David Tua - Where'd It All Go Wrong?

Honestly, I was never much impressed with Tua. I mean that. Call me on this if you like, but I see him as a one-trick pony, and when that trick didn't work he was left with very little.

He had a huge punch and a concrete chin, and sometimes that's enough for a fighter to do well in the heavyweights. Thing is, those two assets aside, what did he really have?
His lack of height and reach definitely hurt him. It hurt Orlin Norris and Buster Mathis jnr. as well, although Mathis didn't even have the redeeming feature of a knockout punch.
Yeah Tyson did exceptionally well in the era of big men, but he was on a different level to Tua. He had speed which Tua lacked. Some guys can use their short staure to their advantage, but Tua didn't.

On another thread, I also questioned Tua's heart and commitment. He bombed badly in the biggest fight of his life - against Lewis. Basically, aside from a few dangerous early hooks, he did nothing but ineffectually plod after Lewis. He was hardly thunder and lightning that night, despite being clearly outpointed round after round. It almost seemed as if he had resigned himself to getting Lewis early or not at all. Would a fighter with the heart of a Holyfield or Frazier allow Lewis to romp home such an easy winner?

I questioned his commitment because he started gaining a lot of weight, too much weight for his frame. Once he hit the 240 mark he became a crude, overweight plodder with slow hands. Maskaev and Rahman are not what you'd consider to be scientific types, yet both ouboxed him quite comfortably until Tua caught them late. In the Rahman rematch he (Tua that is) was just horrible and got a lucky break from the judges.

With better conditioning, and a more serious and 100% dedicated approach as well as a more aggresive managment team Tua probably could have done better. Maybe he could have won a title. But he would always be relying on that big punch and chin to pull him through, which against the better boxers is never going to be enough.
If he had won a title, I wouldn't expect he'd be destined for a long reign.

 

One dimensional slugger who could be outboxed and against Lewis showed a lack of desire imo.If he was serious about boxing he should have thrown his fridge out of the window.

 

I suppose so, I can't really recall specific instances but there's no reason to not believe you.
But I think what you just said is the crux of his problems - when was he really at his best?

 

I'll have to try and watch that one some time. (Never saw it.)

 

Its even more specific than powr, it was power in the left hook. I think he got Moorer with a right hand, but the story arc of his carreer was best summed up by Lewis: "It takes more than a left hook and a hair cut..."

 

He had a style that depended verry heavily on conditioning and he didnt keep himself in shape. This means that he was never realising his actual physical potential in the ring.

If you could put Rocky Marciano or Joe Fraziers head inside Tuas body you would haveyour own portable cyclone.

 

In boxing, you need some fire in your belly. More often than not Tua stuffed his belly with food. When Tua needed to press the action, sometimes he didn’t. I also think Tua was not a good thinker in the ring.

If Tua was serious about becoming a world champion, he enters the ring at 225-230. I get the hunch that Tua was an avoided fighter. He was a big puncher with a good chin who could end a match at any time.

 

Absolutely. As horrible as he was sometimes, he always had a chance because of that power. You could not write him off completely. Probably why the likes of Tyson didn't fight him - little to gain and much to lose.

 

It all went wrong when he started stuffing his face and blooned up to around 250lbs.

I've always felt he just lacked the dedication and was very limited apart from his power and chin, as somebody said earlier sometimes that enough to make it as a heavy but not at the top level imo.

His physical disadvantages didn't help him either at just 5'10" and with a 70" reach, same as Tyson bar his 1 inch reach advantage, but the difference was Tyson had the speed and good technique with that peek-a-boo style while Tua lacked this.

 

I think Ike Ibeabuchi ruined him as a fighter. He never threw as many punches, had the amount of head movement and most importantly, showed the same motivation afterwards. Such a shame.

That's peanuts compared to the damage the Nigerian took in a fight that i had him losing by a single point, though. He went bat**** crazy after it; drove him and his son into a concrete pillar permanently injuring the kid, kidnapped callgirls, brought a huge knife to an HBO negotiation dinner, refused to spar before the Byrd fight, etc etc. It's actually a miracle he went through the Byrd fight as easy as he did.

 

I agree with that.

There were also certain styles that were capable of beating Tua. Any Boxer that moved well and had a good jab could outpoint Tua (Byrd, Tua.) At the same time, you had to have a sturdy chin or you would be knocked out by one of his left hooks.
Tuas commitment wasn't there either. With Lewis as champion, chances are Tua was going to stay a top contender. But when Lewis retired, he had the opportunity to win at least one of the belts. The champions were WBC champ Vitali Klitschko, a man that would most likely beat Tua but he was the best of the lot. John Ruiz was the WBA champ and he was destroyed by Tua in 19 seconds so obviously thats a winnable fight. The IBF champ was Byrd, who had beaten Tua but I think a fully motivated Tua could beat him. And the WBO champ was Brewster, a tough fighter with power and guts, but would get koed by the Tuaman in a slugfest.
Tua had the ability to become a Alphabet champ but lacked the commitment to take advantage when it mattered most. He was a bit unlucky and poorly managed but was better than than many of the alphabet champions of the last decade. Same goes for Ike.