Former light heavyweight champ Antonio Tarver (28-6, 19 KOs) successfully climbed his first rung up the heavyweight ladder with a unanimous 10-round decision over Nagy Aguilera (16-5, 11 KOs) Friday night at the Buffalo Run Casino
All three judges scored the fight 98-92 in favor of Tarver (shown above with his wife in a file photo).
The bout see-sawed at times in the early going, with Tarver having a marked edge in the first two rounds, seemingly quicker with both his hands and feet, before Aguilera began to mount a strong defense in the third round, including finding a weakness in Tarver's left shoulder, which Aguilera tried to take advantage of and use to his benefit.
After a fairly even-matched fifth round, it became a punch fest in the sixth as both boxers landed a number of good shots and combinations. While Tarver looked as if he was struggling at times with the added weight he put on to move from light heavyweight to heavyweight, he seemed to bounce back every time he began to show signs of fatigue.
But it was Aguilera that was actually the one who became fatigued, with Tarver starting to show an edge in the seventh round. Aguilera didn't help his cause when he found himself trapped in the corner of the ring at one point, allowing Tarver to punish him with a series of combinations.
While Aguilera looked slightly rejuvenated in the eighth, Tarver came right back and shut the door on his opponent once again, including trapping Aguilera again in the corner.
While Aguilera changed tactics and went to the body rather than the head in the ninth round, Tarver responded accordingly and continued to hold his opponent at bay.
And, of course, Aguilera again found himself trapped in the corner, which Tarver once again took advantage of. While Aguilera tried to mount a last-ditch rally late in the 10th round, it was too little, too late, as Tarver was awarded the decision win.
In undercard bouts, junior middleweight Shawn Porter's (17-0, 13 KOs) move up to the welterweight class was successful as he earned a ninth-round KO over Hector Munoz (18-3-1, 11 KOs), whose corner stopped the fight when Munoz's face became too bloody to continue.
Also, super middleweight contender Anthony Dirrell (20-0, 17 KOs) stopped Daryl Salmon (16-6, 4KOs) with a third-round KO. New cruiserweight Lateef Kayode (14-0, 13KOs) earned his first win in the new class by defeating Epifanio Mendoza (30-10-1, 26KOs). Even though Kayode lost a point for successive low blows earlier in the round, Mendoza's corner stopped the fight in the fifth round.
Lastly, junior middleweight contender Ronald Hearns (26-1, 20KOs) survived a first round knockdown to defeat Robert Kliewer (10-12-2, 5KOs) in the sixth round.
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