David Tua vs. Rocky Marciano.

David Tua's optimum weight in the 1990s was around 216-220 ...and that was only because he trained in the way that all the men of that era did.

201 was what he weighed when he started his career. At that starting point, with all the wonders of modern sports science at his disposal Tua weighed 201 and was a still a very strong looking, fully developed youth much like Mike Tyson at a similar age.

At 5'10 I wonder what Tua would have weighed with a traditional pre 1970s boxing training programe. I wonder what he might have weighed for his debut in 1947? ...and I wonder how much heavier Tua would have gotten several years into his 1950s career considering that Mike Tyson COULD keep within 5 pounds of his 18 year old weight TEN years into his career in the 1990's?

 

Tell you one thing … the fight would be much shorter than this thread ..

 

Marciano had some of the best defense in boxing history. He would make Tua look really bad by counterpunching him the way Chris Byrd did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b0yHvw-vW0

 

Very true.

 

You've been counter troll'd.

 

So you are offering as proof the facts that .

1. You wonder.

and

2. Tyson could keep his weight to within 5 lbs of his 18 year old weight 10 years later, so Tua MUST be able to.

I think you need to try harder.

Though not as hard as the clown who claims Marciano had the best defence in boxing history.

And the nostalgists claim that supporters of the modern era are OTT? lmao.

 

May some of this is really silly ...

 

:rofl Just have some laughs man. It will boil down. Eventually.

 

competition and competitive fights make great fighters.

David Tua was an intresting contender who did not fully reach his potential. He had many qualities that only great fighters posses but for whatever reason was a bit too one dimentional (and fat) to actually beat a great fighter. To beat a proven great fighter you have to be one yourself.

Sure Tua beats great contenders from other eras, sure Tua might beat a weak stop gap type champion from another era - but hes not beating a great champion from another era. He could not do it in his own time when accidental champs like mccall, moorer, bent and rahman could.

 

:good

In a nutshell...

 

Yes, there is good reason to be skeptical that Tua would beat an ATG.

Though there is a case to be made that an inconsistent fighter with great gifts might well beat some ATGs at their brief peak. Rocky depends on wearing a guy down & getting to their chin. Since Tua had great endurance & chin, when you ad his power he might well win. More likely than agaist a an equally great boxer type.

Tua may not have been bigger than a low body fat 201 in an earlier era, IF he did not lifting & trained like the others. If so, he is still bulkier than most all of them considering his height. But I think he likely gets larger, & you need to understand that just the size of his BONES means with 1/2 a chance-resistance training, eating well & often-he was likely to get into the 220's lean. All other things being equal, dinosaur bones are strongly correlated with the potential to add more muscle. The main other internal factor being testosterone levels.

 

Tua's lifting was more power lifting than body building and didnt last but a week or two into camp. He was laways more concerned with shedding pounds. His stamina at a fit and ready225 is well documented and surpasses Marciano in regards to output. Again, when did Marciano put together 12 straight rounds averaging 65 punches a round?

 

there is good reasons to be sceptical about Tua's inconsistency and good reasons to be sceptical about how one dimensional he was at elite level. For all his chances David failed to live up to the achievements of Michael Bentt, Moorer, Rahman and Oliver McCall during the same era. Even Botha landed himself a belt during that time. Frank Bruno too.

Marciano was more proven at landing his best clean shots at the highest level than Tua was.

 

When did Tua? Was it the time he lost? Punch stat machines record feints, and all kinds of connections that should not count. They are just a guide for tv fans.

Tua showed work rate over 12 rounds once on what turned out to be his Tokyo Douglas night. He lost the fight and was never as good again.

As enjoyable as Tua v Ibeabuchi was it did not represent an elite fight. Simply a good fight between evenly matched prospets. If either fighter wound up being great after that the best you could say was it was a match between great fighters before they were great. Trouble is of course neither fighter wound up being great because their potential was not realised again. Tua got fat and Ike went mad.

 

I have no problem with those that pick Rocky to beat Tua my gripe is the absolutely wrong headed contention that there is little between them in physique/build. That is as sensible as saying the earth is flat,anyone repeating it has zero credibility because they are denying an obvious truth.
The same goes for anyone who states ,as you do ,that Paulino Uzcudun "was a terrific puncher" .
To put it simply you are WRONG.