The last big fight of the year takes place on Saturday night, when Antonio Tarver (22-2, 18 KOs) battles Glencoffe Johnson (41-9-2, 28 KOs) for the right to be called the best light-heavyweight in the world.

Tarver, a 7-to-2 favorite, is considered the class of the light heavyweight division. He ascended to that perch by virtue of a one-punch, second-round knockout of Roy Jones on May 15. Four months later, Johnson duplicated that feat by knocking Jones cold in the ninth round.

Jones hasn’t decided yet whether or not he’ll fight again. But it’s clear that the speed and reflexes that made him the best fighter in the world are gone. Now Tarver hopes to replace him as The Man.

“The talent and skill were always there,” Tarver said recently. “But I took shortcuts. If I made weight, I thought I was in shape. I won my first 16 pro fights on talent alone. Then I fought Eric Harding [in June 2000] and that was a wake-up call. He broke my jaw. I knew I was hurt bad. There was pain from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. The fight’s going on and I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to fight again because I thought that something might have been permanently damaged. I knew I was defeated but I didn’t want to get knocked out. So I went into survival mode and finished the fight.”

Tarver lost to Harding on a 12-round decision. A lot of soul-searching followed.

“After the loss,” Antonio recalled, “I asked myself, ‘How bad do I want it? What am I willing to do to get it?’ I started taking better care of my body and working harder. I worked my way back to being the no. 1 contender. I could have just sat back and waited for a title shot. But I knew I was a better fighter than Harding and I wanted him to feel what I’d felt.”

In July 2002, Tarver exacted revenge by knocking out Harding in five rounds. Now, after victories over Montell Griffin and Jones, he’s in the top 10 on most pound-for-pound lists. “But I don’t just want to be a champion,” he said. “I want to be a superstar. I have the ability to be spectacular every time out.”

Johnson has a less impressive resume than Tarver. He started his career with 32 consecutive victories over carefully chosen opponents. But during the last five years, his record has been an unimpressive 9-9-2. He has only been knocked out once (by Bernard Hopkins seven years ago), but he rarely wins the big ones.

Tarver is a fluid boxer with good power in both fists. He enjoys the limelight and comes into this fight highly motivated to stay on top.

Johnson, by contrast, has a plodding, straight-ahead style. There are times when he wears his opponents down by attrition. But Tarver is too skilled to let that happen to him. Look for Tarver to win by knockout or a one-sided unanimous decision.

Due to boxing politics, no major titles are at stake in Saturday night’s encounter. Tarver was stripped of his World Boxing Council championship for signing to fight Johnson instead of making a “mandatory” defense against Paul Briggs. Johnson received similar treatment from the International Boxing Federation for fighting Tarver instead of Rico Hoye.

“It was a tough decision,” Tarver said of giving up his belt. “But when you look at the big picture, you have to take care of your family because that’s all you’ll have when the crowd stops cheering and the lights are out. None of those belts feed your kids or pay your light bill.”

Translation: Tarver would have received $2 million to fight Briggs, but he’s being paid $3 million for the Johnson bout.

Johnson, who will receive $1 million, agreed. “You have to take opportunities to feed your family when they come,” he said. “I’m going to take the big fights right now.”

The fight will be televised by HBO along with a tape of last Saturday’s WBC heavyweight title contest between Vitali Klitschko and Danny Williams.

***

Speaking of Klitschko-Williams, it was a noncompetitive fight that did little to clarify the confused state of the heavyweight division. Williams came out for Round 1 imitating an Everlast heavy bag and took punches until the 1:26 mark of Round 8, when referee Jay Nady stopped the slaughter. Klitschko outlanded his foe by a lopsided 296-44 margin and sent him to the canvas in Rounds 1, 3, 7, and 8.

“He was just too good,” Williams said afterward. Was he? Or was Williams just not good?

The jury is still out on Klitschko. On the plus side, he uses his 6-foot-7-inch frame and reach well defensively. His hands are faster than they appear at first glance, and he has good power in both fists.

But Klitschko carries his head high, holds his hands low, and loops his punches, all of which are defensive liabilities. Also, when an opponent throws punches with bad intentions, Vitali’s inclination is to back off rather than counter. That creates opportunities to hit him with more punches.

Right now, Klitschko appears to be the best in a mediocre heavyweight division. But unless there’s a tournament to crown a single champion, no one outside of boxing will know it. And since Vitali rightfully refuses to sign with Don King (who controls the other three heavyweight titleholders), there won’t be a tournament.