02.10.05 – By Wray Edwards: A local scribe for The Tampa Tribune, Anwar S. Richardson, wrote an article for Saturday’s sports section which dwelled on the number three with such examples as “…mind, body and soul…Father, Son and Holy Spirit…Judaism observes three major feasts…three meals a day…” etc. as a lead-in to Jones-Tarver 3. After watching the beginning of this fight, it became obvious that Mr. Richardson had left out the most appropriate example: SOS (… – – – …). Right after the third (naturally) round, this writer left ringside and sought out the highest seats in the Forum (the seventh level press-box) to watch the rest of the fight.
In this case SOS stands for “Save Our Sport”. For the first Three Rounds, Jones danced to his right in endless counter-clockwise circles as Tarver just stayed in the middle of the ring and turned around and around to keep facing the circling challenger. Most in the press-box came to the conclusion that Roy was trying to get Tony dizzy by this tactic.. Tarver would step towards Jones from time-to-time but not much happened. The Fourth was probably much the same, but those three minutes were spent heading for the rafters. Perhaps a change of perspective would help.
Round Five finally contained a departure from Jones’ impersonation of a satellite orbiting “mother” Tarver. He made a few “charges” and some meaningless contacts after feinting so many times the crowd began to boo both fighters. He looked like the proverbial “mongoose at a cobra rally” except that the cobras were not striking. After one of his minor forays against Tony, Jones, apparently impressed with his zippy displays, did a “heel slap” reminiscent of an Oktoberfest beer-hall dancer in his lederhosen. To this point we had it Tarver: 9/10/10/9/9 (47) – Jones 10/10/9/10/10 (49) even though there was scant action, from either fighter, by which to award the rounds.
Round Six was punctuated by Roy’s decision to stick his tongue out at Tony. Perhaps he was having a flash-back to their long-ago amateur encounter. There were also a couple of head shakes by Jones which must have been intended to indicate to Tarver that his strikes had had no effect. Round to Roy, for slightly more contact and his excellent impersonation of Gene Simmons, Tarver 66, Jones 68. There were now increasing murmurings about the emerging chess-match nature of the “fight”. Endless comparisons spring to mind: cat and mouse, spider and fly, Laurel and Hardy. Up high, with the crowd no longer surrounding one, it was possible to survey the whole Boxing organism as it lived out its Mayfly-like existence.
The eager media, the fickle masses separating into cheering camps when their guy showed the slightest glimmer of initiative, only to abandon their heroes and join together in mutual choruses of boos in hopes that they could somehow coax a real boxing match out of these two all struggled in vain to find some action. The corners pleaded and cajoled…with Buddy waving a strict finger at Tarver and Roy’s people trying to get their tentative charge to do so there may be some pics of seemingly effective punching, but stills cannot convey the utter frustration of hopes that a real fight would break out. Some said Tony was just waiting for Roy to get tired and then we’ll really see something. Others had it just the opposite.
During the contest there were one or two strikes by Roy which caused Tony’s sweat to fly, but he pretty much just walked through them. Tony had Roy a little dazed a couple of times but could not close the show. Even though Roy’s gloves got lower and lower during the bout Tarver never really went in for the kill. It seemed that he was getting pretty tired himself. McGirt urged Tony on, but it appeared that both fighters were showing their age. Rounds Seven through Twelve were filled with some smatterings of action, but not enough to keep the crowd from booing many times for lack of action.
Tarver marginally earned Rounds Eight through Eleven, with Roy edging Tony slightly for Twelve, Tarver 115, Jones 114. Many may scoff at this close call, but the “Champ” did not look like one, and the challenger did nothing to take it away. The switch to the sky-box brought the scoreboard TV (which cannot be seen from the apron) image in view and gave added perspective. The downside was no pics from yours truly, but there wasn’t really that much to photograph.
The author had composed a totally different lead which was inspired by the hype and personal expectations. Unfortunately, this event was much less entertaining and important on its face than the recent Lacy-Reid encounter. One must be tempted to conclude that Roy is much better off assisting Lampley and fielding Larry’s comments while, in this author’s opinion, doing what he now does better than boxing. Jones needs to get back behind the mike and preserve that friendly smile and informed commentary. Fans, when asked, generally expressed disappointment with the quality of the match. Jones really had and has nothing to prove. This vain attempt to finish his career with a flourish might only serve to tarnish it. As for Tarver, he fancies himself and is listed as the champ. Tough shoes to fill even though he is already in them.
In other action during the evening a 10 round heavyweight bout between Brian Minto and Vinny Maddalone featured Vinny trying to do nappy-time on Brian’s shoulder every time he got whacked. Maddalone’s attempted punches went wild for the most part while Minto’s left jab prepared Vinny for many rights, one of which buckled his knees to a severe degree. The fight was called a TKO of Vinny by the Ref. at 1:21 of the seventh when Minto delivered no less than Fifteen unanswered lefts in a row which pretty much hung Maddalone out to dry while still on his feet. During the replays most of the fans counted out loud as the fifteen blows were repeated, you guessed it, three times. Does anybody know if this might be some sort of record? The author has never seen anything close to that number of unanswered, consecutive strikes with the same hand.
Andre Ward of Oakland, Ca. stunned St. Pete’s Glenn LaPlante to his knee with a stiff left for an eight, and shortly thereafter a whack behind the ear put Glenn down for the count at 2:59 of the First Round.
The best and most action-packed fight of the evening was between lightweights Nate Campbell from Jacksonville, Florida and Almazbek “Dr. Evil” Raiymkulov from Las Vegas, Nevada. The First Round ended several punches after the bell, as both fighters seemed to resent the interruption. Almazbek was staggered in the Second and clinched to clear his head. Nate’s counters were pretty effective. Campbell ducked effectively…a talent Almazbek sorely missed as he was often unable to do the same.
Raiymkulov spent a full two minutes on the ropes in Round Four. In Round Five Nate KD’d his opponent twice at 0:43 and 0:26. This effort seemed to cause him to become arm weary in Rounds Six through Nine. There were energetic and prolonged exchanges throughout the fight. Finally, in Round Ten Campbell gained the upper hand in energy and accurate strikes to the point that the Ref. stepped in (2:26) and “Dr. Evil” said he could not continue.
Campbell’s attitude was business-like and contained none of the show-boat antics of previous fights, one of which included his attempt to emulate Mayorga when he dropped his gloves to his sides and offered his chin to…think it was Robbie Peden…who naturally did his thing. That resulted in his right jaw being blind-sided which dropped him like an imploded building. He was ahead 90/79 when he stopped Raiymkulov.
This boxing show at the Forum did not have the spirit or organization of the Lacy-Reid weekend. The event staff at all levels was less organized and professional than their predecessors at Lacy-Reid. Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan and other Boxing luminaries were noticeably unimpressed with the main event. From the sweltering heat of the weigh-in venue, to the anti-climactic nature of the “main event”, this enterprise just fell short of its promise. Many thanks to Jessie, Erika, Theresa and Lisa, who made things much better at a different location after the fights. Let’s just say that they made Hooter’s girls look like armadillos.
Win some lose some. That’s Boxing, and that’s also reporting. The IBO was not particularly validated by the level or outcome of this encounter. Tarver appeared to fade drastically in the latter rounds either from age or taking this bout for granted. Actually, he does not seem particularly concerned, beyond ego gratification, about the seriousness of the sport. He had better find another focus because his vaunted trilogy with Roy ended not with a bang…but a whimper. See you at the fights.