CLASSIC - Ozone Magazine

What’s been going on since your last fightagainst Dawson?I’ve just been watching the landscape of thelight heavyweight division. Roy Jones justfought Calzaghe, which was very interestingto me. A lot of people feel that Calzaghe’s thegatekeeper to the light heavyweight division,but I beg to differ. We have the Chad Dawsonrematch coming up in March or April. I lostmy last fight to him, but I’m undefeated inrematches. In fact, after all three of my lossesI came back and won by knock out. Hopefullyonce I reclaim my championship then wecan see what Calzaghe’s really made of. He’sfought Hopkins, he’s fought Jones, but there’sone intricate name that he’s missing – he’snever faced Tarver.Do you feel like you were 100% prepared tofight Chad Dawson?I would say I was 100% prepared, but inboxing, there’s little things that can happenduring the fight that will offset you, thingsthat you have to adapt to on the spot. The firstround we came out and felt strong, but forsome reason I got into this aggressive, one-dimensionalfighter that’s not me. It allowed himto do some things that ordinarily he wouldn’thave been able to do. I fought an ordinaryfight, and even in doing that, the fight wasn’tas much of a blowout as it may have seemed.Yes, he was more active than me, but a lot ofthose punches weren’t landing. If you look athis face and my face at the end of the fight,it’d be hard to see who won because he wasswollen everywhere. The only thing that wasswollen on me was my arms and wrists fromblocking all of his shots. But the judges don’treally award [points for] defense a lot. Theydon’t appreciate good, scientific boxing. Theobject of the game is to hit and not be hit andI’ve perfected that. Granted I’m 39 and I’vegot a birthday coming up, but it was a verycompetitive fight. In the rematch I will makesome adjustments, box my style of boxing,and prove to be the better fighter.As far as Orlando is concerned, you’re ahometown hero. What responsibilities comealong with that?You want to make your hometown proudof you, in anything you do. You want to beyour best. And you do that by staying out oftrouble, not being in the news with negativepress because a lot of people are rooting foryou. I wasn’t trying to be a role model, but ifI can be a positive influence on the inner citykids I welcome that opportunity. That’s whywith my Antonio Tarver Foundation, which isa leadership program, I show the kids that it’sok to get out here and have dreams. When youlook at Barack Obama winning the presidency,that’s a feel-good story that should makeyoung black kids say, “The sky’s the limit.”There’s no excuse for failure. I come from a lessfortunate environment and at one time I wasa lost soul, and I think God [blessed] me and Iwant to give blessings back.On the note of being a target when you’re successful,can you speak on the situation withSuperhead and how you’ve dealt with herputting your private business out in public?I’m human and we all mistakes. You might thinkabout the moment, but you don’t think abouttomorrow. One day I made a bad decision thatI regret, but I can’t take that back. I faced themusic on that. Fortunately I have a supportivewife that understands that as a man, I’m goingto make mistakes. I’ll forever try to make that upto her for the hurt and embarrassment it causedher. I’m thankful that she has a forgiving heartand knows I love her dearly.What was being in the Rocky movie like? Areyou going to try to pursue anymore actingroles?I was a co-star in one of the biggest sportsfranchise movies of all times, and yes, I’d reallylike the opportunity to go to L.A. and do somework. But right now it has to be suitable formy schedule and that’s what makes it tough.I can’t juggle [acting] with my [boxing] careerbecause I’m only a year or so away from theend of it. I don’t want to spread myself thinand have any regrets. I’ll have more thanenough time to do acting, commentary, andwork on my promotional company once Iretire.What about working with some of the localtalent? I hear you’re a supporter of Slim E.I think he’s the next big thing. I’ve heard alot of great rappers along the way and I’dcompare him to Jay-Z and T.I. when you look athis lyrical ability. Hopefully the masses will feelthe same way and take Slim to the next level.D.S.K. is a movement.Anything else you want to let people knowabout?I’ve got my big Super Bowl weekend andCelebrities for Charity. We’re having a bigpoker event at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa,along with my celebrity golf event. I got somefriends of mine like Ken Griffey Jr. participatingwith me. It’s my time to give back and it’s for agreat charity.OZONE MAG // 23