Boxing: Tua fires from the lip in Vegas

By PETER JESSUP

The man you really would not want to be right now is boxer Obed Sullivan as New Zealand heavyweight David Tua lines him up for a spectacular knockout.

Tua is walking the walk and talking the talk, third-person Ali-style, as he revs the American public up for his world title shot.

Sullivan is not a fat man on holiday. The fight will, hopefully, be the one that will finally give Tua the respect and credibility he desires.

Tua cornered plenty of interest in Las Vegas yesterday for the stare-out with his opponent for Sunday's fight. He would have been the lead sports story were it not for Evander Holyfield's announcement that he was pulling out of the weekend's fight with WBO No 1 contender John Ruiz because of injury.

Sullivan and Tua eyeballed each other at the fight venue, the MGM Grand. The menace Sullivan saw in Tua's eyes also menaced The Strip - three huge posters of the Aucklander adorn the hotel-casino's huge advertising tower.

Sullivan's leg began to twitch. The tremble reached earthquake proportions and the 31-year-old eventually had to stand and walk away from the meet-the-press table to bring it under control.

"I saw a lot of fear in his eyes," Tua said afterwards. "I don't say that with disrespect. But David Tua looks in someone's eyes and he can tell what they're about, and he was scared."

Manager Kevin Barry's take on it was similar and he was not at all surprised at Sullivan's nervous reaction.

"Dave's stare is one of his advantages. When he goes to the middle of the ring and puts it on his opponent I get scared sitting ringside, even when I know he's not going to hit me."

Tua is treating the bout as if it were his heavyweight title shot.

"People keep talking to me about November [his date with Lennox Lewis] but this is the fight I have to win. David Tua don't look past anyone. He [Sullivan] is a soldier, he ain't gonna lie down for anyone."

It is unlikely to be a round-one knockout. Sullivan, aged 31, with a 35-6-1 record, including 25 knockouts, sits just outside the top 10 of most of the world boxing authority rankings.

He went 10 rounds with Lewis' last opponent, Michael Grant, last year. In 2000 he has had two fights, most recently a points loss to Ukrainian Vitali Klitscho, who is the WBO's No 1 contender. Earlier, he knocked out fellow-American Jeff Lally, who Tua beat in a round-two KO in 1997.

Sullivan is 1.89m to Tua's 1.76 and around 10lb heavier than the Aucklander's 242. But the Tua camp have no worries.

"He's never been hit as hard as he'll be hit by David," Barry said. "I looked at the guy and felt sorry for him because David's going to break him in two."

There is plenty of talking up the fight going on as Barry seeks to build interest. He wants to capture the imagination of the American public the way Mike Tyson did at his peak.

Money is the motivation. The Lewis-Grant fight drew around 300,000 pay-to-view connections at $US40 each for a cool $12m, with the boxers taking a cut. Tyson's least-watched fight has cornered more than twice that.

"We want to create a star. David wants to be The Man and he wants to be treated like The Man.

"He's blossomed under [new promoters] America Presents," Barry said.

Yesterday he was the star for television channels, cable sports ESPN, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and Las Vegas radio.

Tua said: "I'm getting the respect and credibility I feel I've worked for."