By James Slater – A while ago, former light-heavyweight king Antonio Tarver announced how he will be resuming his career later this year, as a heavyweight. As soon as “The Magic Man” publicly announced his plans, the majority of fans let it be known how they felt: that the 41-year-old has one tough challenge ahead of him if he’s to get anywhere close to the top of his new weight class.
And though Tarver, 27-6(19) overall but winless in his last two outings, has the height and reach needed to be able to cut it with the bigger men (Antonio stands 6’2” and has a reach of 75”), his critics point to his age, lack of recent activity (just two fights in two years) and his faded reflexes.. Can Tarver, who has been doing a great job as an announcer for the Showtime network and really has no need to fight on, at least not for money, overcome these obstacles and make a dent at heavyweight?
Well, we don’t have long to wait until Tarver embarks on his heavyweight debut. Set, according to Dan Rafael and Boxrec, to face 24-year-old Nagy Aguilera in a scheduled ten-rounder on October 15th (venue, somewhere in the U.S, to be determined), Tarver will be going in with a young, decent heavyweight. Certainly, for his first fight at a new weight and for his first fight anywhere in 17-months, the talented southpaw has picked a “live” opponent.
Aguilera, 16-4(11) is no monster big guy at 6’3” and approx 230-pounds, but he is big enough, he is young and hungry, and he will surely look at this fight against a man so much smaller as a huge opportunity. The Dominican Republic heavyweight has caused a big shock before, too. Back in December of 2009, Aguilera destroyed former WBC heavyweight champ Oleg Maskaev in a single round. Okay, Maskaev had seen better days; but maybe Tarver has too. There is no guarantee that the man who starred alongside Sylvester Stallone on the silver screen will win this fight.
But, if Tarver has retained a good portion if his skills, and if he has carried enough of his power up with him and, perhaps most importantly, if he hasn’t gained too much weight too quickly, he should be able to get himself a points win in October. Sure, Aguilera has been stopped, by the lethal-hitting and newly re-dedicated Sam Peter back in March, but Tarver won’t be capable of belting Aguilera the way the Nigerian hit him.
Aguilera is coming off a points loss to the recently-returned Maurice Harris, but he is no shot fighter or anything like that. Tarver may well have some problems in this fight. A hard-fought points win looks likely for the man who will turn 42 in November. A stoppage win, especially an outright KO, really would be a statement of intent. A statement of what Tarver intends to do to the rest of the big guys!