Antonio Deon Tarver, born on November 21st in Orlando, Florida is a U.S. Olympic Bronze-Medalist, Philanthropist, Podcast Host, Actor, Boxing commentator and Former U.S. National Gold-Medal winning Boxer.

Antonio made his professional debut with his first fight with Joaquin Garcia at the legendary Blue Horizon boxing Venue in Philadelphia in 1997. Throughout his first 16 fights of his career, which he’s all won, with an impressive feat of 14 out of 16 of those fights being won by knockout–Tarver quickly became a force to be reckoned with in the boxing world and had so many eyes on him from Florida... All the way to the local boxing hub in Philadelphia.

In April of 2003, Tarver was placed in a bout against Montel Griffin, who at the time, was the reigning WBC and IBF light-heavyweight champion. After about a full hour in the ring, 12 rounds and after successfully flooring Griffin in the 1st and 12th rounds of the fight, Antonio was crowned the new champion after a unanimous decision.

In May of 2004 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Antonio did something that would surprise many... He was set to do a rematch with Roy Jones Jr where he not only regained the WBC title, but also knocked RJJ out in the 2nd round–Where Jones had only been knocked out once in the then 50-fight entirety of his boxing career.

Fast forwarding to 2006 after Antonio had become a household name after defeating Roy Jones, he appeared on the covers of iconic boxing Magazines such as The Ring and KO. He was also given the opportunity to be casted as Mason “The Line” Dixon in the Rocky Balboa installment of the film’s franchise that was released the same year.

Antonio has since then gone on to be a boxing analyst for Showtime Championship Boxing, a spectator at some of the world’s most memorable boxing events and being a co-host on Friday Night Fights.

Thank you to Antonio for stopping by the I Am Athlete studio to share his perspective on all things life and giving us insight on his past that built the resilient, brute force of nature that he is.

Happy Early Birthday & Happy Scorpio SZN to you as well!

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