David Tua versus Jim Corbett

Corbett looks amazing in that clip.


Anything you think would look good n those cameras, wouldn't. It wouldn't pick up the subtleties they way you're thinking. Mike Tyson wouldn't look dangerous doing that famous shadow sparring clip with that 1894 camera.

 

You have to see the fight in its entirety to understand it. Maskeav didn't opt to slug. He knew better. He opted to move and box, which is not his forte. Maskeav did not commit to what I call power punches intended to hurt the other guy.

Tua lacked the range, and feet to catch a pretty average footed Maskeav. Maskeav ran out of gas around round 10 from these tactics then Tua started to land and took him out late. That is the story. It's not like Tua stalked Maskeav like a prime Mike Tyson.

To contrast, Corbett went 23 rounds with Jeffries, who knew how to cut off the ring, was just as strong or stronger than Tua, more versatile in terms of attack, and also had much quicker feet and super stamina to chase.

Why couldn't Corbett play it safe, score easy points and play keep away for 12 rounds? He easily could.

Tua could land the bomb but he failed to catch Byrd and became discouraged.

I like Corbett on points.

 

Never said or suggested that Maskaev slugged it out with him. From what I recall of the fight, Maskaev used a somewhat similar approach to that used by Lennox. Backed away constantly but bothered Tua with frequent jabs from range and peppered him with stiff one-twos and power punches periodically. No comparison to Corbett, imo. Fight had nothing to do with speed per se.

Ps--if you remember the fight differently, I'll watch it again some time.

 

Corbett would jab and get out of there in a flash. That is what would be needed to win in this fight. He was very hard to hit cleanly and had quick head movements. Other times he uses superior footwork and lateral agility to score points. John Sullivan, who some here think had good speed and skill could not land a significant punch on Corbett. Sure Sullivan was past it at age 32, but Corbett's speed and defense had a lot to due with it too.

Tua never catches him. It would be like a dump truck chasing a Corvette in a parking lot. The Truck won't catch him unless the Corvette driver made a mistake.

Tua punked out vs Lewis and blamed his defeat on some strained calf muscle to explain his lack of heart and activity. He did the same vs Byrd, who's a tad shorter and less mobile than Corbett.

 

I think you greatly underestimate Tua's technical abilities & ability to close distance, and greatly exaggerate Corbett's elusiveness. Corbett's footwork befuddled clueless foes who had never trained to deal with such mobility. And his opponents still caught him regularly enough. But your ****ogy might work anyway. Put a corvette and a dump truck in a boxing ring together and that corvette is getting dented up sooner than later!

 

I think that when we are drawing comparisons with Tua, we have to say that any sort of wins over top ten opposition are better than nothing.

 

Do you think that beating someone like McCaffrey sheds much light on whether a fighter would fare well against David Tua? Be honest...

 

Corbett looks pretty good against the buffoonish tactics of his little unskilled adversary-- I don't have any problem acknowledging that. The magical thinking starts though when you guys think that this would translate into someone like Tua or Ibeabuchi having a hard time landing on him.

 

No, but it might mean that he beat his Chris Byrd.

 

:huh

 

He beat the best small technical boxer of his era, while Tua failed to do this.

 

He beat a 5'9 junior-middleweight-sized boxing instructor described as "fat, heavy, and soggy and without an hour's training" in a 4 round fight. The fact that you're sincerely comparing this to Tua fighting Chris Byrd says a whole lot about the weakness of Corbett's opposition and resume.

BTW, are you suggesting that beating McCaffrey is a good indicator that Corbett might have fared better than Tua did against Byrd?