NO SURPRISES IN CONNECTICUT AS NAME FIGHTERS SCORE KNOCKOUTS
Two established fighters on the rebound and one potential superstar continued their recent streaks of wins as Antonio Tarver, Vernon Forrest, and Nonito Donaire scored rather one-sided knockout victories against overmatched opposition on Saturday night. More than anything, the event served as an opportunity to get several name fighters, both old and new, back into the ring to build toward bigger, more meaningful bouts in the coming months. Tarver, Forrest, and Donaire brought the goods and displayed their talents against foes that could offer little resistance and even less chance of winning.
TARVER TAKES CARE OF SANTIAGO
Just as Antonio Tarver chased Roy Jones Jr. throughout his early boxing career, Danny Santiago claimed to have had “The Magic Man” on his mind since he was a teenager. Unlike Tarver, who made the most of his big opportunity by roughing up, knocking out, and outboxing Jones over three fights, Santiago was unable to defeat the man he spent his career pursuing. Tarver crushed his fellow Floridian in a one-sided fight that included two knockdowns before Referee Steve Smoger finally waved things off.
Originally scheduled to meet Danny Green, Tarver had to settle for fighting Santiago after Green decided to pursue a title fight. Santiago’s confidence in his ability to beat Tarver resided on the fact that he was able to stop Elvir Muriqi, who some, including the judges, felt gave Tarver a tough fight back in June. Santiago needed only four rounds to ruin Muriqi in 2004, but fortunately for Tarver, boxing isn’t built on transitive relationships. The sport does, however, include its share of irony, for Tarver needed only four rounds to ruin Santiago.
Santiago survived for a while by doing anything he could to rough Tarver up and drew a warning from Smoger for holding and hitting before a minute had passed in the fight. Before long, though, Tarver was popping Santiago with crisp jabs and straight left hands to the head and body. The action apparently wasn’t enough for the crowd. A chorus of boos after the second round urged Tarver to pick up the pace and try to close the show. Tarver knew he needed a convincing win with the embarrassing defeat to Bernard Hopkins still in the back of fans’ minds as well as the bad taste left from the vehemence he displayed after the absurd scorecards that led to the closer-than-expected majority decision against Muriqi. Dominating Muriqi on points had not brought Tarver back into boxing conversations, but a knockout always does the trick.
