Man I kept hearing how Tua would destroy Marciano, Tyson, Frazier, Dempsey....

Byrd was not a ****ing swelled middleweight.
He was 165 back in his last period as an amateur .
Professional MW limit is 160 , mind you and almost every amateur who becomes professional grows up in weight , most of the times significantly so.
Byrd did not beat Tua in that fight , he fought to survive like he usually did.
He did embarrass Vitali Klitschko and some others though.
Chris Byrd is a solid top 20 all time HW despite being a bulked stuffed LHW.

Tua simply could not reach Lewis full force for obvious reasons (7.5 inches height disparity) , and could be reached himself , but he did last that fights'
distance without being decked or close to being stopped didn't he ?

 

Maybe it is because Tua is 5'9" to Foreman's 6'3" ?

 

Thomas Hearns began his career under 147 , James Toney began his career under 160 , Evander Holyfield began his career under 190 , Roberto Duran started his career under 135 , not to mention Robinson , Leonard , Langford , Pacquiao , Mayweather , Delahoya and more , so ?
And no , he did not connect fully with Byrd , stop watching fights in FFW , you post lots of crap because of it.

 

If so , then every fighter in history except of a very few old timers are fools not to imitate Dempsey's brilliant combination. Dempsey should be renowned for using it so effectively , but then he should be ashamed for not using it much more often , it could have saved his championship belt , you know.

Fighters usually take a dive in their last fight or close to it like in Marciano-Walcott 2 , Ali-Liston 2 , McClellan-Jackson 2 , and such , not in their prospect stage of their career , I bet you out of all , read the part where Flynn removed Dempsey's guard with one hand , and then wiped his head of with the other , and it worked for him against the so brilliant Dempsey out of all the men he fought .

 

Which is why it took Tua 1/9 of the time it took Foreman to deck Moorer .
Foreman wanted to punish Moorer for his rude smack talk prior to taking him out. Tua was a more forgiving individual than old George ever was and therefore was a gentleman with Moorer ending his misery quickly.

 

Guys Tua in his prime is all based on match up ... forget the 37 year old version from the other night ... anyone who understands the game knows small powerhouse bulldogs like Tua and Tyson need a combo of speed and conditioning to maximize their skill sets ...These fighters have short primes ... A prime Tua with a cement chin, fast hands, tremendous strength, fast starting style and nasty power would have been deadly for a certain style of fighter. At the same time he could never compete with many other styles ... no one is saying he was a great fighter. He was an exceptionally dangerous one predicated on the match up ..

If Dempsey fought Tua like Firpo he goes in one or two. If Marciano fought Tua like he did Walcott the same. Frazier maybe a little better but doubtful ... it is simply the match up ... all three were far better pound for pound fighters and far better in most head to head match ups but straight up these guys had the wrong style ... plain and simple ..

 

Ibeabuchi , Rahman*2 , Izon , Maskaev , Lewis (so you say Lewis did not hurt Tua at all , well , you are not altogether wrong) , no punishment absorbed whatsoever . Do you even boxrec before you post ?

 

Dempsey's fouling brought him an on the paper KO , Sharkey should have gotten a rematch and then return the favor which he could .

How did you forget (to mention) Louis taking a dive against Schmelling in their first fight then ?

 

No , Byrd feinted a smile toward Tua , pulling his tongue out with his mouthguard , and then when Tua hit him he just walked through Tua's punch , which caused Tua to stumble backwards , can you tell me how to use FFW in a windows media player ? or is this the reason why I can't come to your fantastic (really) observations ?

 

in all tua was a decent heavyweight not an ATG but was for me enjoyable to watch

 

I didn't see the Tua-Barrett fight but Tua is done and has been. I last saw him a year or two ago on ESPN and he looked like he was nearing the end of it then. It seemed like only Tua fans thought he was still relevant in todays picture.

I don't know why anyone would point to his performance in the Barrett fight as to how he'd fair against some all time greats. Tua from the mid to late 90s was a tough guy. He has beaten numerous fighters better than a 2010 version of Monte Barrett. Tua is shot and its silly to point to his last fight to prove anything other than he is done.