Tarver's Loss to Hopkins Preordained

I wish I had put a little money down on the Hopkins-Tarver fight. In retrospect, the outcome was obvious in its inevitability.

Hopkins (47-4-1, 32 KOs) picked his spots with lunging right hands that swelled both of Tarver's eyes on the way to a history-making, unanimous-decision victory for the IBO light heavyweight title.

Tarver went far enough overboard on the "clever" taunting (like hauling out a rocking chair for Hopkins at the press conference), that karma demanded that he be made to look the fool by losing to a man he decried as ancient. But the bigger warning flag had to have been Tarver's role in the upcoming Rocky movie. Spend enough time playing the part of a man who loses to a has-been 106-year-old boxer and you run the risk of convincing even yourself.

People talk of the Sports Illustrated cover curse, but not enough people address the dreaded Rocky curse. Look what's happened to the men who have played Rocky's main foes. Carl Weather's primary claim to fame is that he's sometimes mistaken for "that guy" who played Lando in Star Wars (and who can truly measure up to Billy Dee?). Mr. T never fulfulled the early promise of a career that had some comparing him to a young Jimmy Stewart. Dolph Lundgren followed up his sterling Rocky IV performance with his role as He-Man in Masters of the Universe, and real boxer Tommy Morrison had a pretty decent career ended when he contracted HIV. If not for the continued love and respect lavished on Hulk Hogan, the failure of former Rocky adversaries would be complete.

Hopkins caps career by dismantling Tarver [USA Today]

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