Antonio Tarver vs. Roy Jones Jr.

Background

On March 1, 2003, then-undisputed light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. picked up a historic victory over John Ruiz that made him the WBA heavyweight champion. Following this, most of Jones' light heavyweight titles were vacated and Antonio Tarver met former WBC light-heavyweight champion Montell Griffin (the only man to hold a victory over Jones at that point) to determine who would become the new WBC and IBF light-heavyweight champion. Tarver dominated Griffin throughout the fight, winning all 12 rounds en route to a clearcut unanimous decision victory. Though it was not immediately known if Jones would continue to fight at heavyweight or return to the light heavyweight division, Jones ultimately decided to return to light heavyweight and challenge Tarver, who had called Jones out following his victory over Ruiz at the post-fight press conference. Originally, the bout was to be contested for both the WBC and IBF belts that Tarver held, but Tarver vacated the title only a week before the match was to take place in anticipation that he would be unable to make a mandatory defense of the title.

Prior to the fight, there was controversy as to who would enter the ring and be introduced last. Tarver was officially the WBC light-heavyweight champion and tradition called for the champion to both enter the ring and be introduced last (a notable exception to this tradition had been the Larry Holmes–Gerry Cooney fight in 1982). Jones had never been beat for the title and was still recognized as The Ring light-heavyweight champion and insisted that he be allowed to enter the ring last. However, Tarver refused to budge and the Nevada Athletic Commission stepped in and ordered the conflict be settled with a coin flip. When the time for the flip came, Jones relented and announced that he would allow Tarver to enter last.

The Fight

Jones appeared weakened after dropping a significant amount of weight in order to get back down to light heavyweight, but he nevertheless was able to pick up a disputed majority decision victory. Though Tarver landed more punches than Jones, Jones landed a higher percentage of his punches (Tarver landed 175 of his 506 thrown punches for a 35% success rate, while Jones landed 167 of his 406 thrown punches for a 41% success rate). When the fight ended, however, Tarver had done noticeable damage to Jones' face as his left eye was swelled almost completely shut and he was bleeding from the nose. The fight then went to the judge's scorecards. One judge had the bout even at 114–114, but the other two had Jones clearly ahead with scores of 117–111 and 116–112. The crowd, thinking Tarver had done enough to win the fight, loudly booed after Michael Buffer announced the decision and chanted "bullshit" as Jones remained in the ring for his post-fight interview with Larry Merchant. Tarver also felt that he had defeated Jones and told Merchant "All you have to do is look at his face to know I won."

Aftermath

In his post-fight interview, Jones announced that the fight against Tarver would possibly be his final at light-heavyweight and that he wanted to fight one more time with Mike Tyson as his opponent, but those plans were never realized. As Jones was still the reigning WBA heavyweight champion, he had until February 20, 2004 to decide if he would return to heavyweight to defend the title. Ultimately, Jones decided to vacate the heavyweight title and agreed to a rematch with Tarver.