David Tua: Heavyweight Samoan Slugger

"The Tuaman" was born on November 21, 1972 in Western Samoa, but his family moved to New Zealand when Tua was still just a boy. As an amateur boxer he had a good career. In 1991 he fought a the World Amateur Championships, which were held next door in Australia for that tournament. He won a Bronze there, being defeated in the Semi-Finals by Cuba's legendary champion Felix Savon. He then went to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where he also earned a Bronze. This time he was eliminated in the Semi-Finals by future rival David Izon of Nigeria.

Tua stood 5'10" with a 70" reach, and when he was fit he weighed in between 225 and 230 lbs. That made him a short, squat fighter with legs like tree trunks. He was a durable, tough character who brought into his fight game the single most devastating left hook wielded by any fighter in modern times. However, in an era dominated by 6'3" or taller fighters, Tua was always lacking in reach when he got into the ring. A short heavyweight has to work hard at walking down opponents, forcing the action, and getting inside to wreak havoc on them. For the first half of his career, Tua was one of the best conditioned athletes in the game and could work tirelessly at creating opportunities to land his power.

He turned pro in December 1992, and built his career where the money way: the United States. He established a reputation as a rising, formidable puncher, and was invited to participate in HBO's 1996 series highlighting new heavyweights. In March 1996 he was matched against John Ruiz, who would later go on to be a WBA title holder. The undefeated Tua utterly crushed Ruiz with a succession of vicious left hooks, knocking him out in 30 seconds flat.

In September, Tua fought Darroll "Doin' Damage" Wilson of Philadelphia on HBO. Wilson would grow into a fringe contender and popular fixture on the USA Network's Tuesday Night Fights program. Tua's left hook again settled matters by flattening Wilson at the end of the 1st Round. December 1996 brought an Olympic rematch between Tua and David Izon. This fight did not end so quickly, and was a hard fought grudge match. Going into the 12th Round, Tua was leading on two scorecards by 1 point, and by 3 points on the third. He then hurt Izon with his patented hook, followed up with a powerful assault, and caused Izon to collapse into a sitting position on the ropes. Izon got up, but he was clearly finished and the referee stopped the fight. Tua got revenge over his Olympic nemesis by TKO in the 12th.

Furthering the path of destruction Tua was carving through the ranks of his fellow up-and-coming heavyweights, he fought future WBC title holder Oleg Maskaev in April 1997 on ABC. Tua was unfocused and unthreatened, and allowed Maskaev to control this fight by sticking the jab and using lateral, retrograde movement to keep Tua just one step too far away. Aware that he might be losing the fight (he was on two scorecards), Tua woke up and exploded onto Maskaev, knocking him out in the 11th.

War in a Phone Booth

In May 1997, Tua got in the ring with an unknown 16-0 fighter named Ike Ibeabuchi for HBO's Boxing After Dark. In Ibeabuchi, the unstoppable force finally met an immovable object. The two gladiators fought a hard-punching battle at such a furious pace that calling it a war is an act of understatement. Ibeabuchi staked his fight plan on being able to out-work the Tuaman, and the result was the two men threw 1,730 punches inside of 12 Rounds. It exceeded even the destruction wrought in the famed Thrilla in Manila, Ali vs. Frazier III, and that fight lasted for 15 Rounds! Tua's valiant effort, which would have felled virtually any other fighter on the planet that night, was not enough against Ibeabuchi. He lost the Unanimous Decision, but his supreme effort guaranteed his stock remained high.

Following the loss to Ibeabuchi, Tua went to the hospital and had a long-postponed procedure to remove bone chips from his left elbow. What might have happened if Tua had gotten the surgery earlier can only be speculated on, but the slugger was soon back in the ring and on the road to a title challenge.

December 1999 brought Tua back to HBO, this time against the Baltimore knucklehead, Hasim Rahman. "The Rock" was 29-0, and the bout was an eliminator to determine the IBF's #1 contender. Rahman dominated Tua by sticking the jab, moving well, and putting a hard right down the pike every so often, all behind his 12" reach advantage. However, all that was at the cost that Rahman's body could not pay. Prior to the Tua fight, he was known principally as being very good at the "1-2-clutch" school of heavyweight boxing, creating slow paced fights. Clutching onto Tua was like asking to get hammered, and so while Rahman was out-boxing Tua, he was doing so only by working harder than he had ever worked before in a fight, and all this from a man who was known to fade in the late rounds even when he fought at his own pace.

At the end of the 9th Round, Tua saw an opportunity and caught Rahman with a hard, fast left hook. It was fired before the bell rang and landed right after. He followed it with a second hook on the spot. Rahman's people have maintained ever since that Tua should have been disqualified, which is ridiculous. Deducting a point might have been fair, and Rahman probably should have gotten the five minutes allowed before being made to continue. However, Tua's cornerman, the infamous Lou Duva, got up and was immediately arguing with the referee. He accomplished his aim: the referee was too confused to think about giving Rahman any extra time. He came out in the 10th and was utterly crushed by Tua.

Losing It

David Tua weighed 224.5 lbs for the Rahman fight. He would never be so lean again. For whatever reason, he lost his desire to train himself into the peak condition that had contributed so much to his formidable prowess, and put on a little blubber. By his June 2006 bout with fringe contender Obed Sullivan, he weighed 253 lbs. He knocked Sullivan out in the 1st, but his lack of attention to his conditioning would show when he finally challenged for the World Heavyweight Title.

In November 2000, Tua fought the reigning champion Lennox Lewis. Lewis easily out-boxed and roughed up Tua, using his height, reach, and talents to put on a vastly superior display of the same stratagem used by Maskaev and Rahman. Even the Tua that fought Ibeabuchi would have been hard-pressed to reach Lewis with his left hook. The 245 lbs version wasn't up to it, and dropped a huge points loss.

The Comebacks

Tua started his comeback by knocking out fringe contender Dannell Nicholson. He then met slickster Chris Byrd in 2001, and found himself easily out-boxed as he plodded around the ring after the fast defensive wizard.

In his next comeback, Tua met undefeated fringe contender and speedster Fres Oquendo. Tua found him and knocked him out in the 9th. Then he crushed a very faded Michael Moorer in one round.

That led to a 2003 rematch with Hasim Rahman, once again to decide who the #1 contender for the IBF title would be. Rahman improved on his past performance, moving yet more and always to the left, away from Tua's power. His back rarely touched the ropes during the fight. Most observers thought Tua lost this important crossroads fight, but it was ruled a Draw.

After the Rahman fight, Tua took two years off to settle business problems with his management. When he returned to boxing, he found his career was stymied. The center of gravity shifted to the Klitschko brothers, neither of who had very much interest in fighting the powerful Samoan. He fought several times between 2005 and 2007, won all the fights, and never got traction back into his career.

At 36, David Tua is still active and looking for a title shot. In one of the great ironies of modern boxing, so many of the opponents he destroyed in the mid-1990s went on to win the heavyweight crown, something he has yet to do. His record stands at 49-3-1 with 42 KOs.

Sources: boxrec.com; live fight footage; HBO.com; The Ring