David Tua annihilates James Toney. Prime David Tua threw 1000 punches a fight, take a look at the Ike Ibeabuchi fight, that was prime Tua vs prime Ibeabuchi and the decision could have gone either way. Hard to see many fighters, let alone Toney stand up to that
If you look at Tua's two conquers that decisively beat him, there's a distinct difference between their styles and Toney's style. Chris Byrd was fleetfooted; he'd pop a jab in Tua's face, throw an occasional combination, and move away, forcing Tua to turn and reset his offense. Lennox Lewis was another animal all together. Not only was he massively built, but he also possessed a pole-like jab that rendered Tua docile. The shorter Tua could do nothing get inside on Lewis where he needed to be to be effective. Lewis boxed behind the jab all night and basically schooled him over 12 rounds with a shaky moment once or twice. A 220 pound Toney bears little stylistic resemblence to the fighters I mentioned before. He was stationary at the weight, relying on fighters to come at him so he could roll his shoulders away from punches and return with countering right hands. He'd also languish on the ropes to take rests as he lacked the stamina to fight all 3 minutes a round at a hard pace. On the ropes, Toney would pick his spots for countering combinations while maintaining a high level of defensive anticipation - slipping shots, rolling away from shots, picking shots off. A true master off the ropes. His fight with Dominick Guinn was a first-class exhibition of this. However, this isn't a good way to fight a prime Tua who was extremely strong, had concussive power, had a titanium chin, and great stamina. He would have made Toney fight on the inside, not giving him much space, but Toney wouldn't have any objections to it. Tua outworks him in close and catches the attention of the judges with his much harder punches. Toney lacks the physical strength or punching power to duplicate what Ibeabuchi was able to do in close and he'd be faced with a true heavyweight. That cannot be overlooked. When Toney retreated to the ropes is where Tua would thrive. Tua would sit down on his punches, going upstairs and downstairs. Make no mistake about it - Tua would have hit Toney hard. While Toney has a great chin, he could be hurt at heavyweight as Samuel Peter proved. Peter doesn't have the power, speed, or accuracy of a prime Tua. And a prime Tua is better than a shot Holyfield, an older Rahman, Ruiz, Guinn, and Booker. I like Tua in this fight by a very clear decision or mid/late stoppage.
Toney has EXCELLENT skills, BUT a prime TUA is relentless with a steady strong attack for the full 12. TUA wins this. Rewatch or watch the IKE and TUA fight!
Even if Toney's prime wasn't 220 pounds, he was still fantastic at that weight with the shorter, older Evander Holyfield. I think he'd box David Tua silly. Tua tends not to throw punches if he doesn't have a target in front of him. And with Toney, he'd waste punches early, fade, and lose a lopsided decision. Toney W12 Tua.
I'd love to see this fight just to see how long Toney could impose his style before he'd physically broke down. This would be a true test of Toney's will, I'm too big of a Toney fan to say that he couldn't. so i couldn't help but vote for Toney. You know If Toney came in the shape he fought Holyfield at about 215-219 than He'd have a good shot, but no way no how would he be able to perform weighing 230lbs. Brooklyn do you remember the Tua vs Oquendo fight? lol.... Fantastic Frez was pitching a shut out on Tua until he got cought on the chin and went nighty night. Oquendo too, used his legs to outbox Tua for as long as he lasted.
