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

Of course he would be there probably top 5 right now or better.

 

Tua would be a top contender/minor belt holder. He would’ve given Parker a savage career derailing KO loss if they had a domestic fight.

 

Styles make fights.

Ruiz's style is alot busier than Tua's and his hands and combinations much faster.

 

Parker can box tall off the back foot - just like AJ and Fury can. I think he takes Tua the distance and wins by SD.

But Wilder, Whyte and co. get taken OUT

 

No he's not. Ruiz is quicker but the speed difference isn't as much as you're making it out to be and Tua hit far harder anyway. Tua will get easily outboxed but if Takam could land then.... LOL. Tua would eventually clip and wash that version of Aj

 

Big tall back-foot boxers could beat Tua the same way they can beat Ruiz.

AJ, Parker, Fury all could do it. Maybe a couple other guys also...

 

Parker would get caught. Fury, Joshua, and Usyk would beat him though. Joyce too probably, not because Joyce is better than Michael Moorer but because he has a massive size advantage to Tua

 

Parker has a massive size advantage too. And he is used to fighting these kinds of Samoan guys. I think Tua would struggle with Fury, AJ and Parker.

 

Lol. Parker is nowhere near the level of Fury and Joshua, he has no power to deter opponents coming forward too.

Tua had his days where he struggled, so there'd be potential for Parker to outpoint him. I used to think this was pretty 50/50 when Parker's chin seemed to be granite. That's been mythbusted recently, I see this as 85/15 a Tua win. Hard to see Parker staying on his feet for 12, or being dominant enough to make up some 10-8 rounds.

 

Actually he can't. He can box off the back foot but not like AJ and Fury, both have far superior jabs, Parker's jab if anything is a liability. He also so rarely counter punches he doesn't have that danger on the back foot that AJ and Fury have against an opponent that keeps coming.

But having said that I wouldn't rule out Parker's chances vs Tua. But it would be a lot closer fight than Tua vs Fury or AJ. It would probably look a lot like Parker/Ruiz. Parker on the backfoot using his speed and size but unable to mount any serious offence because every time he does he takes a counter. It would be a nip/tuck kind of affair and could go either way. Parker might have to ride out a late assault but Parker does have a good chin and might survive to take it to the cards.

 

Tua: 5'9, 69 inch reach, 220-250 lbs = stubbiest HW of all time with extremely slow feet.

Some of the boxers that Tua went the distance with in his 53 fights before he was 35: Krishna Wainwright, Lester Jackson, Everton Davis, Sean Hart, Jeff Wooden, Cisse Salif, Robert Hawkins. 11 of the boxers that Tua KO'd during this period were sub-215 lbs.

All of the low-mid level journeymen I listed were KO'd in their careers, predominately by unknowns and 6/7 were KO'd before they fought Tua. 3/7 (Wooden, Salif, Hawkins) lost close/controversial decisions to him.

3/5 of Tua's best wins (Maskaev, Rahman 1, Oquendo) were over mediocre contenders who were ahead on the cards before they were stopped late, the other two (J. Ruiz, Moorer) were caught cold. The Rahman stoppage was highly suspect.

Heavies and sub-heavies with good durability, stamina and skills (Ibeabuchi) or movement, stamina and skills (Lewis, Byrd) beat him. Rahman was robbed with a draw in the rematch.

He was KO'd in the 1st round by Savon in the amateurs and dropped by Rahman, so not quite as iron-chinned as some make out.

Tua was essentially a slimmer Andy Ruiz with more power and likely durability but slower hands and stubbier. He would not be a big threat to any genuine top 10 modern heavyweight (unless they were dumb enough to trade with him) but I'd favour him to KO Whyte.

 

ProbAbly having trilogies with Parker then ruiz then chisora then sparked by aj or fury

 

Sparked by Aj and Fury ? Aj couldn't even KO Ruiz LOL and Fury is a much weaker puncher than Aj. They would school him but they wouldn't put a dent in the guy

 

According to my calculations Joe Joyce was stopped twice in the ametures but everyone calls him iron chinned.

 

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