Tarver shouldn't wait to add weight

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

When they win a championship in the NFL or Major League Baseball, they exclaim they're going to Disneyland.

When he won boxing's light heavyweight title Saturday with a devastating second-round knockout, Antonio Tarver figured he'd just go to the heavyweight division.

It shouldn't surprise anybody that before the cobwebs had cleared from Roy Jones Jr.'s cranium, Tarver, the man who had put him there with a sledgehammer left hand, was already contemplating moving up a weight division and a tax bracket.

Nor can you blame him. The heavyweight division has always been where the money is in the sport and one look around the premises these days tells you it isn't ruled by anybody Tarver needs to be afraid of meeting in a dark alley — or a well-lit ring.

Mostly they are household names in their own homes. Just look at who is holding the titles: John Ruiz (World Boxing Association), Chris Byrd (International Boxing Federation), Vitali Klitschko (World Boxing Council), Lamon Brewster (World Boxing Organization).

So many titles, so little star power.

I mean, you know times are thin when Riddick Bowe, who just got paroled from prison after serving 17 months for kidnapping, immediately declares himself a contender for the title again. Or, when Evander Holyfield, now 41, wants to jump back into the ring again.

Let's not forget Mike Tyson, who hasn't fought in more than a year and hasn't had a victory of consequence in ages, is scheduled to step back into the ring next month on the same Brian Viloria card in Arizona.

Such are the hard times that the heavyweight division, once the premier individual title in sports, has sadly fallen upon.

"It isn't too far a reach for (Tarver) to think he can win it," said Bobby Lee of the Hawai'i State Boxing Commission. If Tarver can handle the added weight — and his lean 6-foot-2 frame suggests he can support the expansion — who is to say he, too, couldn't win a heavyweight title, or two?

The way Tarver took out Jones, who had beaten Ruiz last year in a heavyweight title bout, certainly provides food for thought, as does his southpaw status. And, you can bet that promoter Don King who controls much of the heavyweight division will want to cash in on Tarver's new-found marquee value.

For sure there would seem to be little keeping Tarver in the light heavy division unless Jones changes his mind about a rematch. But the chances of that looked slim. As Jones said afterward, "I could fight Tarver again, but I would rather go fight heavyweights."

In that he is apparently not alone.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.