Antonio Tarver (left) got his licks against Chad Dawson but still came up short, losing a one-sided decision Saturday in Las Vegas. Photo / Chris Cozzone-Fightwireimages.com

Former Nevada boxing judge Chuck Giampa, now a consultant who advises fighters, will provide his occasional analysis of officials and scorecards when he’s not directly involved in an event. Here is his take on the the Chad Dawson-Antonio Tarver fight:

LAS VEGAS — Antonio Tarver exercised the rematch clause from his first meeting with Chad Dawson, who won a one-sided decision last October. Tarver promised he would be more aggressive against the undefeated Dawson in their second go-around.

Dawson pressed the action throughout the first four rounds. Each of these rounds were virtually indentical as Dawson dictated the action with double combinations to the body, uppercuts to the head and clean punches that effectively found their way through Tarver's defense.

Round 5 was Tarver's best round to that point as he finally found his range and scored when previously his punches were delivered with little damage. Dawson led on my scorecard 49-46 after the fifth round.

Dawson picked up the pace again in the sixth and seventh rounds as he continued his assault by breaking down Tarver's defense. When Tarver did connect, his punches lacked effectiveness and caused no damage.

Tarver's determination was evident in the eighth round as he outboxed Dawson while his punches found their target to Dawson's head and body. Although Dawson had a comfortable lead after eight rounds (78-74), Tarver's fans were yelling their encouragement when Tarver did connect, even though most of Tarver's punches were ineffective.

Dawson picked up the pace in the ninth round as he pummeled Tarver, backing away from Tarver's attempt to counter punch by using excellent head movement. Dawson continued with this strategy in the 10th, bobbing and weaving defensively to prevent Tarver to from mounting an attack.

With Dawson leading on my score card 98-92 after 10 completed rounds, Tarver had the fans on their feet as he connected easily against the inactive Dawson to finish the 11th round as his most effective of the evening.

Dawson finished strong in the final round to negate any attack by Tarver and won the round on my scorecard and on two of the three official judges' cards.

The final punch stats showed that Tarver threw 749 punches to Dawson's 677. However Dawson connected with 209 (31 percent) and Tarver 121 (16 percent). I am not particularly a fan of punch stats but these numbers, along with Dawson's connecting with 143 power punches to Tarver's 76, help explain why Dawson easily won another one-sided fight against the fading Tarver.

Chuck Giampa's score: 117-111 Dawson

Official Scores Alan Davis 116-112 Dawson; Duane Ford 117-111 Dawson; Patricia Morse Jarman: 117-111 Dawson.

Chad Dawson won by unanimous decision to retain his IBF light heavyweight title.

Chuck Giampa can be contacted at [email protected])