Resurgent Tarver aiming for more titles

TAMPA Finally settled in after spending two weeks in Australia with a pit stop in Las Vegas to watch the Amir Khan-Zab Judah fight, newly-crowned IBO cruiserweight champion Antonio Tarver had plenty on his mind.

A little more than a week ago in Sydney, Tarver (29-6, 20 KOs) collected a technical knockout victory against Danny Green (31-4, 27 KOs), taking his IBO cruiserweight belt.

In that fight, Tarver's cruiserweight debut, the Tampa resident became the first opponent to stop Green early and shortly thereafter became a talking point to many in the boxing world. Even an old nemesis – Bernard Hopkins – talked up a rematch.

"I've heard from everybody. I'm on everybody's hit list," Tarver said, laughing. "(Wladimir) Klitschko, everybody's calling me out.

"It's real crazy, but it's boxing. That's why this is a great sport because in one fight, the whole landscape can change from good to bad. You're only as good as your last fight and this performance was a dominating performance that no one thought I had in me. If you look at my stats, look at my resume, they should have known that I was going to show up and show out."

Tarver, 42, admitted this was the first time he's felt at his optimum physically entering a bout. He said he was down to 196 pounds, four pounds below the cruiserweight-mandated 200 pounds, a week out from the fight against Green. That allowed him to focus more on his technique in the gym rather than killing himself with constant road work.

"That just goes to show I was the best fighter in those 10 years in the light heavyweight division, I had outgrown the weight class," Tarver said. "I was killing myself to get down and it was really zapping all of my stamina, energy and conditioning because I had to run so long and so hard just to make weight.

"I left the fight on the road. I left the fight in the gym."

Which brings us back to the topic of Hopkins.

Tarver, who joined Showtime as a boxing commentator in 2009, is always one to cite the fact he's been able to avenge a loss. Only twice in his 35 professional fights has a boxer walked away scot-free: Chad Dawson, who beat Tarver in two consecutive fights, and Hopkins.

Hopkins told BoxingScene.com: "[Taking a fight at cruiserweight], it depends on who the guy is. Like Tarver. Tarver, I would love to get that, because it's a rematch. He had a great excuse [for losing the first fight]. He lost 100 pounds or 50 pounds, something like that. You hear him tell it he was dead [in the ring]. And he was poisoned, food poisoning. He did say that, he said he was poisoned."

That 12-round, unanimous-decision loss to Hopkins in 2006 has long been a thorn in Tarver's side. Entering that bout, Tarver had just wrapped filming 'Rocky Balboa' with Sylvester Stallone. According to Tarver, he dropped 50 pounds in two months to get down to the 174 pounds he officially weighed in at before the fight.

"That would be a beautiful fight," Tarver said of a Hopkins rematch. "That's been the fight that I've always wanted because I blessed Hopkins with the opportunity to become the light heavyweight champion even when he was coming off of two losses. He never honored my rematch situation. He was crying out talking about (Joe) Calzaghe when he owed me a rematch. Coming off a great victory like I just had, that's what happens. The landscape has changed."

He says Hopkins, 46, has to first beat Chad Dawson in their October fight and if that happens, that will make a Tarver-Hopkins bout worthwhile.

Meanwhile, Tarver says he wants to get back into the ring in October or November and his options are piling up. Heavyweights David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko are at the forefront of his return to the division, while cruiserweights Steve Cunningham, Marco Huck and Lateef Kayode have shown a desire to face Tarver.

"Wladimir Klitschko is another fight I would love to have because I feel I can do things that David Haye wasn't able to do in there and make it hard for Wladimir," Tarver said. "Give him something to think about.

"When the stakes are so high, you've got to take risks and David Haye wasn't willing to take risks in that fight and that's why the fight didn't live up to the expectations."

Haye lost a lopsided unanimous decision to Klitschko in that July 2 fight.

Then there's the outside-the-ring distraction with which Tarver has had to come to grips. During his training camp for the Green fight, he and his wife of four years, Denise, divorced.

Needless to say, his focus leading into the Green fight had to reach a new level.

"I knew what was at stake. I knew my life and my career were at stake," Tarver said. "I have a beautiful daughter who's 10 years old who I have to live for. I made myself a priority finally and let everything else go. I gave it to God and He saw me through it.

"I made some mistakes (in my marriage), but God knows my heart. There's no way blessings are going to continue to fall on someone that's a bad person. I know I'm a good man and I know I'm just a man, but at the same time, my heart is pure and my heart is good. I have a clean heart."

As for the fights in the ring, Tarver hasn't set a timeline to when he wants to call it a career, but his goal is clear.

"I'm back now and I'm focused," he said. "I want to get the heavyweight title before I retire and if I get my opportunity, I'm gong to shock the world. I don't care if it's Klitschko, David Haye or whoever. I'm going to shock the world. I believe God has preserved me because my work is not done yet.

"As long as I can win championships, I'm fighting. ... When I no longer can win championships, then I'll ride off into the sunset."