Antonio Tarver figured he would have no trouble matching his wealth of boxing experience against Lateef Kayode's raw power Saturday night.
By Jae C. Hong, AP
Antonio Tarver, left, and Lateef Kayode, exchange punches in the ninth round of their fight Saturday, which ended in a draw.
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He was wrong. The 43-year-old five-time champion started slowly but came on strong in the second half of the fight and retained his IBO cruiserweight title with a draw against Kayode at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
Judge Max DeLuca scored the fight 115-113 for Tarver, David Denkin 115-113 for Kayode, and Dave Moretti 114-114.
The draw was the first blemish on Kayode's career. He came into the fight 18-0 with 14 KOs.
Kayode, 29, who works with five-time trainer of the yearFreddie Roach, started strong, throwing some wild punches in the opening round. But he confounded Tarver a bit by making him come after him, instead pursuing Tarver as expected. Tarver's record is now 29-6-1 with 20 KOs.
A few times during the later rounds, Tarver staggered Kayode with straight lefts and appeared to have him hurt, but Kayode recovered each time, and might have won the 12th round, a round he had not previously seen in his career.
"He was supposed to be the power puncher, but he was running all night," Tarver said. "I had to chase him. Every round where I had to press and step it up, I did.
"I started slow, but that's the only thing he got credit for."
Tarver said he wanted to have one more fight at cruiserweight, naming Marco Huck as a possible opponent, then move up to heavyweight, where he has mentioned Wladimir Klitschko as a possible opponent.
Tarver landed 99 of 484 punches, while Kayode connected on 105 of 513.
"The only justice is, I walked away with my title tonight," Tarver said. "I hurt him all day. I started slow, but I swept him after the sixth. Maybe I fought down to his level, I don't know. I dictated control of the fight and I should have won the fight."
Kayode blamed the decision on Showtime, because Tarver is a ringside analyst for the network, and said he wanted his next fight on HBO.
"Power is my (nick)name, and I did my job," Kayode, a Nigerian, said. "I'm better than you, that's what I'm fighting for."
Co-main event: Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin remained undefeated with a unanimous 10-round middleweight decision against 40-year-old Winky Wright. Quillin (27-0, 20 KOs). It was an exciting fight, but Quillin easily outworked Wright, landing 113 of 341 power punches to Wright's 39 of 173.
He also knocked Wright down with a combination in the fifth round. Quillin had Wright (51-6-1, 25 KOs) ) on the ropes in the eighth round, and looked like he might stop Wright for the first time in his career, but Wright, who was coming off a more than three-year layoff, was saved by the bell.
"This fight wasn't an easy fight at all. It was hard-earned," said Quillin, whose father came to the USA from Cuba 32 years ago. "I give all credit to Winky Wright. He did exactly what I thought he would do, put his heart on the line."
•Austin Trout remained unbeaten and retained his WBA light middleweight title with a unanimous 12-round decision against Delvin Ridriguez.
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