George Foreman summed up Tua problems when he said Joe Frazier learned to break down opponents and Tua didn't learn the same skills. Terrible Tim issues a boxing lesson and wins on pts.
Ibeabuchi won a close decision vs peak Tua that could go either way. Is Spoon that better than Ike? Is he better at all?
I don’t really think even though it was close that it could go either way? Having scored it recently I felt that a draw would be a generous card towards Tua? To me Spoon may not be drastically better although he certainly accomplished more in a longer career, but the big difference is I don’t think Spoon would fight the same fight plan/style as Ike. Having recently rewatched on older spoon against Mercer I think Spoon can hold his own when the fight gets in close as well. Just my $0.02
At their best, Tua outworks him and busts him up. It's been 3+ decades and people still can't help themselves falling in love with Timmy "30 seconds a round" Witherspoon.
Both at their best had very strong chins. However, Tim had better skills, so I would say a 9-3 decision is just. 15, more like 11-4.