was there any heavyweight that had as much late power as david tua?

Yes, but there's a difference between holding your power back and letting it go and still having reserves.

Marciano's a great example of the latter.

 

Useful stats. I looked up one more you left off. Jeffries was 6/12 for 50%. I find Dempsey and Tyson very interesting.

 

Marciano

 

The Botha fight is another example of Tyson carrying his power late. He almost pulled it of in the Douglas fight with 1 uppercut.

 

I wouldnt call 5 rounds late but Douglas is actually a good example.

 

Tua was reduced to a paper tiger vs Lewis and Byrd in the later rounds. While Tua kept his power into the later rounds, it seems like the other guy had to get tired for him to land his best stuff.

 

Im not trying to be too much of a nut hugger but he bloke in my avatar had decent late power,especially considering he had stamina issues.

Obviously his power was pretty much his left hook.

But to answer the actual question i think tua's late power is or was 2nd to none.

 

Interesting, Senya's states say that Bruno, a fighter who was renowned for having poor stamina had a 50% KO ratio past 8 rounds. Better than anybody elses.

 

Yeah, but how active was he in the Douglas fight?

 

Rocky Marciano......

 

Tua often fought at too slow a pace, but he showed late fight power in the fights he did fight at a faster pace.

He hurt Ike in the 11th round of their fight (the most either guy was hurt in that bout), and almost decapitated Izon in the 12th round of their fight.

 

He beat Oleg late too, after landing literally nothing all night.

 

A little of both, I think. Ali/Bonavena was very slow paced, but when Ringo got nailed with that hook, he suddenly realized how spent he was. Ali was a master at making his opponents exert themselves more than they realized, regardless of pace. But he also unleashed a sustained multi round bombardment that was sufficient to drop Wepner for the count in the final round, battered Lyle from ring center to ringpost, to ringpost, to ringpost, all because of a single right, was knocking Frazier backwards at the end in Manila, nearly took out Shavers in the final round, and showed good early round power in the mddle fight with Frazier. He was also rifling hard rights at Chuvalo as their rematch drew to a close.

Ali blatantly chose not to take out Mathis in round 12. (This violates the rules of the sport, but nobody could get away with violations like he could.) Ali also stopped Ellis in the final round at Houston, but I believe he could have done this far more frequently than he chose. Even when he dropped the title to Spinks, he was outslugging Leon and battering him against the ropes for most of the final round. (He was also shoving the smaller and physically weaker Leon back out of the clinches, al la Foreman. There was a real question entering that round about whether or not Leon could hang on until it ended. Ali could have completely dominated Spinks physically in both fights, but chose not to.)

No, Richard Dunn did not have much of a chin, but Ali finished him off with a showboating bolo punch which he very obviously loaded up on to end it with a flourish. He didn't have the sturdiest hands, cursed with protruding knuckles, so he was very deliberate when he really loaded up on a shot.

And Ali came back like gangbusters in the 12th. FOTC, Frazier's performance has overshadowed Ali's somewhat, but Muhammad's power was pretty consistent in that one. He also hammered on Joe in the early rounds at Manila. Ali's late round effectiveness is especially remarkable in that he rarely set it up with a body attack. Besides Bugner, Lewis, Spinks II, and a couple instances with Terrell, I can't picture Muhammad going downstairs much, though he did it more than he's generally credited for, as a diversionary tactic.

Bonecrusher obliterated Bruno with a murderous tenth round barrage, but had done nothing over the previous nine. He repeated this at the end of round 12 with Tyson, but only in the final seconds.

For my money, the best instance of sustained power Louis displayed was in the Godoy rematch. Each step back was accompanied with another pounding jolt from underneath.

Over 12 rounds, Tua may indeed have an edge, but it sure would have been interesting to see him over 15.

 

Obvious answer: Marciano.

 

In my opinion, tyson & marciano