Antonio Tarver: The Roy Jones Knockout, “Any Excuses Tonight?” & The Greatest Story Never Told

Fresh off his 2026 International Boxing Hall of Fame induction, Antonio “The Magic Man” Tarver sits down with Andre Ward and takes him from Ivy Lane in Orlando to Canastota: raised by a single mom with three sisters, put in the ring at nine as a punishment at the Boys and Girls Club, and the rock bottom at 18 that ended in drug rehab, where he was telling anyone who’d listen that he was going to the Olympics.

Tarver gets into the stories only he can tell: watching Roy Jones get robbed in Seoul and getting up off the couch to run, captaining the ’96 Olympic team that consisted of a young Floyd Mayweather and Zab Judah, turning pro at 27 with not one promoter or manager calling, fighting four rounds on a jaw broken in two places, and the three-year campaign that ended with “You got any excuses tonight, Roy?” and the punch heard around the world.

Plus the Bernard Hopkins fight he says deserves an asterisk, being Al Haymon’s first fighter alongside Vernon Forrest, playing Mason Dixon in Rocky Balboa, and finally getting his flowers.

0:00 – Welcoming Antonio Tarver, Newly Crowned Hall of Famer
0:23 – Induction Weekend & Honoring His Mom and Trainer
2:29 – Growing Up in Orlando with a Single Mom
6:11 – Starting Boxing at 9 at the Boys & Girls Club
7:24 – Leaving Boxing for Other Sports, Moving Out of the Inner City
10:26 – Depression, Cocaine, and Hitting Rock Bottom
11:41 – Watching Roy Jones Jr. “Robbed” at the 1988 Olympics
15:33 – Deciding to Wait for Atlanta 1996
17:50 – ’96 Team Captain: Mentoring Floyd Mayweather & Zab Judah
20:44 – Bronze Medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
22:46 – Turning Pro with No Promoters Calling
27:53 – First Loss vs. Eric Harding
29:54 – Turning the Tide and Knocking Out Harding with a Broken Jaw
33:05 – The Years-Long Campaign to Fight Roy Jones Jr.
35:12 – The Infamous Post-Fight Press Conference Callout
44:39 – Breaking Down Roy Jones Fight I (2003)
48:45 – The Controversial Decision
49:31 – Fighting for the Rematch
53:18 – Training Camp for the Rematch
55:41 – “You Got Any Excuses Tonight, Roy?”
56:14 – The Knockout Heard Around the World
1:00:45 – Life After the Knockout
1:05:47 – Al Haymon and the Business Side of Boxing
1:07:20 – The Trilogy Fight in Tampa
1:19:15 – The Bernard Hopkins Fight and Feeling Off
1:28:16 – Owning His Lane and His Story
1:30:38 – Final Lessons and Closing Thoughts

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