Teddy Atlas Picked David Tua To Knock Out Lennox Lewis In 2000

[Hydraulix]

Teddy Atlas, an ESPN boxing analyst and former trainer of ex-heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Michael Moorer, analyzes tonight's fight between Lennox Lewis and David Tua:

SPEED/QUICKNESS
Neither of them are speed demons and both rely on strength to a certain degree. It's very deceptive, but Tua has very explosive, quick hands, but it's only for one punch, the left hook. But from Point A to Point B, he is able to explode with great quickness.

POWER
It's almost even. Lewis has a very good right hand and Tua has a great left. But for pure, unadulterated power, it's Tua. He has that kind of power in one hand, his left hook. Lewis has substantial power in the right, but it's not quite as pure.

DEFENSE
Give the advantage to Lewis. There are three basic lines of defense: the ability to move the head, the ability to block punches with the guard and the ability to move out of range of punches with the legs. Lewis is superior in two of the three. Tua is better at moving the head, because he has to; that's his style.

JAB
Lewis is obvious in this category, though he doesn't have a great jab. When he uses it optimally and snaps it and gets full extension, it's pretty good. But sometimes, he paws it when he's looking to measure for a right. Then, it's not as high a caliber a punch, but it's still more than Tua has.

INTANGIBLES
Lewis' stark advantage in height can be turned into a disadvantage. When you punch down, you leave openings. When you're used to being able to parry and navigate punches from your height, you have a clear line of vision. When the punches are coming from underneath, the line of vision is not as clear. Tua, though, may have given one edge away by coming in at 245. That better not hurt his quickness, which he needs.

PICK
The easy and comfortable pick would be to take Lewis, but I don't do the easy or comfortable thing. I'm going with Tua. Lewis, even at his height, allows you to get close at times. Holyfield got close, and in both fights, he stung Lewis. Tua can potentially do more than sting him. All Tua needs is that one left hook on the chin.

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What were your predictions of the fight? I expected a much more interesting fight than the one we got. I really thought Tua stood a chance. Thoughts?

[Unforgiven]

Atlas's analysis is actually excellent, IMO.

He seems to pick Tua as a gamble. And he's relying on a one-punch surprise to some extent. I guess it's worth a shot.
He touches on Tua's weight, that may have been a real factor in Tua's sorry performance..

Stylistically Tua had a much better chance than he ended up giving himself. Then again, some good fighters just never perform their best on the biggest stage.
The fight was a stinker. Lewis didn't need to do much, so he didn't. Tua landed a few shots but his follow-ups were weak. He rarely applied any pressure, seemed a bit mesmerised by the sight of Lewis lumbering around him.
He was subsequently clearly outboxed by Chris Byrd too.
Tua had a lot going for him, but for various reasons never really developed into the fighter some people imagined he'd become.

Atlas turned out to be dead wrong on his pick. He still provides an 'expert' analysis, IMO.

[lefthook31]

I would have also picked Tua had he been in similar condition to the Ibeabuchi fight, but he progressively deteriorated in subsequent fights before the Lewis fight. What a disappointing gutless performance by Tua and it wasn't only because Lewis stung him early. Tua was done after peaking against ike

[Hydraulix]

Tua's entourage talked a real good game. I expected a much more relentless performance out of him. Lennox was right. "It takes more than a left hook and a hair cut to beat Lennox Lewis."

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hl-0NsGXGg[/ame]

hydraulix picked butterbean to knock out dempsey and marciano hahahaha go make that money bitch

[slip&counter]

Boxer beats a puncher more often then not. Tua was a pressure fighter who didn't get "it". He didn't know how to pressure an opponent with his presence.

[Jorodz]

Originally Posted by Hydraulix

Tua's entourage talked a real good game. I expected a much more relentless performance out of him. Lennox was right. "It takes more than a left hook and a hair cut to beat Lennox Lewis."

