Antonio Tarver defeated Clinton Woods via a clear unanimous decision to take the IBF light heavyweight title in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night.

The Magic Man won by scores of 116-112, 117-111, 119-109 on the judges' scorecards.

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Woods was never able to work his plan and close down Tarver as the American boxer was allowed to dictate the fight throughout with his southpaw jab and straight lefts.

With the exception of the second, most rounds went the same way with Tarver fighting at his own pace and toying with his opponent, often rocking him with his left hand uppercuts.

Woods received a stern dressing-down from his cornerman Richard Poxon midway through the fight but could not stir himself into action against the challenger, who at 39 is four years his senior.

Many expected Tarver's age to be a factor with his lack of stamina stopping him from being able to use his superior boxing skills but, though the new IBF champion did appear exhausted at times, it was his opponent who looked the older fighter in the ring.

Afterwards as Tarver called out Chad Dawson, Woods hinted at retirement.

"I fought the best light-heavyweight in the world," Woods told Setanta Sports. "I'm just a skinny boy from Sheffield and I never dreamed of things like this. All credit to Tarver, he did a fantastic job.

"I'm happy with my career but I don't know if I'll stop. I've done everything I wanted to do. I'll go home, see my wife and play with my kids and make the decision. Maybe I have something left."

Earlier, WBC light heavyweight champ Dawson was fairly unimpressive in his own unaninimous decision win over Glen Johnson.

Despite winning 116-112 on all three scorecards, Dawson was hurt on occasions by his veteran opponent and did not really help support his claims to be the future of the weight division.

The decision was booed by the fans in attendance who did not appreciate Dawson's unwillingness to trade toe-to-toe with his Jamaican opponent.

Elsewhere on the undercard, Danny Williams won a six-round points decision over Marcus McGee.

Williams admitted to looking sluggish early on, blaming this partly on jetlag - he only took the fight in the week - but did knock down his opponent in the fourth round.

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