Antonio Tarver: My Time is Now!

Added on Oct 08, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Showtime Sports presents a special edition of Shobox: The New Generation next Friday night as it features the heavyweight debut of former World Light Heavyweight Champion Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver as he takes on Nagy Aguilera in a ten round clash at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.

Despite having been in the game since early 1997, it wasn’t until eight and a half years later than Tarver would become a household name following his stunning knockout win over Roy Jones Jr. in their much anticipated rematch.

“They want to see me get knocked out for destroying a fighter in Roy Jones Jr. There are a lot of fans out there still bitter about that, because Roy Jones was so beloved by so many. They just never saw it coming and his career has never been the same since,” Tarver recently stated during a media teleconference.

It’s safe to say that Tarver’s career hasn’t been the same since either. Just about every fight he has taken part in since has been a major televised attraction. Having been in against the likes of Glen Johnson, Bernard Hopkins, Clinton Woods and Chad Dawson, Tarver has found mixed success in his career as a light heavyweight fighter.

For most fighters looking for a change in the 175 lbs. division, the natural jump up in weight would be up to the 200-pound cruisierweight division. Tarver elected to skip that weight class altogether.

““I wanted one fight at cruiserweight. Everyone knows it was Danny Green. But that guy has a yellow streak down his back. He’s a farce and he’s living off a victory over Roy Jones Jr. You can see in his last two fights he wanted nothing to do with anyone with a remote pulse or any type of life in him. So he’s continued to fight corpses so I just let him do what he does,” declared Tarver.

Instead, Tarver will dip his toe in the heavyweight waters as he gets ready to do battle with the hard hitting Domincan born heavyweight Nagy Aguilera (16-4, 11 KOs). Despite Aguilera having shared the ring with accomplished fighters such as Sam Peter and Oleg Maskaev, Tarver feels that he will be Aguilera’s toughest test to date.

““Nagy Aguilera is a young and talented fighter who has beaten world champions but when you look at my experience, I’m sure he’s never faced a fighter with my experience, with my talent, with my skill level and with my ability,” boasted Tarver.

Tarver is so confident, in fact, that he feels that Aguilera is basically the first step in a run towards a heavyweight championship bout against the Klitschko brothers.

“I’ve been to the mountaintop but who’s to say I can’t get there again and climb all the way to the top of the heavyweight mountain. This is big and this is what I get up for. These next two years will be a crowning moment in my career; to show the people that I can reinvent myself once again and be heavyweight champion once again.”