David Tua retires.....:(

Please keep thread respectful. David Tua gave us many great fights and many great knockouts. Let's just appreciate his career here and no jabs at him please he got enough of those during his boxing days.

 

He started out his career with some amazing KO's . No one can forget the 19 second destruction of John Ruiz in March of 1996. He looked very fast young hungry and fresh. Not to mention in an amazing shape. Here is a picture from the weigh in.










David's knockout of John Ruiz. No let's not call that a knockout because it was more like a 19 second destruction put him on the map as the heavyweight to watch. He was deemed the next Joe Frazier, the next Mike Tyson. He had destructive power in both hands and a chin made of steel. This man seemingly had no flaws but unfortunate for the boxing world and for David Tua himself it soon became clear that training wasn't David's first love and as evidenced by this photo from his next fight in May of 1996.

 

I'd have liked to see a prime Tua vs Arreola.

Tua would have put that cholo in a body bag.

 

Tua is fat.

 

he JUST retired?

 

:l2:

 

A lazy waste. He'd have destroyed wald pussy at his peak though.

 

He could have made a lot more money, even past his prime, many were slavering over the possibility of Tua-Tyson, Tua-Arreola, any number of possible fan-friednly match-ups...but he preferred to stagnate in semi-retirement in NZ, find it hard to believe it was all due to contractual disputes. Anyhoo, it seems he has no money left at this point and works as a cleaner - he always seemed like a nice fella but hard to fee;l sorry for a guy who burns a winning lottery ticket

 

Waste of talent. He never beats Lennox, but if he had stayed in shape, he could have at least made some noise + a lot more money.

I don't blame him for the contractual dispute stuff, his manager basically robbed him blind.

 

eats

 

I still feel sorry for him to be honest. Seems like a nice guy, and had the talent to be WAY more successful.

What were the details of him getting robbed by his promoter?

Hard to believe he has no money left, he must have netted a few mil surely.

I think the main thing is he was just plain lazy, just a lazy guy who didn't like to train much and liked to eat a lot. He is a purebred Samoan.

At his best he was a beast though, like the one that destroyed Ruiz, 1 dimensional or not. Amazingly quick for such a chunky little guy too.

 

Always loved watching Tua fight in the Mid-90's. That was when HBO was good.

 

Apparently, his ex-wife has taken whatever was left, here's the story...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/6632561/Heavyweight-boxer-David-Tua-hangs-up-gloves

 

Tua had two of the biggest legs I've ever seen. He's a poster boy for the saying "power comes from the legs"

 

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Tua KO's Johnny boy in 19 seconds. Great right? Well ya but also no because that fight made Johnny alter his style and study countless tapes of octopus shows on the discovery channel which resulted in many many horrid fights.

 

That and Roberto Duran tapes.

 

An Octopus has ink. John merely had stink.

 

Poor Tua, sounds like he just can't get ahead in life anymore.

Fate must have a solid jab.

 

LOL Good stuff!

 

LOL

That pic doesn't look anything like Tua when he weighed in against Ruiz, btw.

 

Klitschkos timed their run well, avoiding Tua.

 

He was responsible for my favorite John Ruiz fight of all-time due in part to Tua being too wide for The Quiet Man to hug effectively. That last punch made it look like Ruiz's head was hanging on by the skin alone.

 

He was very lean for the Ruiz fight.. boxrec says 201 lbs. Early on in his career, he was very quick and explosive.. if he'd stayed below 220 for his entire career, he would have been something to reckon with. Today that Tua beats everyone w/ the exception of Vitali.

 

Agreed. He was a good fighter back then. It's easy to forget how explosive he used to be in his early career before the flab took hold.

 

Silly people. :nono:

He's only retiring so he can get back in shape and come back better then ever. A leaner and motivated David Tua can still dominate the Heavyweight scene.

Kevin Rooney will be his new trainer. The ghost of Cus D'Amato will teach him to raise pigeons and he promises to eat less Poi.

He also plans to cut tainted Shellfish out of his diet entirely.


ray:

 

"David Tua died today, only 6 days after his retirement, due to complications stemming from obesity-related diabetes. He was 500lbs. Removal via hydraulic lift to St Marys Feast of The Food Church in downtown Auckland, followed by burial at the Grand Canyon, Colorado".

 

:laughing:

 

Also easy to forget that a guy like Tua will always look good against poor opposition. David Izon, Oleg Maskaev etc troubled him a great deal even when he was not fat. Exciting doesn't always equal to victorious

 

Boxrec is lying.

He was 220 somethin for the Ruiz fight.

Tua was fine as long he was in the 224-230 range.

He was naturally a thicker/stockier guy than Tyson, so he could afford a few more pounds of him.