David Tua's best "Mythical Match-Ups"

My personal opinion was that Tua was kinda like Tyson in that he was a very, very good fighter for a brief period of time. From about when Tua stopped Ruiz on to his fight against Ibeabuchi he was at his best and i feel a very legit contender in any era.I'd strongly favor Tua at his best against McCall, Morrison, Shavers, Marciano(bad match up for the Rock),Dempsey(to big ,durable and powerful). I'd favor him to beat Mercer and Young, Mercer would be a war, Young i think at his very best Tua would be able to land the more powerful punches and win a decision or catch him and stop him. I even like Tua at his best against a post prison Tyson I don't know how Tyson post prison would deal with Tua's workrate, durability and power, besides Tua is a tough fight for any straight forward fighter. I'm 50/50 on prime Tua vs Norton, Bugner ,Old Foreman and Lyle. I'd slightly favor a prime Quarry as I think he'd be able to out box Tua and avoid getting caught. I'd also give a past prime Holyfield a slight edge if were talking say the Holyfield who fought Moorer the second time I think he gets taking to his limits by Tua but wins a few more rounds. Its hard to say with Joe Frazier because Tua was much bigger and we saw how Foreman a bigger power puncher was able to destroy Frazier but Foreman is a different animal from Tua and anyone else for that matter and I gotta go with Smokin Joe to get the better of Tua in a trench war. Finally I'd strongly favor Liston over Tua his good jab would carry the day.

 

Some of them could have actually taken place but did not, around '96-'98-

McCall
- Tua wins a decision

Mercer
- Tua wins possibly by stoppage
Morrison
- Tua stoppage win
Tyson (post-prison)
- Tua stoppage win
Holyfield (past-prime but still very good)
- Tua wins
Foreman (at the very end of his career)
- Tua wins
How about-

Marciano
- Easy KO win for Tua
Liston
- Tua stoppage win
Frazier
- Easy KO win for Tua
Norton
- Easy KO win for Tua
Young
- If he tries to stop Young, he does it especially if it is over 15
Lyle
- Tua stoppage win
Quarry
- Easy KO win for Tua
Shavers
- Tua stops him
Bugner
- Tua wins
Dempsey
- Easy KO win for Tua

 

FnF that sounds a little overly-rosy for Tua, who was excgellent in his prime but became lazy & did not live up to his potential. Heiizenberg's predictions -shall we sell principles-sound very close. Mercer would be close if the right Mercer shows up...

 

Naw moar geeburich tawk?

 

So,Tua was just about the best heavyweight of all time!

 

Tua v.s a motivated Corrie Sanders would have been interesting. Would Tua have been able to see that straight left coming??:think

 

Tua was decent and his two outstanding assets were a huge punch and a concrete chin. However, the Lewis fight showed that he was a notch below true world class. If the rather average Maskaev could outbox him then I don't fancy his chances against better caliber opposition, particularly boxers.
He also struggled a lot with Rahman in both fights, and I think Rahman was unlucky to only get a draw in the second fight.

I do feel that his best chance would come against guys with a style similar to his own...fighters like Morrison and Rocky. Morrison didn't have the greatest chin and Rocky was much less heavily built than Tua. Ditto for Dempsey.
Tyson? A Tyson from the Botha fight onwards yeah, since he was effective only early on.
Shavers would also most likely end up tasting the canvas.

Guys like Mercer, Holyfield I think would be too good for him, even post prime. Liston would be too good as well. I'm a bit on the fence regarding Frazier and Lyle.

Foreman is an interesting one...old George even in his very last fight showed some decent ability still. I wonder if Tua would be able to push George back at all? If not, I honestly favour the punching preacher, but likely by decision.

 

:rofl

 

Tua was too easy to outbox, of the guys you list I would give him a chance against Norton and Shavers. He kills Morrison if he connects although Morrison could jab n move and make it a boxing match like he did with Foreman. Liston beats him up from range with the jab easy night's work, quarry boxes his ears off. So does young. Holyfield turns him all night and hits him with rapid combos before Tua can get off. Dempsey too fast. Old foreman has a rough start but the jab pays dividends late for close deciscion victory. Lyle is a war. He may beat Bugner. Mercer jabs enough to win, McCall wins too.
Rahmen lost by travesty and he was out boxing Tua, and he was no skilled boxer, Ruiz got caught and Moorer was blown up light heavy who was past it. Tua had tremendous power and was a good contender, nothing more. I'd favor Tua against shavers who would tire and get hit, Norton who would be pushed back and couldn't fight going backwards, Bugner could never put the tools together. He would have punchers chance against the Duke and Lyle.

 

The Tua camp had signed to fight Brewster at one point, but that fell apart. Come to think of it, Brewster had like 3 proposed bouts against Sanders scrapped also.

How about a guy like Mavrovic? I could see him winning a decision. Or that ugly style of Akinwande maybe tying up Tua often enough to win a decision in a dreary affair. I think Haye could navigate his way to a decision in a negative bout as well. Larry donald was another guy to win a decision.

He should have an easy time against guys like Botha. I think he beats Ruiz anytime because Ruiz is going to get hit walking in. Herbie Hide would have made for a highlight reel ko. As would have guys like /Audley Harrison and JL Gonzales. Alex Stewart.

Guys like Ibragimov or Valuev might be winnable. But he could lose them also. Or a rise to the occassion guy like Liakovich.

I just thought the guy needed to sign w/ DKP back in his day. Not main events. And thereby fought the guys in DKP stable instead of taking on Lennox. I felt going in he had zero chance against Lennox.

 

David Vs Razor Ruddock might of been interesting..could Ruddocks famed "Smash" have put David into his Shell...Also Razor could box a bit...

Perhaps Gerrie Coetzee and his Bionic right hand could also make a
dent or two ?

How about James Bonecrusher Smith / Bernardo Macado / Kallie Knotze as
Live Underdogs ?

From Yeateryear - It might of been interesting to see if Max Bear could keep his Happy Playboy refrain with Tua the Tank heading his way...

 

I think Ruddock would have a decent shot against Tua especially if he used his boxing skills. Ruddock was very durable as well which would've led to them probably having quite the war I think it would've been a close one either way.

Coetzee may be able to do well boxing Tua but I see Tua catching up to him and taking him out likely in the later rounds. Coetzee does have a fair chance but overall I'd go with a prime Tua.

I'd pick Tua to score knockouts against Bonecrusher Smith, Mercado and Knotzee I don't think any of them have the skills to avoid Tua's power punches enough to survive and I doubt anyone them are gonna knock out Tua.