If prime David Tua was active today where would he be in the HW picture?

TUA would DESTROY WILDER and JOSHUA imo.

vs FURY would be some challenge though.

 

I don't think I've ever said that Lewis wouldn't be the favourite against Fury or Joshua. But I recall sections of fans didn't like giving credit to Lewis when he was active either.

Anyway, let's use the idea that Fury ended the Klitschko era. New era began 2016.
Wilder v Stiverne happened nearly a full year before that. So that route is off the table for Tua, if we are talking about current era.

Regarding Takam, whilst a solid name on the Joshua resume, I don't think Hearn would put Joshua in with Tua as a short notice replacement for Pulev. So Tua's route is what, to catch Joshua slipping?

So you are left with the WBO route. Yeah, I agree he would have the best chance to a title by beating Parker. Possibly even be the favourite in that fight. Personally I think if Parker's chin holds up, he is likely to be favoured on a decision.

Alternatively he has to get to Martin before Joshua, and I don't think he had the financial juice to get in there first.

So whilst it's possible he could win a belt, I'll stick with him being a semi-permanent fixture in the top 10.

 

Eh but Joshua always fought like that regardless. If he had fought Tua in any part of his career before 2019 i actually think Tua would eventually catch him or at least have a 50% chance of eventually catching him. He was caught by 39 year old Povetkin and got rocked, a left hook from Tua (a shot Joshua was always vulnerable to) would shut his lights out, only when Joshua fought completly defensively like against Ruiz in the second fight or Pulev, would he be favored over Tua.

It's the styles, Joshua back then just wasn't someone who would stick behind a defensive ranage minded contruct an entire fight like Lewis. He would eventually try and trade with Tua like he did everyone.

Also Parker got caught several times against Ruiz it's not even funny. Tua gets outboxed and catches him with a thunderous shot eventually just like multiple other fights

 

It is possible that Joshua wouldn't fight in a disciplined manner. But personally I would expect McKracken to identify the dangers that Tua would be bringing and get him to adjust the fight plan somewhat accordingly. Which means it would rely on Joshua overlooking Tua, which, is fair to say, is likely what happened when Ruiz Jr. upset Joshua at short notice. And suddenly everyone wrote Joshua off in a rematch which he won comfortably boxing to instruction.

Regarding Parker, one thing we can say for him, he has a chin.

 

Got dropped by a left hook from Whyte in the 9th, Tua was amazing at finishing when he had his opponents hurt. It was relentless pressure.

 

Yes, Whyte's left hook. Parker went down off a punch that slept other fighters. And he got straight back up, his legs were under him and he continued to fight. He definitely has a chin.

 

Yes but he was clearly hurt and had wobbly legs. 46 seconds left on the clock and he was clinching with Whyte for dear life, looked like he was stumbling too. Tua would have blasted him out.

 

I had literally just rewatched it before I wrote my reply, there was over a minute remaining and he wasn't clinching for dear life. He did stumble in a clinch when Whyte put his full body weight on his back and they both careened toward the ropes. But Parker was alert enough to keep boxing, moving and throwing. His legs looked fine.

It's at 49:28 if you are interested:

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He did not stumble because of Whytes weight. Parker stumbled and put himself in that position. he was already stumbling before Whyte did that. Besides why would Whyte leaning on him make him stumble forward and quickly at that ? Parker was hurt by that knockdown.

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And keep in mind this was when Whyte was applying no pressure. Imagine if it was Tua in there relentlessly attacking Parker, trying to finish him off like he did Nicholson

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Now I'm not saying he wasn't hurt at all. But we clearly are seeing two different things here.

In that, I agree, he was hurt by the KD but you are still overstating how badly. It's also wrong to say Whyte wasn't applying pressure. Both fighters were tired. So it's difficult to say if Tua would be fresh enough in the 9th to apply the pressure required to stop Parker. Parker as yet has never been stopped, whereas Nicolson had. Plus Nicolson did actually make it out of the round 5 as demonstrated in your video.

But, sure, I can agree that Tua has a better chance of stopping Parker than most of the current Heavyweight division.

 

You need to go to specsavers mate it's pretty obvious Tua was quicker, not by much but he was definitely quicker, especially if we're talking about combination punching, DDD's combo are so slow at times it's like he's punching through treacle.

 

Even AJ may be stopped by Tua - depending on the night

Perhaps Parker too - but I think Fury gets a UD

 

True, he'd have to be managed correctly. His team went straight for the top guy Lewis instead of going for an easier title holder like Ruiz clearly that was a mistake.

He was then matched in an eliminator vs Byrd which lets be honest style wise was all wrong for him with hindsight.

He then had an IBF eliminator vs Rahman which ended in a draw so neither of them got the mandatory position. But Rahman in his next fight fought for the WBA title while Tua didn't fight for 2 years and after coming back was never in contention again despite going undefeated for several years.

 

Tua seemed to give up

And sued his management, thus losing everything

His entire thirties basically wasted

Sad