Tarver beats Woods to take title

Clinton Woods, left, of England, and Antonio Tarver, right, exchange jabs during the tenth round of the IBF/IBO light heavyweight championship boxing match on Saturday in Tampa, Florida. PHOTO: AP

Antonio Tarver captured the International Boxing Federation’s light heavyweight belt on Saturday by outpointing former champ Clinton Woods at the Tampa Forum arena.

Englishman Woods dropped a wide 116-112, 117-111, 119-109 decision in a lacklustre fight against the American.

“Clinton’s a tough, gritty guy,” Tarver said. “He has a chin of iron.”

“I fought the best light-heavyweight in the world,” Woods said. “All credit to Tarver, he did a fantastic job.”

Tarver landed a flush left in the fourth round and continued to look a little too clever for Woods in a fight which provided few fireworks.

The American dominated in the fifth, counterpunching his way past the Briton.

Tarver dominated the sixth, during which he flung home left jabs at will and fired right uppercuts which left Woods bleeding around his nose.

After finding himself on the receiving end of more punishment in the final round, Woods slumped back to his corner to wait for the verdict.

“I’m happy with my career but I don’t know if I’ll stop,” Woods said. “I’ve done everything I wanted to do. I’ll go home, see my wife and play with my kids and make the decision. Maybe I have something left.”

In an earlier fight Chad Dawson retained his WBC light-heavyweight title, also by unanimous decision, by beating Glen Johnson.

Johnson, the former International Boxing Federation light heavyweight champ, made Dawson work for it.

Dawson got into trouble in the third and tenth round as he took a couple of hard shots that almost sent him to the canvas.

“It was definitely the toughest fight of my career,” Dawson said. “But I executed my game plan, and put rounds in the bank.”

The result was booed by the crowd, and Johnson clearly felt he had been robbed.

“He’s a good fighter,” Johnson said. “But he’s not good enough to beat me. I can not believe that at age 39, they would rip me off like this. Of course I want a rematch.”