David Tua

David Tua
Data
Birth Name	Mafaufau Tavito Lio Mafaufau Sanerivi Talimatasi
Fight name	Tuaman The Tuaminator
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	Samoan New Zealand
birthday	November 21, 1972
place of birth	Faleatiu
style	Left delivery
size	1.78 m
Range	1.78 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	59
Victories	52
Knockout victories	43
Defeats	5
draw	2
Profile in the BoxRec database

David Tua (born November 21, 1972 in Faleatiu , Samoa ) is a former Samoan-New Zealand heavyweight boxer .

At the age of 10, he moved with his family from Samoa to New Zealand and began his boxing career there. Tua is extremely small for a heavyweight boxer, but of a very compact, beefy stature. Characteristic are his aggressive fighting style with a powerful left hook and a good chin.

amateur

Even as a middleweight Tua was New Zealand junior champion. After his promotion to the heavyweight division, he won the New Zealand championship three times, as well as the Oceanic championships in 1990 and 1991 in this weight class. In 1991 he finished third at the World Championships in Sydney , losing it in the semifinals by knocking out in the first round against Félix Savón , Cuba , the only knockout defeat of his boxing career.

In 1992 he took part in the Olympic Games in Barcelona for New Zealand . After victories over Jose Ortega, Spain (RSC 2nd), and Vojtech Ruckschloss, Czech Republic (RSC 3rd), he met Nigerian David Izon in the semifinals , lost on points (12: 7) and thus secured a bronze medal. He became the first Polynesian to win an Olympic medal.

Professional career

He turned pro in 1992 and boxed mainly in the United States.

In his 23rd professional fight on March 15, 1996 he met the eventual WBA world champion John Ruiz and was able to knock him out in just 19 seconds . As a result, Tua defeated, among others, the unbeaten Darroll Wilson , his semi-final opponent from '92 David Izon and also the later WBC world champion Oleg Maskajew , both prematurely.

On June 7, 1997, however, Tua suffered his first defeat. He lost just on points to Ike Ibeabuchi in a spectacular fight . This fight holds the record for the number of strokes in a heavyweight fight since statistics began. Ibeabuchi hit 975 times and Tua recorded 755 hits.

On December 19, 1998, Tua met the hitherto undefeated Hasim Rahman and won the controversial knockout in the tenth round. Shortly after the signal to end the ninth round, Tua landed a decisive impact hit. Contrary to the rules, however, the referee did not consider the blow to be irregular and Rahman was not given any regeneration time. In the one-minute round break, Rahman could not recover from the impact, so that the fight was stopped by the referee after further clear hits by Tuas in the tenth round. Tua was clearly behind on points at this point.

After four more early victories, Tua rose to challenge world champion Lennox Lewis . In the fight on November 11, 2000, however, he clearly lost on points.

After a knockout against the US Olympic athlete Dannell Nicholson , he fought on August 18, 2001 against Chris Byrd in an elimination match for the possibility of a title fight of the IBF association, but recorded again a point defeat.

In 2002 he won early wins against Fres Oquendo and former world champion Michael Moorer . Finally, on March 29, 2003, Hasim Rahman met again. The fight was relatively even. At the end of the twelfth and final round there was a violent exchange of blows between the two boxers when Tua tried to decide the fight by a knockout in his favor. When the signal for the end of the round sounded, Tua stopped his attacks, but (similar to her first fight in the opposite constellation) was hit by a blow from Rahman and knocked to the ground. This hit after the end of the round was not counted as a knockdown. The fight ended in a draw.

Subsequently, Tua fell out with his management and remained inactive for two years. In 2005 he started a comeback.

comeback

Since his return to the ring, Tua has initially won the following fights: On March 31, 2005 against Talmadge Griffis (TKO, 10th round), on October 21, 2005 against Cisse Salif (on points), on July 26, 2006 against Edward Gutierrez ( KO, 4th round), on November 3, 2006 against Maurice Wheeler (KO, 7th round), on February 22, 2007 against Robert Hawkins (on points), and on August 18, 2007 against Saul Montana by KO (1. Round). On September 7, 2007, he defeated Cerrone Fox by TKO in round two.

More than 2 years passed before the next fight: On October 3rd, 2009 Tua knocked out the New Zealand boxer Shane Cameron in a fight in Hamilton in the 2nd round. Shane Cameron was considered the best boxer in New Zealand, but had no chance and already had to hit the ground twice in the first round and after 20 seconds in the second round the decisive knockout came. On March 31, 2010 Tua Friday defeated Ahunanya in New Zealand after an unanimous decision on points. Much more controversial was the tie against Monte Barrett on July 17th, 2010: In the 12th round, Tua went down for the first time in his entire boxing career. In the rematch on August 13, 2011, Barrett went down on round 12. However, this time Barrett won more rounds on the scoreboard than Tua, who this time lost unanimously on points and thus had to surrender his WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Orential titles, which he had won against Cameron. Between the two Barrett fights, Tua won with a point decision over Demetrice King.

On February 26, 2012, he announced his retirement from professional sport to the New Zealand Herald .

A good 18 months later, however, there was another comeback: A fight against Alexander Ustinov in New Zealand was scheduled for August 31, 2013 . This was postponed on August 14, 2013 to November 16, 2013 because Tua injured his calf muscles.

Tua played his last professional fight on November 16, 2013 against Alexander Ustinow where he lost by unanimous decision.

After losing to Alexander Ustinov, Tua announced his resignation.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10788102
2. ↑ http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=4343&cat=boxer
3. ↑ Tua vs. Ustinov postponed to November 16 to boxen.de from August 14, 2013

Web links

• David Tua in the BoxRec database