Tua was overrated slightly, imo. Definitely good enough to pick up some sort of strap in this watered down era, but he really wasn't as good as he was sold early on. He was a pressure fighter who didn't understand how to pressure fight properly. I call him the heavyweight Rocky Juarez. If you did the right things he would allow himself to be overcome. If you know what i mean. He was not a truth machine and his variety wasn't good enough. Take away his left hook and the job was pretty much done. It was frustrating watching him at times because he did have certain tools to achieve more. He didn't fight with a sense of urgency.
Did you mean he fought Maskaev and Moorer when they didn't have belts? Well, I could agree with Moorer, but Maskaev with a bit more experience as a pro had good chance to make it to the final bell and get an UD over Tua. Also, two times he fought "wrong" (stylewise) opponent (Rahman), he got a help from judges/referee, so he had not only bad luck during his career.
he could have beaten Holyfield and John Ruiz for the WBA strap easily. I wouldnt put it past him to KO RJjr for the WBA strap either, the WBC might have been just a push past him, stylewise and for the fact of who was holding it, but anytime from 1995- 2003 i dont see him not beating at least one of the WBO champs, maybe Vitali and Akinwande would have been very bad for him, the IBF in 96/97 could have been his if he got a shot at Michael Moorer. not saying hewas in contention for any if not all of these fights but i think if things had gone differently he would have been a champ. If don king had him in the mid/late 1990's he would have been matched alot easyer and deffo been a world champ
andrew golota got 3 title shots in a row, to each of the 3 main sanctioning bodys, losing all shots, if tua had been in a similar position think about it.
He weighed 210 lbs mere months before icing Ruiz. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJyGgPhkLwQ[/ame] I wouldn't say he was ripped to shreds here either. I imagine he could've made 200 lbs if he really tried, but the limit in his day was 190 lbs which is a weight he couldn't have sensibly made.
But it is amazing how well Tua carried 225-235 pounds on his 5'9" frame . I mean, he's the same height as James Toney, but Toney looked vastly different than Tua at 230 pounds. There's a lot of tall heavyweights that don't carry weight well. Look at Larry Holmes at 233 or so. He was sort of flabby and oblong; short Tua at 233 looked more solid! But I agree; no reason Tua couldn't drop down to 200 pounds or so if he really wanted to.
Tua would have had a better chance of beating Lewis had he came in lighter. However, Lewis would always have tamed Tua. But he was at his fighting peak between 96-98.
If tua signed with don king after main events he would have won a tittle or at least had 3 shots at one, At the time kevin barry was protecting his money train knowing if tua signed to don he would be cut so he steered tua and his family to america presents as he would have more control, it was a big thing in NZ at the time and I remeber how he slimed his family. Islanders over here were like aww this nice white man looking after our boy, do what the man say david ... that a good boy. Too trusting and just dont know how things work.
Tua got owned badly by a aging Holyfield in sparring.....I mean bitchslapped bad......no way in hell is the One Trick Pony Tua beating Holyfield ever.
He was an excellent power puncher, and strong as an ox and durable ... but his lack of height and reach would always have caused him problems at HW. He just didn't have the boxing ability to compensate. Even for guys like Tyson and Frazier and Marciano - who were more intelligent as boxers and stalkers, imo - the lack of height and reach could be a handicap. Tua didn't help matters by going up to 245, 250 pounds. He would have been better staying in the 215 - 230 range. He can'[t afford to lose half a step through carrying a little too much.
