08.11.06 – By Scoop Malinowski: Former heavyweight title challenger David Tua scored a decent 7th round KO over Maurice Wheeler by a body shot last Friday in New York City and as a result placed himself amongst contention for a crossroads, “Do or Die,” “Now or Never” match. If successful Tua could be in the hunt for a possible title shot later in 2007.
We asked Tua to comment on certain figures from the current heavyweight landscape:
Wladimir Klitschko: “World champion. Good champion. Certainly another guy I’d love to have an opportunity to challenge. (Impressed by him?) Certainly. He’s a champion. I mean he has some great things that he does best and he does well. And he capitalize on it.”
Nikolay Valuev: “That guy shouldn’t fight. That’s too big, man [smiles]. If I was the commissioner, No, no, I’m gonna have to say, No, We’re gonna ban you from boxing. Go play basketball or football.”
Oleg Maskaev: “I’m happy for the guy. I’m happy for the guy. Now he obviously has an opportunity, you know, to make some money. Proper respect.”
Sergei Liakhovich: “I’ve never seen him fight but I heard he’s got some great moves, good qualities and he had a good win against Brewster. I saw him move in the gym (in Phoenix). That guy can move.”
Lamon Brewster: “Brewster’s a sleeper. He comes to fight. Strong guy. And just when you think that he’s not in there, he hits you.”
Calvin Brock: “Boxing banker. Helluva tap dancer [laughs]. I saw that on HBO. I gotta get some moves like that. You know what? He’s game and he does what he need to do. Obviously, not from a fighter’s point of view, he doesn’t do the big punches or anything like that. But he does what he need to do to win.”
Sultan Ibragimov: “Russian guy? (Yeah.) Honestly, I never heard of him.”
Shannon Briggs: “Puncher’s chance. And he’s paid his dues. He’s stayed busy. Like I said, he stayed in there, he did what he had to do, to get what he believed, what he need to do. And now it’s there for him. We’ll see what happens. I’m happy for him.”
Hasim Rahman: “Good fighter, good boxer and puncher. I don’t know. One thing you can never take away from him is he was a world champion. And didn’t he knock out Lennox Lewis [smiles].?”
When asked who he thought was the best of the best, Tua wasn’t sure enough to name one. But credited his peers. “The way I look at the heavyweight division, it’s exciting.”