Tua in about 7 rounds or less, pretty much noone outslugs Tua, I dont think Lyle was quite as powerful and durable as Ibeabuchi, Lyle's gotta keep him at a distance all fight, I dont think he was a good enough boxer to do that although he did make use of a jab
^^have to agree. lyle didn't quite have the skills to outbox tua all night, didn't have the chin to take the bombs and didn't have the power to even make him blink. lyle was damn good and may well beat more guys than tua, but head to head he just doesn't have the tools to win
Yeah Lyle was strong and powerful but not enough so, and you have to be one out of the box to bang with Tua. Only reason I give Lyle until the mid rounds is that IMO he would jab from outside until Tua started to get to him, if he just brawled from the start it would be over within 3 rounds.
Can't see Lyle beating Tua, as a fighter with the power and speed, tua is fast, and chin Tua is very rare his height and reach are his drawbacks.
Ron had a habit of sometimes trying to outbox stylists and out slug bombers. Unlike Shavers, Tua would not ultimately collapse. Lyle was capable of getting off the deck to win (as he did against LeDoux), but he doesn't last to the final bell against David's brand of sustained firepower.
I'm not so sure about Tua scoring an easy KO here. On paper he should have scored easy KO's over Hasim Rahman but he didn't, he was soundly outboxed by Rahman. Lyle has similar boxing ability but he's even tougher. However if he gets caught by a left hook like Shavers caught him with but in the middle of a round and not the end of it, he would likely be finished. Then again he was expecting the right hand from Shavers, not a left hook.
I can't believe how often there are matchups involving Tua against the greats and neargreats. He must really be a favorite. Or young people haven't lived thru the great punchers.:blurp
At his best, Ron wasn't an easy knockout for anybody. The catch here is that Tua carried his power better into the late rounds than Shavers generally did. Lyle had the skills, height, reach and mobility to outbox Tua. It's dangerous to guess what style Ron might use. Does he move and box like he did against Ali, counter off the ropes like he did with Shavers, or bomb away in a slugfest? He's such a variable that it's always going to be risky to project how he'd do in a fantasy matchup.
I think he fought the way he did against Shavers because Shavers had a reputation of having a suspect chin and conditioning. Foreman too had ran out of gas in Zaire. If he knew Tua would be coming at him for 12 rounds, he'd probably turn into a more of a boxer.
