At almost forty-two years old and forty-six pounds heavier then his customary Light Heavyweight weight, Antonio Tarver made a successful debut as a heavyweight as he scored a ten round unanimous decision over Nagy Aguilera at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
Tarver controlled the action over the first three rounds as he boxed very well until injuring his left shoulder sometime around the fourth round. Tarver held his left hand low and fired off quick uppercuts and kept Aguilera against the ropes and reigned in quick combinations and that were mostly capped off by flush left hands to the face.
Aguilera made brief charge in round ten but it was short lived as Tarver was never in any trouble.
Tarver, 221 lbs of Tampa, FL won by scores of 98-92 on all cards to go to 28-6. Aguilera, 232 lbs of Bronx, NY via Dominican Republic is now 16-5
“I feel I looked great,’’ he said. “There was no ring rust. I didn’t get hit much. I didn’t get hurt. I’ll get the shoulder diagnosed, but it didn’t affect me. I wasn’t going to let it affect me. I did what I had to do and stuck to my game plan. I’m back and I’m here to stay. I’m a heavyweight now. The magic still lives.
“There is still work to do,’’ Tarver said. “Aguilera was a good trial horse for me. He surprised me because he stayed on his bicycle so much. But I’ll be back in the gym. I’ve got to power up. I thought I caught him with some good shots. No one (in the heavyweight division) is going to outbox me.’’
Mired by numerous headbutts that caused cuts over both of his eyes, Hector Munoz was tough as nails just to make it to the ninth round with Shawn Porter before the latter finally was able to score the stoppage victory in a scheduled ten round Welterweight bout.
Porter basically won every minute of every round as he landed fast and hard combinations that had Munoz in trouble throughout but Munoz did not take a backwards step and continued to come forward only to absorb punishment until referee Gary Ritter mercifully stopped the bout at 2:05 of round nine.
Porter, 146.4 lbs of of Akron, Ohio remains undefeated at 17-0 with thirteen knockouts. Munoz, 146.8 lbs of Albuquerque, New Mexico is now 18-4-1.
“The fight went exactly as I expected,’’ said Porter, a poised, versatile boxer-puncher who throws power punches in bunches from all angles with both hands. “He came forward all the time and never stopped trying. I was surprised at how long they let the fight go on, but I knew I had to stay focused.’’
“I wanted to draw him forward to get him close, but I never could,’’ Munoz said. “He is not a devastating puncher. He never hurt me or had me shook up. But the cuts were too much to overcome.’’
