The Tragedy of David Tua

[Onamastus]

David Tua, one of the most exciting heavies of modern times, got 1 title shot in his long career, a mandatory against Lennox Lewis on top form.

And yet look at the opportunities his victims enjoyed:

John Ruiz, KOd in 1 by Tua: 12 world title fights
Oleg Maskaev, KOd in 11 by Tua: 3 world title fights
Hasim Rahman, KOd in 10 by Tua: 8 world title fights
Obed Sullivan, KOd in 1 by Tua: 1 world title fight
Fres Oquendo, KOd in 9 by Tua: 3 world title fights (plus 1 pending!)

Again, David Tua: 1 title fight, against Lewis. His victims: 27 title fights. 27! And counting!

Who's to blame here? His management? The sanctioning bodies? His punch power? All of boxing!?

[mcrow42]

Most of his era of boxing wasn't very good as far as HWTs go. Had he gotten any other title shot besides Lennox Lewis he my have been a champ himself.

If I were to make a comparison to an MMA fighter it would be Mark Hunt. Massive power, maybe not the most technical fighter but could put anyone down at any given momement.

[Bodyshot3]

Mate.....a fair few of the veteran posters might not opt to comment.
Tua and Sanders have some huge threads devoted to them and their careers have been forensically examined

But you raise an interesting one nonetheless.
Other guys of this era got a few bites at the crown....and on balance, they were less-deserving than David.

I guess his marketability and career-cadence was an issue.

He really did not go well against Lewis....

.....it was a bit of stinker from DT and the fact the fight was meant to be a potentially good bash-up because David had a decent puncher's chance and Lennox could get dropped was bad news for DT.

The loss to Chris Byrd about 9 months later did not help a whole lot either.

[DrDuke]

Rahman made a name to himself by upsetting Lewis. Tua had a chance to do it as well. Although Lewis was prepared for Tua, whom he took seriously, while he was looking through Rahman, who had been supposed to be a warm-up before Tyson.

John Ruiz was backed up by Don King, who was tracking "The Hugging Man" pretty well, awarding him with shots, referees and judges.

It seems, that Tua wasn't managed properly. However, he could be more active after the Rahman draw. There he had more chances of becoming a champion with the likes of Brewster, Liakhovich, Briggs and Ibragimov possessing belts.

[Noxy]

Did Tua not go awol for a while with contractual issues.

[mcrow42]

I don't recall the reason but after the second Rahman fight he took two years off. May have been contracts, but don't remember.

[gilgamesh]

I don't know if I'd use the word tragic, but I suppose he deserved a shot at some of the Alphabet belts more.

Regardless though.

Even though Ruiz won the WBA Title and made quite a few defenses, and Tua never won one, I'd still rank Tua ahead of Ruiz as a fighter.

[gilgamesh]

I don't recall the reason but after the second Rahman fight he took two years off. May have been contracts, but don't remember.

He was lucky to have gotten a draw there. One of the Fattest versions of Rahman I've ever seen beat him.

[mcrow42]

Yeah, the thing about Tua is he could be outboxed pretty easily. Even fat Rahman could outbox Tua.

[DrDuke]

I don't know if I'd use the word tragic, but I suppose he deserved a shot at some of the Alphabet belts more.

Regardless though.

Even though Ruiz won the WBA Title and made quite a few defenses, and Tua never won one, I'd still rank Tua ahead of Ruiz as a fighter.

That proves the worth of them belts. Ruiz absolutely sucked, everyone know it, had he belts or not.

[Steveh583]

I don't know if I'd use the word tragic, but I suppose he deserved a shot at some of the Alphabet belts more.

Regardless though.

Even though Ruiz won the WBA Title and made quite a few defenses, and Tua never won one, I'd still rank Tua ahead of Ruiz as a fighter.

That proves the worth of them belts. Ruiz absolutely sucked, everyone know it, had he belts or not.

he wasnt uneffective tho. he gave a lot of decent fighters trouble with his awful to watch style.

[gilgamesh]

I don't know if I'd use the word tragic, but I suppose he deserved a shot at some of the Alphabet belts more.

Regardless though.

Even though Ruiz won the WBA Title and made quite a few defenses, and Tua never won one, I'd still rank Tua ahead of Ruiz as a fighter.

