He has beaten so many good fighters, many of them even became champions, while Tua himself never held a major title: Hasim Rahman Oleg Maskaev John Ruiz Michael Moorer His fight againt Ibeabuchi was an amazing display of heavyweight boxing. Sure, he is extremely one-dimensional but I like his calibre of fighter: tons of power, good chin, willing to engage ...
He was a notable contender in the late 90s and early 00s. After the Byrd loss, his status as a serious contender ended. He had his chance to win the heavyweight championship against Lennox Lewis and was outclassed.
In some ways I do feel sorry for him, in other ways not so much. After all he earned tons of money and its his fault he squandered his gifts wasting him time fighting bums and not showing the discipline to be a professional.
Vitali wasn't stopped by Lewis. The doctor stopped the fight because of medical conditions, not because Vitali was KOed or nearly KOed.
I'm not sure what went wrong with Tua, but I suspect much of it was mental. I know the management issues were a big problem for him. It just seemed like he lost interest or something too, fighting rarely and not really taking on anyone top notch since Rahman or Byrd. You didn't hear him angrily calling people out the way most fighters who really want to fight do. He was still highly respected after Byrd and Lewis, but seemed to let himself fade away.
he wasted his career with inactivity and when he did fight, it was a marcus rhode type guy and he would be gone another year.....a few bad years is one thing...a decade, you cant blame bull**** on everyone else for your resume
nobody told Tuaman to consistently come into fights out of shape. His career is his own doing. He thought he could get by with power and chin alone. He found out he couldn't. He provided us with alot of great ko's that will stick in my mind forever. We can all appreciate that at least.