Tua vs Tysons Opposition

Tua would beat Spinks.....Leon.:rofl

 

What makes it tough talking about Tua in fantasy matches is that you never know if the motivated and in shape Tua would show up, or the slower, fatter, one punch at a time in love with his power Tua would be the one you got. The former would be dangerous for quite a few people, the later would fight disappointingly and be prone to upsets. Are you going to get the guy who viciously destroyed Ruiz and went to war against Ibeabuchi, or the guy who needed to try to pull out a hail Mary against Rahman and was outboxed by Byrd?

Personally, if we're just talking about one-offs, I favor him in a fair number of these matches, but if he were actually doing the fights his own unevenness would cost him a few bouts, especially when you consider that Tua's prime was briefer and less brilliant than Tyson's.

But anyway... I think he beats the following: Berbick, (Tua would SMASH Berbick) Bonecrusher Smith, (who probably fights negative just like he did against Tyson to survive) Tubbs, Spinks, (a younger Spinks could certainly give Tua issues, but the one who went into the ring against Tyson, I doubt he'd be up to the task) Bruno, Williams, Botha.

The following fights are more interesting to me: Ruddock, (what an exchange of heavy artillery this would be, prime Tua vs prime Ruddock, I think Tua might have the edge) Holmes, (even an old Holmes has the skills to school younger fighters, especially those reliant on power. To my mind it's an open question of whether Holmes can use those skills, or whether the inactivity and difficulty he had in boxing in moving during his late career fights means he gets caught with a big shot and whether he can recover) Tucker, (haven't seen enough of Tucker to do an in-depth opinion, but he was a tall guy, very good chin, good reach, good power, some versatility) Biggs, (I favor Tua, especially considering that it looks like Biggs had to be rushed into the Tyson fight just to keep him from falling apart before the big payday, but Biggs was a boxer with very respectable skills and moves who could frustrate Tua) and Golata. (Golata's a nutcase though, and I'm sure he finds a way to lose, but it would be interesting.)

Out of those five, I think the order from most likely to beat Tua to most likely to lose goes Holmes, Biggs, Tucker, Ruddock, Golata.

Guys that I think would absolutely beat Tua: Holyfield, Lewis, Douglas. My only caveats here are to say that while I favor the version of Douglas that showed up in Tokyo, on many other nights he might lose, especially since he could blow hot and cold like Tua.

For what it's worth I don't claim to be an expert on 80s heavies, but my feeling is that a lot of the fringe guys or brief alphabet belt holders of the era could have been taken by Tua.

 

Tua would get outboxed by a lot of them. More crafty guys with good jabs in the 80's than 90's, although his staying power would keep him in every fight.

I'd like to have seen Tua slug it out with Ruddock though.

 

Wow. Hard to say really.
I think Berbick outpoints Tua earlier, I am not sure what the 1986 Berbick would do. Maybe SD over Tua.
I think Bonecrusher wins a decision against Tua.
Tucker loses a decision.
Tua would stop Biggs in probably 2 rounds.
Tua and Larry? Tua would win maybe by TKO late.
Tubbs and Tua ? Probably a draw.
Spinks vs. Tua? Spinks by TKO late.
Tua would stop Bruno in about 5
Tua would stop Williams in about 7
Douglas would win a decision over Tua.
Tua would get stopped by Ruddock
Evander outboxes Tua and wins a decision.
Tua stops Botha in 5
Tua stops Golota in 3
Lennox outboxes Tua.

 

please i will close my eyes, and i hope that when i open them again you deleted this trash, if not you are a troll with pedigree

 

cmon mr magoo you are on of the most coherent guys on this forum..:nono

obviously the people do not give a crap by tua, but the truth is the i see very possible a ko win from tua against tyson, and of course that he would destroy guys like spinks(just like moorer), berbick, shot holmes and he would beat tucker by decision or late tko but tua wins. i don´t care a crap about if tyson could not stop him or not, tua did carry his power in the later rounds, tyson never did, tua was tougher mentally and he had better stamina than tyson.

 

Tua was susceptible to being outboxed by the most limited of fighters. Wooden, Izon, Maskaev, all took him to the brink. I suspect most of the more mobile fighters that faced Tyson would have easily beaten Tua.

 

Idiot

 

obviously i did not expect a better answer from a great boxing historian like you

 

Tua's power was good but he was a bit overrated when fighting bigger solid heavyweights. What more can we say about him. He never won a title and he lost when there was a title on the line or when he was set to get to a title fight. He lost to Byrd, and you think he is going to wipe out all these guys? A draw with Rahman means he wipes out who on that list? How much better is Rahman than anyone on that list. Byrd is better than who? Quick, but look what Ike did to Byrd. And Rahman is a very good journeyman. Lennox easily beat Tua. They wanted an opinion and I gave it all the way down. The only difference I gave Tua is that since he did not have the variety of punches of Tyson and would go into a shell when he was losing, he would last the distance or longer than Tyson would with some guys, but he was not as diverse/versatile as Mike. He was not Mike Tyson's quality of fighter and champion. He never was champion. What I give Tua is a great left hook and anyone who is hit with it probably wouldn't absorb it well. Too bad Tua didn't fight Ruiz or Moorer for the titles.