That proves the worth of them belts. Ruiz absolutely sucked, everyone know it, had he belts or not.

he wasnt uneffective tho. he gave a lot of decent fighters trouble with his awful to watch style.

I mean he won fights against good fighters. Sometimes legitimately. Albeit in a very ugly, hard to watch fashion. So I'd say he was effective in his way, just goddamn dreadful to watch.

[DrDuke]

Ruiz won decent fighters in hugging other than in boxing. He should have been just DQed on numerous occasions.

[Onetimeonly]

Tua could have grabbed a paper title at the right time, but he wasn't a top level fighter. No tragedy, just a solid fighter.

[Jaywheel]

Rahman, Maskaev and Ruiz became champs. Guarantees you at least 1 defense and possibly a rematch when you lose the belt.You also become a Former champ which will help selling fights against younger champs when you are past it.

And how is Obed Sullivan having one tiltle shot to Tua's a "tragedy"?

[Petu v.d. Pajm]

David Tua, one of the most exciting heavies of modern times, got 1 title shot in his long career, a mandatory against Lennox Lewis on top form.

And yet look at the opportunities his victims enjoyed:

John Ruiz, KOd in 1 by Tua: 12 world title fights
Oleg Maskaev, KOd in 11 by Tua: 3 world title fights
Hasim Rahman, KOd in 10 by Tua: 8 world title fights
Obed Sullivan, KOd in 1 by Tua: 1 world title fight
Fres Oquendo, KOd in 9 by Tua: 3 world title fights (plus 1 pending!)

Again, David Tua: 1 title fight, against Lewis. His victims: 27 title fights. 27! And counting!

Who's to blame here? His management? The sanctioning bodies? His punch power? All of boxing!?

Either you shouldn't list Obed who didn't receive any world title opportunity after Tua beat him or you should add Michael Moorer and his 6 world title fights into the list. Either - or.

IMO, Obed & Moorer do not belong - what a fighter has done before doesn't really matter. Only the opportunites received afterwards. I would actually also discount Rahman's title fights after he redeemed himself against Tua via rematch draw.

That would drop the total numbers to 21 title fights. Still a significant amount.

[Onetimeonly]

Rahman, Maskaev and Ruiz became champs. Guarantees you at least 1 defense and possibly a rematch when you lose the belt.You also become a Former champ which will help selling fights against younger champs when you are past it.

And how is Obed Sullivan having one tiltle shot to Tua's a "tragedy"?

Rahman toyed with tua.

[Onamastus]

David Tua, one of the most exciting heavies of modern times, got 1 title shot in his long career, a mandatory against Lennox Lewis on top form.

And yet look at the opportunities his victims enjoyed:

John Ruiz, KOd in 1 by Tua: 12 world title fights
Oleg Maskaev, KOd in 11 by Tua: 3 world title fights
Hasim Rahman, KOd in 10 by Tua: 8 world title fights
Obed Sullivan, KOd in 1 by Tua: 1 world title fight
Fres Oquendo, KOd in 9 by Tua: 3 world title fights (plus 1 pending!)

Again, David Tua: 1 title fight, against Lewis. His victims: 27 title fights. 27! And counting!

Who's to blame here? His management? The sanctioning bodies? His punch power? All of boxing!?

Either you shouldn't list Obed who didn't receive any world title opportunity after Tua beat him or you should add Michael Moorer and his 6 world title fights into the list. Either - or.

IMO, Obed & Moorer do not belong - what a fighter has done before doesn't really matter. Only the opportunites received afterwards. I would actually also discount Rahman's title fights after he redeemed himself against Tua via rematch draw.

That would drop the total numbers to 21 title fights. Still a significant amount.

Oh I got the order wrong, Sullivan was coming off his title shot, rather than coming up to it; Moorer I knew had his title run years before his Tua debacle.

Disagree that Rahman's subsequent draw discounts title fights that came after. The point is men who Tua KOd got tons of title shots between them.

[Ambling Alp II]

He wasn't great, but he did get hosed. Easily could have got some paper title belt. It is amazing that he never got a shot at one of those. John Ruiz for example, got break after break.
Would be interesting to know how much $ he made in his career compared to some of these guys in his era that he beat that got all those chances. He may actually have done financially better than some of them.
I think this is where we have to use common sense and just dismiss these belts. Many of us gave up on them long ago, but some people still seem to think they mean something.