Antonio Tarver has promised to give Nigerian puncher Lateef
Kayode a rude awakening when the pair lock horns in Carson,
California on June 2.
Kayode has taken offence to comments Tarver made about his
boxing style during a Showtime broadcast and promised to knock the
veteran out in five rounds or less, but Tarver feels the younger
man is setting himself up for a mighty fall.
"I had a chance to commentate a few of his fights and he didn't
like the things I was saying. But as a young fighter, you can't
always feed them cake and ice cream," Tarver explained.
"Sometimes you've got to put something in the back of his head
so he could say, 'You know what? Maybe there is something I can go
back and work on.
"This guy is predicting he'll knock me out in the fifth round.
If Kayode comes in with that type of recklessness, he can be out
before that because he has never been hit by someone who can punch
as hard as me.
"I'm a sharpshooter. I punch organs. I target organs: liver,
kidney, heart. I don't just punch mass, I punch organs and I punch
that chin. Remember that the chin is not a muscle so you can have
all the muscles surrounding your neck and body, chest and abs,
because if I touch that chin the right way, it's lights out,
baby.
"We're putting everyone on notice. Expect the unexpected. Kayode
said the fight is going to end, that he's going to knock me out in
the fifth round. He might have a good prediction in the fifth round
but I think he's got the storyline a little twisted.
"We're in a phone booth in camp. That's definitely what we think
the fight will represent, a phone booth. We like it in close
quarters. I'm too old to run.
Despite being 43 years of age, Tarver says he has plenty left in
the proverbial tank and is even looking towards another move to
heavyweight, where he hopes to square off with Wladimir
Klitschko.
"There are no more guys like myself. Shane
Mosley lost. Bernard Hopkins lost. I'm the last
Mohican. I'm the last guy who is 40-plus," he said.
"What keeps the fire burning? Critics, naysayers and my own
personal achievement.
"People can laugh now when I tell them I'm going to become
heavyweight champion. They don't want to buy into it but they will
because at 210 pounds, I'm elusive. I'm powerful. I'm strong and
they can't hit what they can't see.
"I'm not a big, robotic fighter that can't move. So those are
they're advantages. The only hope they got is to hit me on the chin
and knock me out. And that's never been done before. .
"I'm going to get that heavyweight title. Wladimir
Klitschko, here I come. I'm going to get that heavyweight title.
That's coming back to America, baby. Trust it. Stamp it.
Write it down."
16/05/2012 21:27:12