Antonio Tarver collects split decision against Lateef Kayode to retain title – Boxing News
Antonio Tarver, the current International Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion, made a late but impressive comeback in the final rounds to retain his title via draw decision against the Nigerian proud Lateef Kayode, the current NABA cruiserweight champion,
in a 12-round bout held on June 2, 2012.
The duo headlined the pay-per-view which was organised and promoted by Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions. The ring for the showdown was set up at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, United States and the night was co-headlined by the WBA
world light middleweight title bout between Austin Trout and Delvin Rodriguez.
The show was televised live on Showtime in its weekly boxing show ‘ShoBox Championship Boxing’. The card also had Leo Santa Cruz take on Vusi Malinga for the vacant IBF bantamweight champion.
Antonio, 43, was entering the 36th bout of his career, boasting 28 wins. The veteran brawler has collected 20 of his wins by knockout and was coming off a two-bout win streak.
As far as the technicalities were concerned, both men were almost equal but Tarver possessed a clear upper hand with his experience and southpaw stance advantage. His opponent, Lateef, 29, was entering his career's 19th bout, boasting an undefeated win streak.
The young Nigerian proud has nailed 14 opponents by knockout and proudly resides at the sixth position in World Boxing Organisation’s rankings. In addition, Kayode, also known as ‘Power’, is not only the owner of the NABA cruiserweight gold but has also
held the NABF and WBO NABO cruiserweight titles in the past.
Despite having hometown advantage, Antonio, also known as the ‘Magic Man’, could not get things up and running.
Tarver was defensive and did not connect substantial number of jabs. It was from the sixth round onwards that Antonio unleashed his power and made a decent comeback. At the end of the bout, the two men came so close to nailing each other that one of the
two judges rested his decision in Antonio’s favour whereas the other one favoured Lateef.
The third judge’s draw decision finalised the matter and the bout was denoted a split decision draw. After the bout, while sharing his thoughts, Antonio stated, “I beat this guy in every aspect. I dictated every round. I hit him with clean shots all night
long. He was sloppy, just like I said he was. He was just slapping and never landing. I swept him after the sixth round. From the sixth to the 12th, it was a shutout. I was slow to start. That's all he had on me.”
Kayode, on the other hand, thinks vice versa, and during his media interaction, he commented, “Everybody knows I won this fight. I am a strong man. I came to fight. Power is my name, and I did my job. I am better than him. He won because he works for Showtime.
Let's go to HBO.”
The bout was surely an enthralling one that kept fans on the edge until the end.
Tags: