Building upon its tradition of delivering the most evenly
matched and significant fights in boxing, SHOWTIME Senior Vice President and
General Manager, Sports and Event Programming Ken Hershman officially announced
today the fight that boxing pundits and fans have been waiting for. World
champion Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (27-4, 19 KOs) and undefeated “Bad” Chad
Dawson (26-0, 17 KOs) will face off in a battle
of light heavyweight kingpins
on Saturday, Oct. 11 live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed
on the West Coast).
“There’s been a ground-swell of anticipation for this fight for more than a
year,” said Hershman. “Two of the pound-for-pound best going toe-to-toe—this is
what SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is all about. Tarver-Dawson is yet another
example of SHOWTIME delivering on our promise to televise the most meaningful
and competitive match-ups in the sport.”
Tarver, the former undisputed light heavyweight world champion, is the only man
to stick two losses on the professional resume of future Hall of Famer Roy
Jones, Jr.
After registering a definitive unanimous decision over the defending IBF
175-pound champion Clinton Woods on April 12 on SHOWTIME, Tarver is back on top
of the deep light heavyweight division.
Dawson, of New Haven, Conn., is out to prove that he is the man to be at light
heavyweight. A ShoBox alum with speed, coordination and power, Dawson is
considered by most industry insiders to be the next star of the star-studded
division.
“SHOWTIME has had the opportunity to present Chad Dawson on his rise from
unknown prospect to world champion,” Hershman said. “Now he’ll face a legendary
and highly confident fighter in Antonio Tarver, who may be fighting the best he
ever has. It’s a compelling fight on many levels.”
On the same night Tarver was dethroning Woods, Dawson successfully defended his
WBC title against the hard-hitting and aggressive Glen Johnson. Albeit a
difficult fight for the young champion, Dawson won the unanimous decision and
showed his mettle against a heavy-handed adversary.
After the fight, Tarver had some choice words for Dawson in front of a packed
media center at the St. Pete Times Forum.
“Chad Dawson would be easy pickings now,’’ Tarver said. “He’s not the fighter
now that he was before this fight (against Johnson). He’s a wounded duck.”
Tarver continued, “Dawson took a lot of hard punches against Johnson, but there
is a difference between getting hit by Glen Johnson and getting hit by me.
Dawson had this to say: “Johnson is a warrior and we trained for that,’’ Dawson
said after winning by scores of 116-112 on all the scorecards. “Glen is a great
fighter. But I did my job and now it’s
time to move on and fight the big names and the best fighters.
Upon agreeing to the Tarver fight, a clearly agitated
Dawson added: “It’s about time he stepped up to the plate. He has finally
stopped making excuses and it’s time we settle this. After this fight, I’m
going to perform my own trick – I’m going to make the Magic Man disappear.”
“Just like Roy Jones, Glen Johnson, Montell Griffin and Reggie Johnson, Dawson
is going to become another world champion with a big ‘L’ on his record from
me!,” Tarver said.
For information on SHOWTIME Sports Programming, including exclusive
behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and
more, please go to the new SHOWTIME Sports website at
http://www.sho.com/sports.
