Frank Bruno vs. David Tua

The smart money is on Tua catching up and KO'ing Bruno, outside chance of Bruno scoring a KO himself he did hit that hard. Bruno may outbox Tua for the distance too especially if he could do what Lewis did hitting Tua so hard that Tua goes into a shell

 

I see your point, but are you saying that you favour obese 245lb Tua against '89 Bruno or just the in-shape & motivated Tua?

I have no problem with the idea of '96 or '97 Tua stopping '89 to '93 Bruno, but i find it difficult to imagine him doing so in the mid rounds.
Tyson of '89 is a vastly superior fighter to Tua.

 

Tua could always pull a McCall against Bruno, go into a shell as stated above and waste too much time getting started, allowing Bruno to hold on to a decision win.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3tGBgZJn2M[/ame]

2:40

This was a rather heavy and sluggish Bruno also in my opinion.

 

That seems the pattern of the fight, but it will only be a question of can Bruno survive after getting a points lead - I think Bruno would be Tuas best opponent after Byrd and Lewis, o it would be hit and miss in the last few rounds

 

I was going to also add that the Tua Lewis fought was not as good as the Tua Ibeabuchi fought. That was the last we saw a well conditioned Tua. He was the type of fighter who could never leave the gym and after he secured his ranking, he sat idle, fought stiffs and overall regressed as a top notch fighter.
That being said, I would always lean towards any version of Tua stopping Frank, more than Bruno boxing him for 12 rounds.

 

I remember this fight well and you can see how limited Mcall was with his offense and pressure, and he was still barely making it through the rounds. At the end he had to be carried to his corner. I definitely dont think this Bruno ever makes it against Tua.

 

Well said.

Fair enough, so long as you're not including shot, old Tua.
I think the Tua that fought Ike seemed mentally strong, so I guess it was unfair to paint him under the same brush as the lazy one who turned up fat for Lewis. Would you agree the early bombs with brutal holding & hitting Bruno used on Tyson in '89 would probably discourage the uninspired Tua of 2000?

 

Even at his best, a fighter could outbox Tua rather easily. Maskaev, Izon, Rahman, Wooden, all these guys had a lot of success against Tua for the course, but Tua seemed to always catch up to them late and win.
When that pressure went away from Tua, yes he became a lot more ordinary, but I dont really see Bruno's power ever being a factor to discourage Tua, he was quick enough to land like Lewis did, and yes Lewis nailed him pretty good, but it was also the movement that Lewis was giving Tua while he was punching him, that ultimately made him so discouraged. Lewis used simple boxing to make Tua completely clueless and Tua's extra weight, poor conditioning and ridiculous hair that kept impairing his vision, didnt help either.

 

I don't see Bruno's chin holding up against Tua.

 

If Bruno ties up with tua, throws his close range mid grapple punches and catches Tua with a heavy punch when he tries to break away, I can see Bruno winning in albiet a very unpretty and short fight.

If Bruno tries to outbox Tua, then I would agree with most of you that Bruno would lose.

 

Agreed. Frank's jab would cause Tua problems early on. Tua to win by the tenth round or so.

 

Tua stops Bruno between 5-8... Franks jab wouldn't be as effective after early rounds and once a prime Tua got in range you were getting hurt