Prime David Tua H2H: ¿Overrated, Underrated, or Wasted Talent?

Tua was very dangerous in his lane but beatable outside of it ... if you had strength, a strong chin, size , a strong jab you could be difficult for him .. if you came to slug and slug alone he was a beast ... extremely strong, fast, murderous punching with very good stamina and a monster chin. It depends on the match up ... In his lane he was for real !

 

Tua was overrated as a contender but under estimated as a dangerous opponent.
On resume it leans overrated ,he didn't beat enough elite names.
But on ability and danger level he could be underestimated.

 

Extremely overrated as most people make him out to a Samoan version of Mike Tyson when he isn't even close.

Tua was built like a bridge with the typical cast-iron chin of an islander, nuclear bombs in his hands and surprising handspeed, but he was slow and lumbering on his feet, simply couldn't box that well and was a fairly limited fighter.

He was a tough night for anybody that came forward and traded shots with him up close, but anybody that kept their distance, jabbed and boxed at range had a good shot at beating him, hell Jeff Wooden almost did it.

 

If you look at the various "David Tua v X" threads it becomes clear hes very overrated. Tua gets picked to beat a whole litany of fighters he probably wouldn't have beaten.

 

Overall he’s overrated especially in H2H matchups which is a tendency I’ve noticed many fight fans do with huge punchers. Tua couldn’t win an alphabet belt despite beating several fighters who eventually did so and despite being ranked in the top ten at heavyweight for nigh on a decade before a dispute with his trainer and manager really hindered his later career.

In saying that he had all the tools a heavyweight could want. Great chin, strength and awesome power (especially that left hook from hell) that he carried late in bouts which many other punchers didn’t. I always felt he wasn’t busy enough which is ironic considering his fight with Ibeabuchi held the combined record for punches thrown in a heavyweight bout (not sure if it still does today).

I always enjoyed watching Tua fight and was a fan. He was a good, dangerous fighter but with faults that prevented him reaching the top.

 

Agreed on this.

Alot of casuals watch Tua's highlight reel KO's and think he's better than he actually is.

Tua made Rahman look like Larry Holmes the way he controlled Tua behind the jab.

Tua lost pretty much every round to Maskaev before he found his glass chin.

Tua can look good if you stand and trade with him but anytime a boxer fought him at range you really saw his limitations.

One thing I will give Tua is that his power is dangerous at any point in a fight he can KO an opponent early on or deep into a fight.

Even fighters like Tyson weren't really known for doing that.

But all in all I do think Tua is overrated but he does have some stand out attributes like his chin and power.

 

Agree with others about his chin and power
He would drive me crazy watching him just not letting his hands go and following movers around making no attempt and or having no clue how to cut the ring off. Very frustrating fighter alot of the time

 

Tua was definitely wasted talent. He wasn’t lacking when it came to having the physical tools to become a heavyweight champion.

However, his lack of discipline outside of the ring and his unwillingness to keep improving once he became a top contender really hurt him in his important fights.

 

For a guy who’s called a waste, he had a pretty good resume. He wasn’t going to beat Lewis anyway and I thought he deserved to beat Ike. He was unique and I miss him.

We got Andy Ruiz for this era. And Andy wasted more than Tua despite winning a title and having more talent than Tua ever had.

 

Should have been champ, but for discipline, and sometimes I felt like he didn't really like the sport all that much.

 

He’s underrated

Only lost to a few top guys in his prime all by decision

knocked out several former or future world champions and contenders

he’s definitely one of the better heavyweights not to win the title.

he seems to get a bad rep here like Foreman does, he was a bum because he wasn’t the Samoan heavyweight answer to Willie Pep

 

He could be outboxed, but trying to outslug him was like juggling hand-grenades.

 

I wish that this poll allowed me to vote twice to be honest.

Whether you said that he was over rated as hell, or a waste of talent, you woudl have been bang on the money.

 

He didn't do himself any favors by letting himself get up to 250 plus pounds for fights.