AJ would beat Tua easily. David Tua is extremely overrated. He was outboxed badly by 11-fights novice Oleg Maskaev (10-1), he went life and death against journeyman Jeff Wooden. And it was in-shape version of Tua, not the extremely fat Butterbean-like version that faced Lennox Lewis. Wilder would probably outbox Tua too, although Tua would have had bigger chance of winning against him than against Fury or Joshua.
Wilder beats the holy hell out of Tua. It wouldn't even be competitive. For what its worth, to show I'm no being biased. AJ would too.
LOL Tua isn't harder puncher than Wlad or Wilder and even if he was, he would get schooled badly by Fury losing every single round of the fight. If Tua couldn't land his left hook on 6'0'' Chris Byrd, how on the Eart he would land it on 6'9'' version of Chris Byrd?
At the end of the day I think a mediocre 90s heavyweight still could starch the best of today. It was a different division back then, sorry it just was
Tua was a poor boxer. If you get caught on the ropes or try to trade hooks with him then yes! He can KO you But good boxers and especially elite boxers deal with him all night long.
Yes, that one night when Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Vitali Klitschko, Ike Ibeabuchi and Chris Byrd all got food poisoning and were on the floor throwing up at the same time. Very small window. About an hour, maybe.
Maskaev was 20-1 at the time with around the same number of fights as Tua. Maskaev also had a decorated amateur career where he was twice Soviet Union superheavyweight amateur champ and he medalled at the world champs
Tua. If Wilder could box worth a lick he'd beat Tua but he can't. He doesn't have the footwork or the defence to avoid slugging with Tua, and Tua wins that game.