Chad Dawson defends title with unanimous decision

[Kool Beenz]

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Chad Dawson successfully defended his IBF and IBO light heavyweight titles and maintained his unbeaten record on Saturday, unanimously outpointing Antonio Tarver.

In a rematch of their October title fight - which he also won unanimously on points - Dawson defeated his 40-year-old American compatriot, with scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 117-111 from the three judges.

Unlike their previous bout, when the fast-handed left-hander dominated, Saturday's fight at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino produced plenty of back-and-forth action from start to finish.

"He put up a hell of a fight," said Dawson, 28-0 with 17 knockouts. "He definitely took me off my game. My hats off to Antonio Tarver."

Dawson landed most of significant punches in the final four rounds, including a flurry of punches at the end of the ninth round - arguably his most impressive round.

Tarver was the clear aggressor, throwing 749 punches to Dawson's 677. But the 26-year-old Dawson had a 62-14 advantage in punches that connected with the body and connected on 31 percent of his punches against Tarver's 16 percent.

"He pushed the fight and took my off my game plan," Dawson said. "He threw a lot of punches, but I was catching most of them."

Dawson, who was in the first fight of a two-fight contract with cable TV company HBO, said he doesn't know who he will fight next. An ideal possibility is Bernard Hopkins, matching arguably the world's two best light heavyweights.

"I will fight whoever they throw in front of me," Dawson said. "I'm glad I got this rematch out of the way so I could get the fights I deserve.

"I know I didn't have my best night," Dawson said. "I know it wasn't it my best performance. I don't know how much of that had to do with Tarver having a good night."

Despite the lopsided outcome in the first meeting, Tarver was confident he would win the rematch. He had also lost to Roy Jones Jr., Glen Johnson and Eric Harding during his career, but avenged all three loses in rematches.

The underdog pieced together successful combinations, especially in the earlier rounds that showed the veteran champion wasn't going to be an easy opponent.

"I don't feel like a loser up here tonight. I truly don't," Tarver said. "I fought 12 hard rounds and I was in it every round. Let my hands go, and when I like my hands go, I can compete with anyone in the world. I showed that tonight.

"I just went 12 rounds and feel great."

Dawson, a former WBC light heavyweight champ, has held major titles in the division since early 2007, beating Tomasz Adamek, Jesus Ruiz, Epifanio Mendoza, Glen Johnson, and now Tarver twice.

[Kool Beenz]

Who is a legitimate Light Heavy contender now?

the division is in a drought... they have Bernard but its not official who he wants to fight yet... he wants Carol Froch....

none of the 168's are gonna move up weight to fight him...
maybe Lacy would, Mikkel Kessler prolly wont, and neither will Pavlik or Jermain

a rematch with Glen Johnson is the only fight i see happening for this young champ Chad but Chad says he doesnt wanna go through hell with Glen again
it was a great war that could of gone either way...


Chad says that he hope Joe Calzaghe will come back and fight him but he also said he would fight whoever they put in front of him



as for Antonio Tarver he is a throw back already... he put up a good performance in the rematch but if he wants to fight like that he needs to get buffer and move up to heavy and challenge James Toney or Sam Peter... his Light Heavy career is done with