all of Jones' unorthodox brilliance over the years, it's ironic that a textbook left hook, delivered as Tarver stepped in with perfect leverage, would be his undoing. Jones crashed hard, hesitated as if to get his bearings underneath him, and a shocked boxing world waited for him to rise, to once again show why he is considered to be the greatest fighter of this era.

And like one of the greats, he tried. As the seconds ticked off like minutes, Jones moved in slow motion to get to his feet, each movement excruciating in its fragility. He got up. His legs said no, his heart said yes.

The legs wobbled and won.

Beaten legitimately for the first time in his career, Jones showed that, like every fighter, he is human. And maybe in the great scheme of things, this is what he needed to become real to fans who haven't seen him as one of them.

But tonight was about Antonio Tarver, who is every bit as human as every one of us. He's battled (and is battling through) dilemmas that have crippled others, but he's persevered. And while only time will tell if he can put together a body of work like Roy Jones Jr., for tonight, he's pound for pound the best fighter in the world.

He beat Superman with a dream and a left hook 20 years in the making:
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