 

lennox lewis fought like a careful chicken against tua, he did outpoint him but he never tried to knock him out like he did with tyson, he did respect a lot the power of david,chris byrd was fast like hell comparing with these super hws, yes he did outpoint tua.. and ike did beat byrd? so what? it is about styles, i would love to see tyson facing ike... he was bigger, 15 pounds heavier, stronger and taller... tyson was probably harder to outbox than tua, yes, but you are saying terrible coments like that spinks would stop tua late lmao!!! are you crazy? even lewis could not stop tua and you are saying that this weak lhw could do it..... tua would demolish spinks early like he did with moorer, and james smith and ruddock would get destroyed by tua, david had more raw power han tyson, and he was bigger heavier, and stronger , smith could not handle tua in the clinch like he did with tyson, tonny tucker is debatable , but tua would destroy spinks , ruddock and smith for sure

 

Tua was full of potential but turned out to be a big waste. He never fully developed his right hand, he couldnt get past the most limited of jabs, see, so many fights where Tua just got pasted for 10-11 rounds before landing something big.
Tyson could slip and counter 100 times better than Tua, plus he had a good jab and footwork, and thats why guys who could move and box like Biggs, Tucker, Thomas, Tubbs, Holmes, Spinks and few others, went into survival mode when their jab wasnt working. Tyson was ten times the fighter Tua was, but Tua could punch and when he was in shape he had the stamina and determination to keep coming until he tired his opponent down, but when he wasnt in shape, he was rendered helpless by a mobile fighter. I suspect the Tua of the Ibeabuchi fight would have had a better shot against Lennox Lewis, but most likely would have still been beaten soundly. I just watched too many mediocre boxers take him deep into fights because he couldnt get past a simple flick jab, not even a power jab that Lennox Lewis busted him up with.

 

Even a 1988 Holmes should beat Tua.
Also I'd favour a 1987 past-his-best Pinklon Thomas to beat Tua.
Tony Tucker, Buster Douglas too.

I'd make Tua a favourite over Bruno, Biggs, Carl Williams.
And probably Berbick too.

Spinks and Tubbs are 50-50.

 

Douglas was very ****ing good that nite dingbat. Try watching it again with a new perspective instead if in your box knucklehead. That said, this thread is crawling with lunitics myself included. My only difference being I don't post absurd posts about Tua or Tyson as thus thread is crawling with absurd posts of bi polar extremes. One dude has Tua knocking everyone he faces out other dudes saying Tua was not that good both of witch were or would have been untrue. Tua was pretty damned good, Tyson was amazing, personally Tua vs Tyson is one of my all time favorite fantasy matchups, lol, Tua would not have done nearly as well as Mike did against the same opposition. Then again maybe Tua still does better against LL then Tyson did. Plus Tua fought a few guys that may have given Mike as much or more problems IKE would of been a NITEMARE for anyone. Yeah Douglas was a decent fighter with hugely shaky self confidence. He could think himself to a loss before he took a clean shot. His performance against Holyfield is one of my worst suck ass performances I ever saw, lol, anyone that watched Buste fight Tony Tucker in the year or so before Tucker fought Tyson knew how good Douglas "COULD" be. He came out on fire and held it for six or more rounds against Tucker clearly rolling to a MD/UD. Then he gets tired in one round and Tucker beats the crap out of him over the next few rounds. He was chugging wind like a gopher in a firestorm Douglas was. Same with Tyson. Douglas had ****ing hammered Tyson to bits for half doesn't plus rds or so that night in Japan. Then Tyson displaying a awesome and often under rated chin makes his last stand against Douglas sometime after the halfway point. Douglas just about looses his confidence and goes down soon thereafter. Upon getting up Tyson is so dazed and busted up still Douglas realizes that Tyson will not as he feared finally just eat him alive like most of the others and starts fighting back and takes Tyson out. He any boxer has huge heart at that level, no doubt, however, Douglas had shaky confidence in himself. When he got it together he could dominate a round against just about anyone. He simply had a hard time getting it together, lol, was Tyson kinda Shyte against Douglas in Japan? No doubt. Did one of the BEST JABBING heavyweight performances make Tyson look and box more sluggishly than usual? Yes it sure did. I think Tyson was so stunned by Busters jab he did something Tyson didn't often do back then witch was he became more tentative than Mike usually was. Then Douglas just kept hitting him with bigger and bigger shots. Still a sluggish looking Tyson was still pretty freaking good. How Tyson would of been able to deal with Tua's left hook would of been interesting. I see Tyson with major overall speed and agility factors. Tua's speed is actually very good when he is set and then still in position. He just can't razz me dazzle like Tyson, do I see Tyson swarming Tua simply because of the under six foot factor whereby its twice as hard to keep Tyson away from you. Thus I see Tyson swarming and landing on Tua. Tua probably taking it way way better than everyone Tyson faced other than Holyfield and maybe one or more others at most. Then I see Tua responding naturally with his big left hook. If Mike is timing this left hook and reacting to it well I see Tyson taking Tua, if not I think it could go the other way in a hurry. Tua was not the best but he was a mule that could hit hated enough he could flatten anyone if he hit them flush.