Is it Time for Antonio Tarver to Hang Up the Gloves?

Former Light Heavyweight Champion Antonio "Magic Man" Tarver (27-6, 19 KO's) may have fought his last fight Saturday against undefeated "Bad" Chad Dawson (28-0, 17 KO's). Tarver fought valiantly and had his moments in the boxing match, even hurting Dawson at times but lost a clear unanimous decision (scores: 116-112, 117-111, 117-111). This was Tarver and Dawson's second fight against each other. Dawson won a clear decision in the first fight as well, even dropping Tarver in the final round. This is Tarver's first loss in rematches, now making him 3-1 in that category with rematch wins over Roy Jones Jr., Glen Johnson, and Eric Harding.

Tarver has had a rollercoaster career fighting at Light Heavyweight his entire career which is unusual with most boxers. After winning his first 16 pro fights, Tarver suffered his first loss against then undefeated Eric Harding. Tarver beat Harding in the rematch, knocking him out in the fifth round. In Tarver's next fight, he won his first major championships, beating Montell Griffin by wide unanimous decision and dropping him twice in the fight. Tarver is known as a trash talker and he got under the skin of Roy Jones at a press conference and that was the reason the first fight between them happened. Not many people gave Tarver a chance but he accounted himself well and lost a close majority decision. A rematch was made six months later and Tarver shocked the world knocking Jones out in the second round with a perfect left hook. After the Jones fight, Tarver fought against Jamaican Glen Johnson, who also knocked out Jones in the eighth round of their fight. They would have a competitive fight with Johnson winning by split decision. Tarver would win the rematch by unanimous decision. After beating Jones in the rubber match by unanimous decision, Tarver fought former middleweight king Bernard Hopkins. Tarver, a big favorite, would be knocked down in the fifth round, and lose a wide unanimous decision. Tarver would win back the IBF and IBO belts from Clinton Woods but lose them to Chad Dawson. Antonio's accomplishments include a bronze medal in the 1996 Olympics and winning the WBC, IBF, WBA, and IBO light heavyweight titles multiple times.

There are many reasons why Tarver should retire now. Tarver is 40 years old, turning 41 this year, and has been fighting as a professional for more than 12 years. Tarver has three wins and three losses in his last six fights losing to Dawson twice and Bernard Hopkins, and this is the first time Tarver has lost back-to-back fights. Even though Tarver has never been knocked out, he has been knocked down three times in his career and has shown to be more easier to hit these days than in the past.

Tarver has three main options for his future. Option #1 would be to continue fighting and try to get one last big fight against a big name fighter for a big payday. Option #2 would be to continue fighting against B or C level fighters and try to earn one last title shot. Option #3 would be to retire and ride off into the sunset with the millions that he has made. If he wants, Tarver could pursue a full time career in acting. Tarver was cast as "Mason Dixon" in the Rocky Balboa movie.

Boxers should know when is the right time to get out of the sport they love. Two prime examples are Oscar De La Hoya and Muhammad Ali. De La Hoya retired almost a month ago and he did the right thing after he had one of the worst performances in his career against Manny Pacquiao. De La Hoya is now a promoter and founded Golden Boy Promotions. Muhammad Ali is known by many as the greatest boxer of all time. Ali originally retired in 1978 but came back to the sport in 1980 and lost 2 one-sided fights against Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. Ali was probably hit more in those two fights than he has in all of his other 59 fights combined. As a result of these fights, Ali developed Parkinson's Disease and still suffers from it to this day.