Who was more powerful and durable: David Tua or Mike Tyson?

To be fair, Tua was never beat up like Mike so it's hard to say who had the better chin but let's say Tua. And let's say better one punch power is Tua in his left too (unsure). I still think in their primes, if one gets KO'd, it's Tua. Mike is too fast for him and skilled.

 

Tyson without a doubt, already at an early age he destroyed opponents physically bigger than him...

 

Tua had a good chin but got knocked out by Savon.

 

Durable Tua
Powerful Mike

 

To my memory the only fight where Tua ate a lot of punches was Vs Ike.Tyson had a great chin and it took an awful lot to put him away. I remember watching the Berbick fight as a kid and was thinking in that first round Berbick looked dangerous, he was swinging viciously and even caught Tyson a few times but Tyson seemed unconcerned and the rest is history. We all saw the beating Tyson took from Douglas pretty much from round 1 and he wasn't stopped until the 10th. He also took a lot of heavy punches from Ruddock in their two fights and never went down. Post prison Tyson I dont think was conditioned at all and was fast tracked to the title. In his post prison run his team should have taken a similar approach to his career as Bill Clayton and co did when he started. Match him with multiple opponents for maybe a year so he was more match fit and prepared for fights that went to the later stages. But things happened the way they were intended.

Tua I don't think took that much punishment, in fights he was mostly just outboxed so it's hard for me to compare chins, Tua might have the advantage in terms of one punch power though but speed kills and Tyson definitely had the advantage in that area plus his combos were a thing of beauty

 

Tua was never stopped, whereas Tyson was several times once he stepped up. So Tua for me.

 

This is one mythical fight that doesn’t thrown around as much as I would think. How could it not be a great fight.

 

If Tua showed up in the shape Mike did for some of his fights he'd have been stopped too.

 

I'd say they were even in both areas just mike was much faster, much better boxer but much less diciplined.

 

McBride and Williams weren't exactly step ups. Tyson was was very durable in his prime, only sustained beatings from Douglas and Holy stopped him.

 

He was stopped. Tua wasn’t

 

The reason Tua is wearing a lavalava in all the promos for the Lewis fight is to hide his massive stomach at the time. He effectively spent that camp losing weight rather than preparing for Lewis. It's not as if Tua was a consumate professional.

 

Tua.

Had they fought in 90’s Tua would have beaten Tyson same way Holyfield did.

I can only see prime Tyson (80s) wining UD aginst best version of Tua if he fights smart and has smart corner.

Its a bad style for Tyson i believe.

 

Tua was more powerful and more resilient. That's about all he has over Tyson though.

The chin is a bit of a hard one to evaluate however. Tyson fought in a much more aggressive, come forward style that put him in danger a lot more, while Tua tended to plod about behind that tucked in guard not taking too many shots that he wasn't able to see coming. I still think he had the better beard, but not by a huge margin.

On Tua's power he has a good claim for being the hardest punching HW ever. His left hook just had sickening crumpling power.

 

Tyson may have hit harder but Tua was way more durable.