Boxing: Bring on Lewis, says Tua

By PETER JESSUP

Be afraid, Lennox Lewis, be very afraid.

David Tua put the Briton and his two world heavyweight boxing title belts firmly in his sights with yesterday's first-round knockout of workhorse Obed Sullivan.

A former United States Marine, Sullivan had a 35-6-1 record and had never before been stopped before round nine.

A boxing business shaken by mismatches and allegations of corruption will not now be able to stand in the way of Tua's court-scheduled date with Lewis at Madison Square Garden in midNovember.

"People would ridicule Lewis if he runs away now. He'd be the biggest coward," Tua's manager, Kevin Barry, said after the New Zealander's annihilation of Sullivan at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas.

Tua the Terminator went into the ring supremely confident, saying he had put in "a lot of work for two minutes." That under-rated his smashing ability, as the fight was over in 51 seconds.

"I'm more embarrassed than anything," said Sullivan, who had never before finished a fight on his back. "I'm not sure how devastating a puncher he is because he caught me so cold."

There was only one thing bad about 27-year-old Tua's look yesterday - the Don King-like haircut that gave him a few centimetres in height.

Sullivan marched across the ring and into Tua's left hook, a big mistake. He was so shaken he did not see the second punch coming - a cross -and a third, a left uppercut. His eyes were on the heavens but unsighted as he tumbled unprotected into the corner of the ring, lights out.

Tua, at 113kg, 6kg more than his last fight weight, discounted talk that he was over-burdened or unfit, and said he was comfortable with his bulk.

Barry described him as "heavy, but his body was clean" after a 12-week work-up in Auckland and a six-week camp outside Las Vegas in preparation.

Barry was not surprised by the outcome.

"David had thrown more punches in training than ever before," he said. "We knew he had done the work. We set him to land the uppercut while Sullivan was watching for the hook and he did the business."

Before the fight and again after it, the New Zealand pair made broadcasting promoter Showtime an offer to take Evander Holyfield's place in the bout which the former champion had scheduled against John Ruiz for next weekend. Holyfield had been forced to pull out of it because of a rib injury.

Tua said he would be ready to fight next weekend in a rematch with Puerto Rican Ruiz, who he has already beaten in 19s of round one. Nevada state boxing laws would allow that provided he had finished Sullivan off inside four rounds and passed a medical test.

But Showtime did not accept the offer, there being more dollars in waiting for Holyfield.

But Tua yesterday added plenty of zeroes to his worth. All talk in the United States is now of a Tyson-Tua bout.

Tua returns home to Auckland this week, and will repeat a planned training programme as he builds to his next bout on July 29, with the opponent to be named in 10 days. The camp will want to maintain credibility without risking loss of Tua's No 1 ranking.

Yesterday's outcome underlined once and for all that height and size advantage are not going to help the 33-year-old Lewis against the harder, younger, hungrier Tua.

Lewis is the best boxer in the division, no doubt, but jabs will not keep out the heaviest puncher in the division.