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i was fucking pissed. he was "the new tyson" and he had all the tools to put an a tremendous bout. instead, he plotted forward and hopped the left hook would magically land without any set up

[Tuaman]

Originally Posted by holysmoker

hydraulix picked butterbean to knock out dempsey and marciano hahahaha go make that money bitch

She never said that. She simply asked how the fight would go. Leave all that nonsense in that thread, please. It has nothing to do with this topic.

I really thought that David was going to win this one. The smaller, more active David Tua from 1995-1997 would have been a much better fight. He threw more uppercuts and body punches in those days. There were a few times when David nailed Lewis flush, but didn't follow up with anything. I remember being upset when Hasim Rahman KO'd Lennox with one punch the following year. I was thinking "Why couldn't David Tua do that?"

[Hydraulix]

Originally Posted by Jorodz

i was fucking pissed. he was "the new tyson" and he had all the tools to put an a tremendous bout. instead, he plotted forward and hopped the left hook would magically land without any set up

True. He was looking to end things with one big left hook. He neglected the body and cutting the ring. It was all about the left hook.

Originally Posted by Tuaman

I remember being upset when Hasim Rahman KO'd Lennox with one punch the following year. I was thinking "Why couldn't David Tua do that?"

I think it's because Lennox was focused when he fought Tua. His focus was elsewhere when he fought Rahman.

I do think Tua's left hook is one of the best punches of modern times. Here's another clip that aired to promote the fight.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KGZwmHQjXA&feature=related[/ame]

[Jorodz]

Originally Posted by Hydraulix

True. He was looking to end things with one big left hook. He neglected the body and cutting the ring. It was all about the left hook.

I do think Tua's left hook is one of the best punches of modern times. Here's another clip that aired to promote the fight.

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yup, pretty much. and as brother above pointed out, he never followed up with anything after landing.

his peak ended with ike. he became a one trick pony and while i agree that his left hook is among the heaviest of the modern era, it wasn't enough

[he grant]

Tua was a huge disappointment. Out of shape. Took one good shot in the first round and dogged the rest of the fight ... a waste of talent ... here is the difference between Tua and Chuvalo in the debate raised by Klompton in the Chuvalo/Tunney thread ... Tua had far more talent and he dogged a fight ... Chuvalo never dogged a fight in his life ...

[Hydraulix]

Originally Posted by he grant

Tua was a huge disappointment. Out of shape. Took one good shot in the first round and dogged the rest of the fight ... a waste of talent ... here is the difference between Tua and Chuvalo in the debate raised by Klompton in the Chuvalo/Tunney thread ... Tua had far more talent and he dogged a fight ... Chuvalo never dogged a fight in his life ...

For a while, people dared to compare David's chin to Chuvalo's. Now that Tua has been knocked down, we know his chin wasn't at the Chuvalo level. Tua was wobbled a few times in his fight with Maurice Wheeler a few years back as well. I think age has brought on a few dents in Tua's chin. It's also a shame that Tua never got a title shot after this fight. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the winner of the Chris Byrd-David Tua fight supposed to get a world title shot? I know Chris never got a shot at Lennox.

[DaveK]

I remember hoping that Tua could land the hook we all knew he had; at that time, I was a Lewis hater (reformed now) for the typical reasons... I leaned towards Lewis, but wanted so badly to see Tua crush him.

I remember reading that someone from Tua's camp said that in the first or second round Tua got hit with a right hand that hurt him enough to keep him content to eat jabs and occasional rights for the rest of the night.

That's the kind of thing that separates greats from the rest. Tua got stung and was scared to be the boss... Some fighters in that situation would have turned it up.

[Boxed Ears]

Well, Teddy loves picking the underdog so later if he gets it he can say he called it. He picked Tony Thompson against Wladimir too.

[Hydraulix]

After the fight, Tua's corner kept making excuses about a rib injury. I applaud Tua for not taking the bait. He didn't make any excuses. I remember he said later that he underestimated Lewis and simply didn't have a plan B in case he couldn't knock him out.