Hype is temporary, class is permanent
In his series on Kiwis to have had world title fights, Tony Smith looks back to when David Tua took on a genuinely great heavyweight.
David Tua’s rumble with Lennox Lewis in 2000 in Las Vegas was the real deal, simply because of Lewis’ stature as arguably the last, truly great world heavyweight champion,.
Tua - unlike Joseph Parker today - didn’t have a world title but the Samoan New Zealander was the No 1 ranked WBC and IBF challenger. He’d lost just one of his 38 fights by 2000 - and had won most of them by knockouts.
Tua was reputed to be - next to Iron Mike Tyson - the most powerful puncher of his era.
The Tuamanator also talked a big game, claiming in the leadup Lewis was a ‘‘lazy fighter, who got tired after two or three rounds’’. ‘‘He gets vulnerable. His chin is very suspect.’’
Trouble is, Tua couldn’t land a decent shot to Lewis’ jaw as he came unstuck against a class act.
Lewis, a former Olympic Games gold medallist, already held the WBC, IBF and IBO titles. His two previous defences had ended in two rounds yet the Kiwi challenger - cut for the first time in his career - went the 12-round distance.
Lewis, however, controlled the fight from go to whoa, winning a unanimous points decision.
Numbers-wise, there were 10,809 people present and a gross gate of
$6.5 million and 420,000 pay-per-views (Joshua had 880,000 when he beat Wladimir Klitschko last April).
But Lewis still earned $US8.5 million (worth $US12.1 million today) and Team Tua trousered
$US3.5 million ($NZ8.8 million) worth around $US5 million ($6.8 million) today.
‘‘There are no excuses. I tried but today wasn’t my day,’’ said Tua, who hailed Lewis as a true world champion.
Lewis wasn’t as complimentary. ‘‘You can say what you want before the fight. All his corner were talking big, but it’s a different story when you get in the ring.
‘‘If you come to war, you have to bring your whole arsenal, not just a left hook and a bad haircut.’’
Trainer Kevin Barry - Joseph Parker’s handler - claimed Tua’s tepid display was a result of the fighter being ‘‘burnt-out’’ following intense American media pressure.
‘‘If the David Tua I know had turned up in the ring I believe we would have won the fight,’’ he insisted on Tua’s return home.
The performance, as much as the result, was a massive letdown, for a New Zealand sporting public force-fed a steady stream of hype, hope and hubris from the Tua camp.
The international press were merciless.
‘‘For a camp so bullish before
the bell, Tua’s standard-bearers sat as if schoolboys chastened by a headmaster at the end,’’ the Daily Express wrote.
The Sunday Times said Lewis, operating with the patience and precision of a one-man bomb disposal squad, easily defused the threat of Tua’s hitting power and proceeded almost sedately to a landslide points win.
‘‘It was a bursting of the South Sea bubble as all the promises of decisive violence from Tua gave way to a performance that degenerated rapidly during the 12 rounds into a resigned acceptance of the champion’s superiority.’’
Still, 1000 people turned up at Auckland Airport to welcome Tua home and a tickertape parade was held in Mangere, his home turf.
Tua, now 45, had his last fight in 2013.
He finished his career with a highly respectable record of 52 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws.