Boxing: Must-win Tua shapes up for back-to-basics Moorer

By PETER JESSUP

David Tua and his minders are expecting a different Michael Moorer for their fight in Atlantic City on Sunday.

They know Tua won't be facing the Michael Moorer who held two world titles in the mid-1990s.

But neither will it be the fat and flabby forced-out-of-retirement fighter who climbed into the ring at the beginning of the year.

The champion Moorer quit the ring in 1997; the overweight has-been returned to it in 2000.

But Tua does not expect to be facing that version of Moorer either.

The 34-year-old has returned to his roots, going back to the famous Kronk Gym in Detroit, where he started his career, and seeking out Lennox Lewis' trainer, Emmanuel Steward, as he prepares to fight Tua at the Trump Casino.

Moorer is 43-2-1 with 34 knockouts; Tua is 40-3 with 35 knockouts - and is six years younger.

The winner is pretty well guaranteed the next-big-thing fight ... whatever it might be.

The heavyweight division is in a weird limbo.



Champion Lennox Lewis says he does not regard any of the contenders as up to taking his title, and he will not face any of them for less than US$30 million ($64.6 million).

Tua is ignoring all the hype and is setting himself for yet another must-win bout. He has been running for 45 minutes from 7am and works two hours in the gym each day from 11.30am with shadow sparring, pads work and gloves drills.

At 5pm, he starts two hours of strength and conditioning work with a specialist coach.

His sparring partners have been studying the Moorer style of the mid-90s when the man from Monnasen, Pennsylvania, was at his best.

"His credentials speak for themselves," Tua said.

"I'm fortunate to get this opportunity. Now it's my job to seize the moment and make sure I get it right."

Tua faces the same old problems in the fights. He will give away height and reach, and has to get inside to deliver damage.

"I know I need to stick to the basics, I have to go forward."



Moorer's record includes a win over Ramzi Hassan in 1991 for the IBF light-heavyweight belt.

As a heavyweight he won the WBO belt from Bert Cooper in 1991, and the IBF and WBA belts from Evander Holyfield in 1994.



He was ahead on points over an ageing George Foreman in his first defence seven months after winning those titles when big George slipped through a right cross that flattened him.

He won the IBF title back from Axel Shultz in Germany in 1996, and lost it to Holyfield the next year.

In that fight, he was knocked down five times before the contest was stopped in the fifth round.

After that, he retired, but money trouble that followed woman trouble and legal trouble brought him back to the ring in November 2000.

Since then, he has had four wins from four fights, the most recent in February against ranked fighter Robert Davis, who he beat with a 10th-round knockout.

Tua has the more recent experience against better opposition and has age on his side.

The North American Boxing Federation belt he won from Fres Oquendo in April is on the line for the first time.

Tua's rankings after beating the previously undefeated Oquendo are IBF 3, WBC 7, WBA 10, WBO 4 and, for an independent view, Fight News magazine 9.

All agree that the winner in Atlantic City will get a big fight soon after, because the big money attractions - Tyson, Lewis, Holyfield - are all nearing retirement.

Tua's switch of broadcasters to HBO after years of dealing with Showtime may speed his return to headline act status.

HBO also deals with heavyweight contenders Wladimir Klitschko and John Ruiz.

Evander Holyfield and Hasim Rahman last fought on HBO, and Lennox Lewis is with it.