David Tua versus Jim Corbett

Fitz was generally considered to have had to sweat down to fight under the Middlweight limit. His weight is listed as 167Ibs against Corbett on boxrec, I don't know if there was actually a weigh in, but it seems 157Ibs is understating his size. Plus Fitz was a freak that knocked out multiple heavyweights, including some of the best of his day and some over 200Ibs, and he had to wear him down to land such a shot. I'm pretty sure if Tua landed something solid he could stop him, but I'm far less confident Tua actually landing such a shot when Fitz had so much trouble, and Jeffries even more.

 

Do you think a 157-167lb on the day of the fight Fitzpatrick would have worn down and stopped any of the top heavyweights of Tua's era? Or what about this era?

 

Yes.

 

Pinch yourself, but yes!

I also consider him to be a more accomplished heavyweight than Corbett.

 

Which ones? And why exactly do you think he’d be able to pull it off (without getting stopped first)?

 

Define top heavyweight. I think he'd do it because of who he beat and how he did it.

 

Most people under 6' 2'' and 78'' of reach.

He was absolutely lethal inside that box.

 

No, I made a factual statement.

You seem to have got all hot under the collar, over the choice of words that I used!

 

Yes I did, and you know exactly why. But fine, if you want to play innocent, let's look at those facts in more detail:

Byrd, a career HW, fought and beat Tua at HW in his prime.

Later, at the tail end of his career, he suddenly decided to boil down two weight classes to fight at LHW. He entered the ring visibly drained and skeletal, and was knocked out by a very average opponent in Shaun George.

He retired straight after.

Here are some obvious things to deduce from those facts:

Byrd was not a natural LHW.

Moving to LHW was a colossal mistake that he realised, hence his never attempting it again.

Tua was beaten by a HW, not a LHW, not a man who could have fought at LHW, but by a HW.

 

I am afraid that I must beg you to consider a few more facts:

No natural heavyweight is draining down to 175lbs, even in a weight drained state.

Byrd defeated Tua eight years before he drained down to light heavyweight.

He would have been better able to shed the weight at that age, had he wished to do so.

So at best Tua lost to a natural cruiserweight, and it might even have been somebody who could have been a viable light heavyweight.

 

It's a good question.

Some get more hung up on it than others!

Anyhow, I am off to Snowdonia for the weekend, so you guys will have to resolve this among yourselves!

 

That's a good question. Boxing fans seem to assume that being a "natural x-weight", as opposed to a bulked up one, is important somehow. They've never quite explained why it would be, though.

 

This is the type of fight that would leave many modernistas grumbling to themselves afterwords.


Tua couldn’t catch a giant, and he’s a come forward swarmer. Of course his power was incredible, but his movement wasn’t. His fight IQ wasn’t. His heart wasn’t.

Corbett ain’t going into a high guard to stand right in front of him so they can trade shots in the pocket.

 

Wasn’t he a very scrappy fighter?

Maybe Sharkey kept going after Corbett despite getting tagged a few times as opposed to following him outside the pocket for 12 rounds.

 

Not even Reznick's superb videos could convince me that Corbett could beat Byrd and Tua.