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Tua-Salif
No “bargain PPV”
By
Carlos Guzman
Fightbeat.com CEO
It was supposed to be the return of David Tua,
once dubbed “The Terminator,” who destroyed the current WBA Heavyweight Champion
in 19 seconds. So, I coughed-up $29.99 for Warrior Boxing’s PPV to see Tua
fight 6’6”, 265-pound Cisse Salif, with matchmaker, Johnny Bos, and writer,
Zachary Levin.
The prospect was more exciting than the
fight…grass growing would have been.
I’ll have to look at old tapes to remind me
what all the fuss was about Tua. He won Friday but he put me to sleep, not Salif.
About a month ago, Fightbeat.com interviewed
Tua in Atlantic City. I’m starting to think the bulging muscles were falsies.
Once he took off his robe, he looked like the Pillsbury Dough Boy -- 245 pounds
on a 5’9” hydrant, only eight less than his previous high…and it weighed heavily
on him.
Before the bout started, Bos mentioned that
Salif had a pretty good chance of scoring a 1st round shocker! But if it goes
all 10 Salif might fold if he's pressed. He didn’t say it loud enough for Tua.
Early in the fight, Tua watched and waited
and waited and watched, avoiding Salif’s jab. Salif was content to keep Tua at
the end of it.
Salif followed the Lennox Lewis blue print,
and what Buster Douglas did to Mike Tyson – textbook big man with long arms
against squat man with short arms.
Salif found a home for the uppercut, and
doubled-up the jab. Tua kept trying to slip it, not counter -- like a drill he’d
practiced in front of the mirror
In the middle rounds, Tua took over. Salif
abandoned the jab. In close, Tua landed rib-shattering punches-in-bunches. Salif
was content to absorb, offering little in return: The “sparring partner”
mentality
The ring was the size of a football field,
but they made their office a 10x10 – keeping the bout in the middle, busting
each other up. Every time Salif stepped away, putting Tua at a distance, he
landed powerful punches, stunning the normally iron-chinned New Zealander.
Tua was worse-for-wear by the eighth – his
face swollen. He didn’t look like a prohibitive favorite.
Despite Tua’s brutal body attack, Salif
didn’t budge. Tua’s head shots had little on them. He loaded-up and missed
terribly. Other times, his attack was poor. He was off balance. Salif did
little to capitalize on Tua’s mistakes.
The final round came…thank
God, and Salif
needed something big to win. Tua needed something bigger to remind us
he’s back. Salif thought he was ahead on points and went back to pumping jabs in
Tua’s face.
About a minute left, Tua found Salif’s chin.
Salif was buzzed. Tua went after him. There was some fight left in Salif, but
Tua whaled away, trying to find something to drop the mountain. The one minute
of action got the crowd excited, it was the only caffeine in the fight.
The scores were close, but Tua got a split
nod.
This reporter can’t understand how boxing can
survive charging for fights better suited to free TV. The minimum wage in the
United States is $5.15hr. It takes over six hours of labor to pay for what
promoters call a “Bargain” PPV. It was more agonizing to watch the PPV then the
six hours it took to pay for it.
Rap sensation Ludacriss was on hand,
clapping-away at the one minute of Tua-Salif action. Nothing could have been
more appropriate. It was LUDICROUS, to pay $30 for this rubbish.
****
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