This Saturday at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, Antonio Tarver, 25-4, 18 KO’s, will defend his IBO Light Heavyweight Title against Danny Santiago, 29-3-1, 19 KO’s, in a twelve round contest. Tarver is still trying to pick up the pieces after his defeat to Bernard Hopkins in 2006 and did not look impressive in his last outing against Elvir Muriqi.
Tarver career has thus far been defined by his victories over Roy Jones, JR. In 2004, Tarver shocked the boxing world when he handed Jones, JR., his first knockout defeat in two round. He would follow that up with a win and a loss at the hands of Glen Johnson, and then go on to defeat Jones, JR., again, by decision. The fame from the time in the spotlight caught the eye of Sylvester Stallone and propelled him into Rocky Balboa, the sixth entry of the Rocky series, starring directly across from Stallone. He was Heavyweight Champion, Mason Dixon, and would defeat Rocky in the movie but would come back to real boxing unprepared and Bernard Hopkins, the former Middleweight Champion, would take advantage of it and pull off an upset, sending Tarver’s career into a downward spiral.
Danny Santiago, on paper, has no right to be in the ring with Antonio Tarver. He has made a career out of fighting boxers with losing records. The collective record of the men that he was able to defeat is, 267 wins, 448 losses. All three of his defeats were knockout losses and all signs point to another similar result. What he might have on his side is a puncher’s chance and a possibly shot Tarver standing across the ring. In boxing, one punch can change history, but he has a tall order in front of him.
In an IBF/IBO Flyweight Title Bout, Nonito Donaire, 18-1, 11 KO’s, fresh off of his upset knockout victory over Vic Darchinyan, will be taking on the power-punching, Luis Maldonado, 37-1-1, 28 KO’s. Donaire has worked very hard to gain the respect of the public and has a strong Filipino following. The Philippines has grown as a boxing nation, led mostly by the idol to the masses, Manny Pacquiao. Donaire has a lot less miles on him then the ?Pacman? and might just be the man that takes over as the Philippines #1 boxing star, especially if he continues to dispose of respected fighters. The biggest factor to look at in this match up is the fact that Donaire knocked out Darchinyan and Maldonado was knocked out by Darchinyan. He was actually dominated for the most part in his defeat, which makes him the obvious underdog going into this one. Whatever the case, he will come in swinging and this might just be the fight of the night.
In the third title fight, Vernon ?The Viper? Forrest, 39-2, 28 KO’s, will defend his WBC Light Middleweight Title against Michele Piccirillo, 48-3, 30 KO’s. There is a similarity between Forrest and Antonio Tarver. Both men defeated the man known by many as the pound for pound best in the game and failed to truly capitalize on it. Tarver beat Jones, JR., and Forrest beat Shane Mosley. He beat him twice, in fact, only to lose to Ricardo Mayorga twice and fall off the face of the map. He had the world in his hand and ended up MIA. He spent two years out of the game nursing an injury, and has come back with four straight victories, his last, a dominant showing against Carlos Baldomir.
Piccirillo is a skilled fighter and has a common opponent with Forrest: Ricardo Mayorga. He lost as well, dropping a twelve round decision, but he has never been knocked out and the jury is still out on Forrest. A good win over Baldomir and a controversial win over Ike Quartey, where he didn’t look fantastic leads to this bout with Piccirillo. This bout rounds out this interesting championship triple header to be shown live on Showtime.
