Classics Opinion on David Tua

I'd expect Tua to knock out Norton and Cooney.

I'd expect Terrell to outbox him though.

 

One of the most over-rated fighters going H2H. Some people simple think that because he has a great left hook and a very solid chin it equats to him knocking everybody out.

 

Well that lefthook caught up to a lot of guys who not only had good boxing skills but sturdy chins as well.

 

Such as? Ruiz was green and got caught cold, Maskaev had a terrible chin, Moorer was practically dead in '02 and expected to be destroyed. He's been out-boxed by the likes of Hasim Rahman and Chris Byrd and out-slugged by Ike Ibeabuchi. He's been proven to be very beatable.

 

Maskaev
Izon
Rahman
Oquendo
Nicholson

He was clearly behind in most of these fights and was bailed out by his power.

 

I think Terrell has the ability and reach to outpoint tua to another boring desicion, and the fact that he took ali's bombs for many long rounds is a testement for his solid chin. he also had a exhebetion with sonny Liston and sparred with him regularly. it would probably boil down to if Terrell could stay away from tua for many rounds, with tus still carrying that blockbuster punch.

cooney would certainly get stopped, he was by no means a great fighter and he may have had devestating KO power but crumbled when it came down to a real challenge. how could he expect to take a punch from tua when he can't take them from foreman, spinks and holmes?!

I think norton would get killed too, the way that he got destroyed by foreman and shavers makes me think he won't stand a chance against tua. he just couldn't fight against punchers period.

 

I think of Tua as sombody who narrowly missed greatness.

He had the power, workrate and durability to be another gret swarming fighter in the mould of Frazier or Marciano. His left hook was as hard as any I have seen from any fighter of any era.

The ingreedients necesary to polish this diamond would have been a good trainer and a good work ethic. Unfortunately neither was forthcoming.

I don't see Norton or Cooney giving him too much trouble but Terrel might have taken him on one of his off nights.

 

Exactly. Out-boxed and out-thought for the majority of those fights, and his power bailed him out against guys with terrible chins like Rahman and Maskaev.

 

Rahman and Maskaev didnt have terrible chins. Moorer did against Tua but more because he was never a big heavyweight either, same as a guy like Norton who Tua would probably catch up with sooner or later.

 

Didn't have to be that way.

With the right trainer and work ethic he could have been ahead in these fights when his power bailed him out.

 

I believe Tua management problems killed his potentially great career he just lost the hunger to fight. His basic fighting skills of a great chin, great power, stamina and speed and skills, which I feel are underrated, are the equal of the great swarmers in history.

 

You mention him being able to spark out frazier and marciano but leave out dempsey?

 

he's just giving good examples of fighters that he could have been like. would you be okay if he added Dempsey? who cares.
honestly Dempsey is not 240 lb haha

 

I dont know. As Ive said in another post, Tyson was never trailing on the cards and needing to rely on his punching power to bail him out when he was younger. He had more dimension to his game used an effective jab and cut off the ring far better and against far better technically mobile fighters. Tua seemed to always trail for the good part of the fights.
Jeff Wooden who was mobile and not particularly that good gave Tua all kinds of fits. Guys like Rahman, Izon, and Maskaev who were basically flat footed slower guys gave Tua all kinds of problems just with a simple jab and a little bit of movement.
I think if you look at the era that Tua came up in, he fought a lot of up and coming tough contenders at the peak of their respective careers, and it was basically topped off by the best of the group in Ibeabuchi who many felt he beat, but once Tua started stepping up against name opponents under the American Presents banner, he became less active and less hungry and the things you mentioned, his stamina, high workrate and granite chin started to deplete and his shortcomings as a boxer became even more apparent.
Im 100% sure had he gone with King and gotten shots at a lot of his champions, such as Moorer, Holyfield, Botha, Mcall, etc, he could have been a more decorated fighter, but he was brought along very slowly, and was put in tough with a lot of undefeated young fighters that were pretty good so he was more champ of the contenders than champ of the world. I know Lou Duva was close with David and his parents, and was always very careful with what he did with Tua, but I always wondered why Main Events had no problem putting Golota in more high profile fights earlier in his career than Tua since Tua always looked better in the gym in my opinion, but maybe they knew he was going to self destruct all along, and just wanted to get the most out of him.

 

Tua splatters Norton and Cooney , only Terrell would have a chance to outbox him but I dont think hes up to the job.

As for Tua's rating, I think hes probably the most accomplished HW contender to never win a belt. I cannot think of anyone with a better record since WW2 anyway.

Hes still looking decent for his age and inactivity but needs a true test vs someone hes never sparred before as he was already familiar with Ahunanya and Cameron.