Antonio Tarver, a southpaw outboxed and beat light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods from Sheffield, England by 12-round UD on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at St Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. Tarver retained his IBO light heavyweight title successfully defending it for the second time and captured Woods' IBF light heavyweight title.
Tarver, after losing a 12-round UD to Bernard Hopkins on Saturday, June 9, 2006 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey did not fight for a year. Then on Saturday, June 9, 2007 in Hartford, Connecticut, Tarver shook off the ring rust winning a 12-round MD over Elvir "The Kosovo Kid" Muriqi plus the vacant IBO light heavyweight title. In his next fight on Saturday, December 1, 2007, at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, Tarver retained his IBO light heavyweight title scoring a 4th round KO over Danny Santiago.
| Fight | Location | Date | Boxing Tickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarver vs TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Antonio "Magic Man" Tarver
Antonio Tarver, prior to becoming a professional boxer had an impressive amateur career winning the 1994 National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight champion, 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships and 1996 Olympics Light Heavyweight bronze medal.
On Saturday, May 15, 2004 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada in Antonio Tarver vs Roy Jones Jr II, Tarver became the first man to ever knockout Jones. Only once in 50 previous fights had Jones been sent to the canvas and he had never lost a fight by KO.
In 2006 Tarver starred in Rocky Balboa aka Rocky VI as the heavyweight division champion Mason "The Line" Dixon. The primary opponent of fictional boxer Rocky Balboa based on Chuck Wepner who inspired Sylvester Stallone to write the Rocky movies.