Tua didn't gas out with Friday. He did with Barrett. He hurt his shoulder throwing truck tires three weeks out from the fight, and did little training after that. He was vintage Tua for the first 4-5 rounds, thinking he better get him out early. When that didn't work, he slowly became unravelled from rounds 6-12, plodding around after Barrett, and his legs were dead from then on.
Should be Barrett...and let's face it, Rahman could take a chainsaw to the ring, lop Tua's head off and still the headless corpse of Tua would be announced the winner. That probably would be a legit DQ, mind.
The slick fighter's like Barret and Byrd , will always give Tua trouble. That has been the case from the start of David's career. Ahunanya was tailor made for Tua really, little movement and easy to catch on the ropes. Watching the Barret fight confirms my suspicion. That all of Roger's training adjustments will still not stop Tua from being a one dimensional plodder with a big punch...
Friday gave Tua a lot of movement. Certainly as much as Barrett. The difference was that Tua was in better condition against Friday. Actually, Tua cut the ring off, and caught up with Barrett much easier the first five rounds. After that, the same ole, same ole Tua plodding, following Barrett around the ring. Why? Tua injured his shoulder three weeks out, and did no sparring after that. His conditioning was bad, and he had dead legs leading up to the end. That's why he wants Barrett again, when he's in great condition. The King fight is to test his shoulder, and to get a knock out. One dimensional? Tua goes to the body now (Barrett said he was hurt with a body punch) and throws his right much more. You're reading yesterday's news.
When the first thing you hear from a fighter is an excuse after he loses you can become skeptical. However, Tua really did hurt his shoulder and really did have surgery. Tua was one of the reasons I first got into boxing and would love to see him make a little noise before retiring. Hopefully he comes in shape, beats King like he should, gets out of his shitty contract, and fights a top-10 fights. For a fighter like Tua, that may be wishful thinking at this point.
Good to see Tua staying relatively active; it'll be good to see him done with the MTV contract - i'd like to see him fight people like Arreola and Peters.
Dont see anyone else talking bout it but Cedric Cusioner has got to be the worlds worst promoter, Tua might not be at world class level any more but ther are still lots of great fights he could be in, ie Vs samuel peter, Chris areola, wait actualy put tua in with pretty much everyone the klitchkos have beaten in the last couple years and ther make good fights,