Can David Tua Still Become Champion?

19.05.06 – By Geoffrey Ciani: Last night, as I was aimlessly flipping through the channels on the TV, I happened to stumble across the replay of an old boxing card. It turned out to be a bout from last October between David Tua and Cisse Salif. This certainly tweaked my interest, especially since I hadn’t seen Tua fight in over three years, since his draw with Hasim Rahman in a bout that was clearly won by Rahman, despite the outrageous scorecards filled out by the judges..

Frankly, I never figured that Tua would be much of a factor in the division. Indeed, his time seemed to have expired, especially considering his age and the style he implores. At one time he was a menacing force to be reckoned with, but as time passed, it became clear he couldn’t get into shape and he couldn’t make the stylistic adjustments necessary to give himself a chance to maximize his skills. Despite having a tremendous chin and amazing power, I always figured a journeyman with a decent chin and a good jab would be able to easily outbox the one-dimensional Tua. After all, this was a man who slowly plodded after his opponent and needed to “reset” whenever he was popped with a jab.

Plod, jab, reset….plod, jab, reset….plod, jab, reset… – it was a vicious, never-ending cycle for the poor Tuaman!

In any case, having nothing better to do on a Thursday evening, I cracked open a beer, sat back, and watched as the fight was about to begin. I must say, I was absolutely amazed at what transpired. Tua was actually boxing! And he was boxing well! Surely, this wasn’t the same man who seemed forever doomed to the vicious plod, jab, reset predicament. This was, much to my surprise, a new and improved Tua who sincerely seemed rededicated towards doing the things he needs to do to give himself a chance at success!

I saw things from Tua I hadn’t seen since before his first bout with Rahman, and indeed, there were even times when Tua was doing things I don’t ever recall having seen from him For starters, he was moving his head a lot, which is something he always needed to do if he wanted to be successful, yet for some reason, he rarely did it. Off the bat, this shocked me more than anything, being I’m so accustomed to seeing him plod around and slowly stalking his opponent while producing a stationary target that’s easy to hit. Not only this, but he actually maintained these elusive tactics more or less throughout the entire fight. That in itself would have been enough to impress me, but there was more. Much, much more!

In addition to the impeccable head-movement and elusive movement of his hands, Tua was actually working the body – another thing he had always needed to do to give himself a chance! Inexplicably, he rarely did this, but sure enough, there was Tua, moving his head and unleashing body shots. But it gets better! Tua was throwing combinations! When Tua unleashed a collage of punches that included rights and lefts to both the head and body I was absolutely stunned. In fact, it caused me to glance down at my beer, and I was left wondering exactly how many I had drank before watching the fight. I was convinced I only had one, but then the images of Tua actually boxing and boxing well caused me some doubt. But sure enough, Tua was boxing and he was looking damn good in the process.

Then there was the fact that Tua was actually using his jab and using it effectively. Hell, he was actually doubling and even tripling up on the jab and did so on numerous occasions. I was utterly flabbergasted as this unfolded before my eyes. He was also doing a good job of getting inside his opponent, and hell, even his footwork and ring generalship seemed much improved.

What the hell was going on here?!?!

Needless to say, I was impressed by this performance. The best part was, Salif was no stiff. He was there to fight, and with his abundance of experience as a top notch sparring partner, he clearly knew what he was doing and made a fine showing of himself. Unfortunately for him, he met the new and improved version of the Tuaman! Surely, lesser fighters would have succumbed to the skill exhibited by Cool C Salif, but this wasn’t a lesser fighter – this was the new and improved David Tua!

Much of this credit belongs to Roger Bloodworth. Bloodworth has always been a top-notch trainer (not to mention, underrated). I mean, Bloodworth obviously has been working with Tua, and unlike other trainers he’s had, Bloodworth produced results, as evidenced by the sensation effort put forth by the Tuaman. It kind of reminded me of the way Tyson declined after parting ways with Kevin Rooney. It never occurred to me before, but Tua’s reunion with Bloodworth made me wonder how Tyson would have fared had he ever reunited with Rooney. Some trainers just know how to get the best out of certain fighters, and what Rooney was for Tyson, Bloodworth may very well have been for Tua. Granted, the analogy never occurred to me before last night, but I think it’s a valid one.

The sad part in all of this is where the hell has Tua been? What’s he been doing since October? If he wants to make a last run for glory he needs to remain active! I’m always baffled when older fighters attempt to comeback and refuse to stay active. I mean, George Foreman created the blue print on how you’re supposed to do this, yet so many fighters comeback only to fluctuate in and out of long periods of inactivity.

Watching that fight, I was turned into a believer. Indeed, Tua still has a chance to become champion if he dedicates himself to the mission. He just needs to get more active! That, and he needs to stick with Roger Bloodworth – those two things are key if he wants to give this a go. Assuming he does those things, I see no reason why he can’t seriously resurrect his career.

Like a Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, Tuaman has returned!!