Teddy Atlas Picked David Tua To Knock Out Lennox Lewis In 2000

Atlas's analysis is actually excellent, IMO.

He seems to pick Tua as a gamble. And he's relying on a one-punch surprise to some extent. I guess it's worth a shot.
He touches on Tua's weight, that may have been a real factor in Tua's sorry performance..

Stylistically Tua had a much better chance than he ended up giving himself. Then again, some good fighters just never perform their best on the biggest stage.
The fight was a stinker. Lewis didn't need to do much, so he didn't. Tua landed a few shots but his follow-ups were weak. He rarely applied any pressure, seemed a bit mesmerised by the sight of Lewis lumbering around him.
He was subsequently clearly outboxed by Chris Byrd too.
Tua had a lot going for him, but for various reasons never really developed into the fighter some people imagined he'd become.

Atlas turned out to be dead wrong on his pick. He still provides an 'expert' analysis, IMO.

 

I would have also picked Tua had he been in similar condition to the Ibeabuchi fight, but he progressively deteriorated in subsequent fights before the Lewis fight. What a disappointing gutless performance by Tua and it wasn't only because Lewis stung him early. Tua was done after peaking against ike

 

hydraulix picked butterbean to knock out dempsey and marciano hahahaha go make that money *****

 

Boxer beats a puncher more often then not. Tua was a pressure fighter who didn't get "it". He didn't know how to pressure an opponent with his presence.

 

i was ****ing pissed. he was "the new tyson" and he had all the tools to put an a tremendous bout. instead, he plotted forward and hopped the left hook would magically land without any set up

 

She never said that. She simply asked how the fight would go. Leave all that nonsense in that thread, please. It has nothing to do with this topic.

I really thought that David was going to win this one. The smaller, more active David Tua from 1995-1997 would have been a much better fight. He threw more uppercuts and body punches in those days. There were a few times when David nailed Lewis flush, but didn't follow up with anything. I remember being upset when Hasim Rahman KO'd Lennox with one punch the following year. I was thinking "Why couldn't David Tua do that?"

 

yup, pretty much. and as brother above pointed out, he never followed up with anything after landing.

his peak ended with ike. he became a one trick pony and while i agree that his left hook is among the heaviest of the modern era, it wasn't enough

 

Tua was a huge disappointment. Out of shape. Took one good shot in the first round and dogged the rest of the fight ... a waste of talent ... here is the difference between Tua and Chuvalo in the debate raised by Klompton in the Chuvalo/Tunney thread ... Tua had far more talent and he dogged a fight ... Chuvalo never dogged a fight in his life ...

 

I remember hoping that Tua could land the hook we all knew he had; at that time, I was a Lewis hater (reformed now) for the typical reasons... I leaned towards Lewis, but wanted so badly to see Tua crush him.

I remember reading that someone from Tua's camp said that in the first or second round Tua got hit with a right hand that hurt him enough to keep him content to eat jabs and occasional rights for the rest of the night.

That's the kind of thing that separates greats from the rest. Tua got stung and was scared to be the boss... Some fighters in that situation would have turned it up.

 

Well, Teddy loves picking the underdog so later if he gets it he can say he called it. He picked Tony Thompson against Wladimir too.