Saturday night's bout between middleweight legend Bernard Hopkins and self-proclaimed "legend killer" Antonio Tarver, scheduled for Atlantic City's Boardwalk hall, threatens to be a boring, tactical chessmatch resembling both fighters' previous bouts. While Tarver fought cautiously and failed to press Roy Jones Jr. when he had him hurt in their fight last November, Hopkins fought tentatively and failed to regain his title against Jermain Taylor last December. The difference is that Tarver won, taking two of three from Jones, while Hopkins is taking this fight as a reaction to his undeserved losses against Taylor. The fact that Hopkins is 41 and fighting for the first time in his career at 175, a fifteen pound jump, adds drama to the bout dubbed "Fight to the Finish".

There are, however, good reasons to take Tarver's word that he will stop Hopkins by the sixth round. Although Hopkins, 46-4-1 (32), is the far superior boxer, he has finally started to show his age, arguably as far back as the Howard Eastman fight. This is difficult to observe, since B-Hop is such a master of feints, slips, counterpunching, and conserving energy, but against quick-fisted fighters like Eastman and Taylor Hopkins showed a little, however subtle, crack in the old armor. Even Oscar De La Hoya gave Hopkins trouble early, before Hopkins found his groove and dominated the "Golden Boy", stopping him in the ninth round. The stronger Taylor, a one-dimensional fighter who used his youth and effective agression to win controversial decisions over the ex-champ, had a big enough punch to gain Hopkins' respect in their two fights. Hopkins showed a temendous array of defensive tactics, but couldn't pour on the offense in anything more than limited spurts, and that's what cost him his titles.

Tarver, 24-3 (18), may just be Hopkins' psychological match. The confidence Tarver displayed against Roy Jones destroyed Jones the Ego before it annihilated Jones the Man, relegating the former pound-for-pound and HBO great to alternative network status, as he takes on a virtual unknown in July. For all the trash-talking and mastery of psychological wars that Hopkins is famous for, Tarver is no slouch when it comes to that area; he is loquacious and well-spoken, and is almost certainly not intimidated by Hopkins the Man or Hopkins the Legend.

A dangerous southpaw with one-punch knockout power, Tarver has fought only two men in his last five fights: Glencoffe Johnson and Jones. He beat Johnson in their rematch by digging down and working hard, throwing light but constant combinations to regain his light heavyweight title. In his last fight he acted as if he didn't want to touch Jones, then almost knocked him senseless again with a right hook late in the fight. Hopkins has hired renowned fitness guru Mackie Shilstone to assist him in building muscle and putting on the extra weight effectively. In contrast, Tarver is coming off filming the latest Rocky movie, and had to shed over thirty pounds to make 175, not unlike Jones in his first fight with Tarver after moving up to heavyweight to defeat John Ruiz.

Both fighters were unimpressive, in their last bouts, but Tarver is more likely to redeem himself than Hopkins. While I thought Hopkins beat Taylor both times, I do not see how he will be able to dominate Tarver, the naturally bigger man, over the course of twelve rounds. Even if Hopkins uses his stellar defensive moves to avoid Tarver's blows, he will essentially be fighting the same fight he fought in losing causes to Taylor. Tarver punches harder than Taylor, is a smarter boxer, and will not respect Hopkins nearly as much as Taylor did. Whatever gas Hopkins had left, he ran out of it in the two Taylor fights. This is one mountain that Hopkins will not be able to climb, and while he will look good for a few early rounds, Tarver will do what no one else has yet been able to do to Hopkins - knock him out.

Prediction: Tarver KO 10