17.05.05 – By Joseph Romanos: “I can never win that,” says Kevin Barry. “I spent years building up David Tua to icon status.” I felt for Kevin Barry after he and Martin Pugh won their High Court battle against boxer David Tua. Justice Hugh Williams ruled that the $7.5 million property at Pakiri, north of Auckland, was bought by Tuaman Inc for all the company’s principals, not just for Tua. He agreed with Barry and Pugh that Tua owns half the property and the managers a quarter each.
Such is the animosity between the camps that further court action seems inevitable. Everything seems in dispute, including management contracts and distribution of earnings, as well as the Pakiri property ownership.
Yet Tua has prospered since Barry became his manager in 1992. Without Barry, Tua would never have become a leading boxer and earned a shot at the world heavyweight title, or made millions of dollars. He was an Auckland hotel kitchen-hand in 1992.
Barry feels that, in the New Zealand public’s eyes, their rift has become a popularity contest. “I can never win that,” he says. “I spent years building up David Tua to icon status. I was so successful that it’s biting me now. Plus, I’m suffering because of the traditional caricature of the boxing manager ripping off the poor boxer.”
Barry did magnificently with Tua, considering what he had to work with. Let’s not forget: Tua was too short for a heavyweight, had limited skills and a questionable work ethic – he would gorge himself between fights, meaning training camps were devoted to reducing weight, rather than improving -technique.
Barry guided Tua to a No 1 challenger ranking, impressive for a first-time manager. In addition, he took over training Tua after the disappointing world title challenge against Lennox Lewis and his loss to Chris Byrd.
Barry seems to suffer from his Martin Pugh connection. Whereas Barry seems credible, Pugh didn’t come out of the court proceedings well, especially the news that financial statements were not filed when they should have been.
When I questioned Barry’s continued association with Pugh, he said: “Think about it. Why would I risk my credibility and my family’s future over Martin Pugh, if he were a far from reliable witness or was not telling the truth? I like Martin, I trust Martin. But I would not put Martin before my credibility or my family, as this is all I have left. I did this with David and have lost everything.”
Barry is right when he talks of boxers being ripped off by managers and hangers-on. Champions like Jack Dempsey and Mike Tyson lost millions to unscrupulous managers. Others, including Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, carried huge entourages, people who disappeared when the money stopped rolling in.
Logic says that it’s the boxer who’s risking his health by hopping into the ring, so the boxer should reap the rewards. Unfortunately, it hasn’t often been like that in boxing.
In the Tua case, the boxer got 85 percent, his managers the rest. In view of the work done by Barry, that seems an amazingly fair split.
Tua claims that he is broke and some of the New Zealand media have swallowed that line. He lives in a luxury apartment, owns half of a multi-million dollar property and drives a car worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oh, to be that broke!