The Popular Perception and Legacy of David Tua

There is a popular perception among boxing fans about a Heavyweight Contender from the late 90's named David Tua, the perception is that David Tua looks unmotivated in the ring, that he doesn't look like a guy who is a passionate fighter doing what he loves to do.

When it all comes down to the actual reality of David Tua's motivation is that the aforementioned public perception about him could NOT be more true as Tua’s HEART wasn't into the sport of boxing from the very start. The very first time David Tua laced on a pair of gloves to box was as a scared 8 year old little boy looking up at a grown man who was 3 times older than him and the grown man was specifically told NOT to take it easy on the little Tua even if he is a little kid. As we're about to find out, this sparring session was NOT something that the little Tua wanted to participate in to say the least. At 8 years of age, the little Tua found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, it was either became a boxer and spar with grown men 3 times his age or receive brutal punishment from father as Tua's father, himself a former boxer had decided to live his boxing dreams by FORCING it onto his son. The story of David Tua's life, from the very start had always been about HIS FATHER and HIS FATHER'S DREAMS rather than what David Tua wanted and what David Tua's dreams were. The following are all direct quotes from David Tua published in popular news articles during the late 90's and early 2000's. Read carefully, especially the underlined parts, these are words from the man himself:

That truly is a brutal thing to put an 8 year old boy through, Tua even admitted that he got hurt in some of these brutal sparring sessions as he was going against grown men three times his age! But the tough Tua fought hard with courage and as he says "Those other guys always knew they had been in a fight."

After it's all said and done you're looking at a fighter who has NEVER been knocked out in 59 PROFESSIONAL HEAVYWEIGHT BOUTS, a fighter with a chin so sturdy he took the best punches of hard hitting heavyweights such as Hasim Rahman, Oleg Maskaev, David Izon and Ike Ibeabuchi and didn't even get grazed. A fighter so tough he went ahead into the world title fight against Lennox Lewis only 2 weeks after he suffered a debilitating rib injury in sparring, the rib injury was actually recorded on video footage and published in a documentary titled "Destiny In My Hands".

The punching power of David Tua, there's definitely something to be said about this man's punching power. As far as one punch power, David Tua possesses the hardest one in the history of professional boxing. This brain battering power comes from the ground up as his oversized calves, massive thighs and wide waist STABILIZE AND CONCENTRATE EXTREME AMOUNTS OF EXPLOSIVE FORCE INTO ONE SINGLE PUNCH, THE PERFECT BIOMECHANICAL POWER PUNCHING SPECIMEN. It was truly a thing of monstrosity and by the time of his 45th fight, 5 Heavyweight Champions had been slain by this mighty sword. I will end this post with the following article as to what happens in the boxing ring when he's truly fired up and motivated as his opponent made the deadly mistake of disrespecting the humble Tua and awakening the animal in him:

Truly a shame that this great boxing specimen leaves behind a legacy of disappointment and continues to be disrespected by fans even after his retirement.

 

What I was referring to was EXPLOSIVE PUNCHING POWER that you see with guys like Marciano 5'11, Tyson, 5'10, Tua 5'10. Taller powerhouses such as Liston, Foreman, Golota etc possessed a different brand of punching power, this type of power was based moreso on brute strength rather than explosive force, that "thumping" power as opposed to the "explosive" power of shorter fighters who rely more on their legs to generate and stabilize power from the ground up. Also notice how shorter fighters such as Marciano, Tyson and Tua all fight in a low crouched stance which enables them to quickly bend their knees and load up on their punches. I hear Shavers hit hard but did he put guys straight to sleep like David Tua did to John Ruiz and Michael Moorer, the Moorer knockout was scary because it was just a regular right hand from Tua that didn't even look loaded up on but Moorer went straight into hibernation. The thing about Tua is that he hardly ever throws punches with bad intentions so the John Ruiz fight is a true telling of his monstrous power, the uppercut that he landed on Ruiz while he was on the ropes was as destructive and vicious of a punch as any that has ever been thrown inside a boxing ring.

 

BoxRec Database states that he's 5'11(180cm).

 

He went into that fight with a debilitating rib injury, the injury occurred during sparring in the last month of his training camp leading up the fight, the exact injury was recorded on video footage and published in a documentary titled "Destiny in my Hands".

 

Based on which source?