They couldn't be more different. Chad Dawson is a soft-spoken, unassuming fighter who eschews the posse mentality and prefers quiet contemplation with family over boisterous self-aggrandizement.
Antonio Tarver, on the other hand, is his own favorite subject and can spin for the media as well as any political candidate. One fully expects him to give a press conference from a stage replete with Greek columns and rock bands.
Image is Everything
Before an interview with reporters in Los Angeles last month, Tarver could be heard consulting with his wife over the need to wear his garish sunglasses for the cameras. While she reasoned that viewers should see his eyes, he countered, "But they (the shades) are my trademark."
The irony is that Tarver doesn't need to cultivate an image. If anything, his bombast distracts from the ring skills that have made him a world champion. Physically gifted and a master boxer, Tarver has prevailed against the division's elite for years: Roy Jones, Clinton Woods, Glen Johnson, Eric Harding and others have succumbed to Tarver in the ring. So why is he an underdog to Dawson?
Their disparity in age has much to do with it. Tarver clocks in at 39-years-old and Dawson, at only 26, is a full 13 years his junior. But the overriding reason Tarver is the dog in this fight is that he is often appears to be dogging it in his fights.
Tarver Haunted by Losses
Lackluster losses in his first fight against Eric Harding, his first fight against a severely weakened Roy Jones (after Jones lost 20 pounds following his fight with John Ruiz for the WBC heavyweight belt), his first fight with Glen Johnson, and a lopsided loss to Bernard Hopkins, have left lingering doubts in the minds of boxing fans and press about his willingness to focus.
"I knocked Roy out in the second fight because I softened him up in the first fight," declared Tarver. "And I beat him the first time. Anybody who thinks that first fight (against Jones) was close doesn't know boxing." Which means, of course, that the author doesn't know boxing since he scored a close decision for Jones.
Of the loss to Hopkins, Tarver is adamant that he was weakened by having to lose so much weight after playing heavyweight Mason Dixon in the latest Rocky installment. A rather myopic perspective considering his unwillingness to cut Jones any slack.
It is true that, like heavyweight Lennox Lewis, Tarver has avenged every loss on his resume, but unless he can find a way to fight a rematch first, Dawson will likely remain the favorite.
"Why am I the underdog? It's crazy. He barely escaped Glen Johnson and I'm the underdog?"
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