Tarver vs Aguilera: Experience against youth
Antonio Tarver, known to the world as “Magic Man” is making a long awaited return to boxing after a 17 month hiatus. The comeback fight is planned for 15 October, but this time he’s fighting as a heavyweight against the rugged 24-year-old Nagy Aguilera. Tarver, almost 42, is facing the end of his career and it’s very late for him to be making a switch in his division. Aguilera on the other hand is at the beginning of his flourishing career and he’s hoping to use Antonio as a stepping stone towards bigger matches. Let’s investigate these two powerhouses and breakdown the potential outcome.
Antonio Tarver made his debut as a light heavyweight at the age of 28 when, on 18 February 1997, he knocked out Joaquin Garcia in the second round at the legendary Blue Horizon stadium in Philadelphia. He followed up this feat by winning his first 16 matches, 14 of which were knockouts. His first light heavyweight title bout was given to him in 2003 when he had a record of 20-1.
He faced off with world champion Montel Griffin for the IBF and WBC world light-heavyweight title. Tarver dropped Griffin in both the first and last rounds, this full circle maneuvering brought about a unanimous decision and he was crowned king of the light-Heavyweight division. Later that year and incredibly close fight between Tarver and the returning former champion Roy Jones Jr. shocked the nation. Tarver was expected to lose, and in the end he did, but not before putting Jones through 12 rounds of brutal struggle and forced the judges to make a close majority decision.
In 2004 Tarver once again rocked our world when he took Jones on once more 15 May in Las Vegas. Tarver knocked his opponent out. In the 50 fights before, Jones had only been to the floor once, and he had never lost by knockout. This fight came to be known as the “No Excuse Fight” due to Tarver’s statement before the match when he asked Jones: “You got any excuses tonight, Roy?” This bit of lip rocketed Tarver to stardom and the Magic Man went national.
But all of this is ancient history. Since March of 2009 Tarver’s been mostly spending time in the limelight, as a boxing analyst for Showtime Championship Boxing, and as the star of the 2006 hit Rocky Balboa, playing Rocky’s opponent Mason “The Line” Dixon.
Nagy Aguilera first started making waves on 11 December 11th, 2009 when the as of yet little known 23 year old destroyed heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev with a whirlwind of punches, in under the first 2 minutes of the first round of the match. 1,300 fans were in attendance at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento California that day and what they witnessed catapulted Aguilera into the world of the instantly recognizable. In that fight Aguilera showed he had speed, strength and the youth to take on a heavyweight champion. His blows were too fast to calculate, he was like a machine and since then the young man has been a force to be reckoned with. Now he’s hungry for a new challenge and the 42 year old Tarver feels like exactly the right candidate.
Antonio Tarver has had his place in the sun. Aguilera is a young, cocky, hungry 24 year old who wants nothing more than to blast a path into the annals of history for himself. He wants to use Tarver as a stepping stone into an entirely new strata of game. Tarver is an experienced veteran who, like Rocky Balboa, wants to prove he’s still got what it takes. This fight is going to be a close one, what it comes down to is who wants it more, the over-the-hill Magic Man, or the young and hungry Dominican who’s still hot off a stunning upset just nine months ago?
Both fighters are somewhat unknown quantities at this point. One only has one major win to his name, while nobody knows what an aged Tarver coming out of retirement will look like.
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