BoxRec

Lets say that both of these men meet early in 1997.

Tua just of his TKO win over David Izon.

Holyfield has just stopped Tyson for the first time and a rematch
is being discussed.


David Tua (26-0) 5'10 223lbs

Vs

Evander Holyfield (33-3) 6'2 217lbs

Who wins ?

The young hard hitting prospect, with his resemblence to a young Tyson
and his power unquestionalble. Yet to face a real challenge.

or

THe rejuvinated Holyfield, for ever a yoyo in his career of upsets and at
being upset. Having beaten Tyson he is back on top, but how will he
do against the power and youth of Tua ?


Here is footage of them sparring before the first Holy-Tyson fight to
help you make your decisions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6RTFBJQdcM



WHo wins and how?

VS

Clear unanimous decision to Holyfield, although Tua has his moments.

Holyfield landing 2-1 on the punchcount would be enough to win this. Never saw Tua as someone who had the chops to beat Holyfield.

Holyfield circa-2007, as opposed to '97, would've been closer to the mark, IMO

Tua had life-&-death with Rahman somewhere around this time. That's laughable, because Rahman is & always was a poor, lower-tier fighter, even in a putrid division. He's not getting anywhere near the fading Holyfield who beat down Tyson & Moorer.

tzyuforever wrote:Holyfield landing 2-1 on the punchcount would be enough to win this. Never saw Tua as someone who had the chops to beat Holyfield.

- Seeing as nearly a dozen fighters have beat Mr. Field, I see Tua of 97 beating down the old man, especially if he gets the ol' man's vitamins.

Tua faced and beat better comp than did Moorer and Bowe who had beaten Mr. Field to that point. Tua is the poster boy of the modern mismanagement and promotion of boxing. He paid heavily for his willingness to take on hard comp as did Byrd who finally had to sign with King to get another shot at the title. Tua got the single shot against Lewis at his very best and that was it.

Tua was busy tearing it up with the young guns, Mr. Field was paying the price for trying to pad out his record and looking horrible against Foreman, Moorer, and Holmes and getting his title lifted twice. Of course, neither Bowe nor Moorer wanted any piece of Tua, or at least Moorer didn't until after he lost his title the 2nd time and had no more left to give.

I guess Tua has to take some responsibility for his choices in management and getting out of shape at times, but a kid from Tonga is not going to have much sophistication in dealing with the sharks that swim the depths of boxing. Had not Ali and Frazier found dedicated management and trainers devoted to their development, their's could've easily been the Tua story or the hundred other talented heavies who've had their careers mismanaged and derailed. It's not like Tua has had drug or criminal problems either.

The Tyson's and Moorer's that Holyfield beat at this time were
far from young and prime.

Holyfield also had his Czyz fight where he did not look superb,
and the Bean fight which was a slow affair.

The key would be Holyfield being in good sustainable shape,
where he works behind the jab and stays at a distance, where
he fights at reach and not sticks on the inside to slam the hook
home.

Tua is not 1996 Tyson and 1996 Tyson is not Tua, contray to
some similarities.

Tua showed that he could go at a good pace when the opponent was
there to be hit. He showed a good chin and that sheer power.

I think this fight really is determined by Holyfield. The spurting,
frail Holyfield of Moorer 1 or Lewis 1 that fails to move and tries to
load up on the inside, will run into a lot of trouble with Tua, who
is for better or worse around this time, very much an explosive
power hitter and predictable in this regard.

I favour Holyfield, but I do not think it is so clear cut. A good match
had it happened, that would have put a pretty good feather in Holy's
hat.

BRR, I agree with what you say about Tua, he seemed to have lost
'focus' after his Lewis fight. I guess the Byrd fight was another chance
that he failed to seize.

Holyfield on points

Holyfield wide UD decision IMO

Holyfield forgot about boxing than Tua ever knew. If he could arguably beat Lennox in their rematch in 99, in 97 Holyfield would've won a decision vs the Tuaman fairly easily.

The more competitive and intriguing fight is a 1998-99 TNT Tyson v Tua matchup. The young Tua vs the Tyson who knocked out Botha, Saverese, Golota. That would have been a very fun fight to watch.

Holyfield wins every round.

dempseyfire wrote:Holyfield forgot about boxing than Tua ever knew. If he could arguably beat Lennox in their rematch in 99, in 97 Holyfield would've won a decision vs the Tuaman fairly easily.

The more competitive and intriguing fight is a 1998-99 TNT Tyson v Tua matchup. The young Tua vs the Tyson who knocked out Botha, Saverese, Golota. That would have been a very fun fight to watch.

That was the dream match that we never got to see sadly.

I read in a magazine celebrating Holyfields's win over Tyson in their first match about the sparing partners Evander used to prepare him for Tyson.

Gary Bell was used quite a bit because he was the same size as Tyson and was asked to simply try to mimic Tyson by rushing in at Holyfield time and time again.

After days of sparing sessions like this, Holyfield's team brought in David Tua.

The magazine (KO, Ring, I am not sure which one) stated that Holyfield easily was able to out maneuver Tua and clearly outboxed him during their sessions.

Very bad matchup for Tua. Almost every decent fighter was able to outbox him, even if for a couple of rounds only (Nicholson, Maskaev, ...) and it is obvious he can't outbox Holy. I do not see much chance for KO either.

Holyfield chin, skills and counters would be too much for Tua. Actually, I think Holy has decent chance of stopping Tua.

zojo, wrote: The magazine (KO, Ring, I am not sure which one) stated that Holyfield easily was able to out maneuver Tua and clearly outboxed him during their sessions.

Sparring means dick. Holy had to walk through fire many a time in his hw career and I am pretty sure he would have had to dig deep to beat Tua as well. Holy had good boxing skills but he would usually brawl anyway, when did he ever stick and move ?

Holyfield is better in every single department than Tua bar one punch power, he'd surely win a wide decision over Tua, possibly every round.

Looking how badly Chris Byrd hurt Tua to the body, and considering how LL said Holyfield was the hardest body puncher he ever faced, i wouldn't be surprised to see Holy do some serious damage to Tua down there. A big right to the ribs in rd 1 from LL seem to put Tua off fighting.