Boxing: Tua refuses to let hype go to head

The razzmatazz before the title fight between David Tua and Lennox Lewis is building, as PETER JESSUP reports.


America is about to be introduced to David Tua.

The South Auckland heavyweight boxer has the chance to become one of the world's biggest sporting stars and will be an instant household name in the United States, home of the heavyweights, if he can flatten Lennox Lewis.

Already the media are clamouring to meet the man who many Americans already regard as one of their own because he is the one they believe will KO Lewis and bring the world heavyweight title back to what they regard as its rightful home.

Tua and Lewis will meet for the first time mid-September as they join up for a promotional tour around the United States, with press conferences in New York, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as both camps try to build up the fight payday by exciting interest in pay-per-view television. The venue for the fight is expected to have been determined by then.

The homely, accommodating Tua has taken to this job brilliantly in recent months and after a two-week holiday in his native Samoa will need all his strength and energy to work the circuit the way his backers expect.

He has come a long way from the shy kid who went to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, when English was then his second language, and his discomfort in front of cameras was obvious.

The HBO broadcast network plans to take full advantage of Tua's Ali-like presence in coming weeks because Lewis is regarded by American fight fans as a cold fish, a scared fighter.

American fight promoter Don King once called the hulking Lewis "the world's biggest invisible man."

Lewis may have the better skills, but he looks cautious and the American psyche prefers a slugger, a ghetto-bred brawler, someone with awesome power who looks as if he is only just in control. That is why they like Tyson. That is why they will love Tua.

A recent survey of fight fans in the United States threw up Evander Holyfield versus Tyson as the most-preferred match-up. That was before Holyfield's bout last weekend against WBA champion John Ruiz.

Puerto Rican Ruiz, who was knocked out by Tua in 19 seconds, was judged winner over an ageing and slowing Holyfield by nearly everyone except the judges. Ruiz has not been off his feet since the Tua fight in 1997, and has not lost since then.

If Tua beats IBF and WBC champion Lewis, the obvious next bout is a reunification match with Holyfield to again bring the three belts together. But after Ruiz showed Holyfield up, you can bet the fight on people's lips now is Tua-Tyson. Already the America Presents promoters in Tua's corner are musing over that. That fight could be worth $US20m to Tua.

Tua and manager Kevin Barry, though, are focused solely on the fight, probably in Las Vegas, on November 11. Tua has been in Samoa, relaxing after 26 weeks of conditioning work and his last two brutal knockouts, visiting family, gathering Samoan strength from his roots.

He will go into camp at the Prince Ranch outside Vegas for sparring work with regular opponent Greg Pickrom, who has worked with Tua for years and is chosen because he is roughly Lewis' height, has fast hands, and has sparred Lewis, Holyfield, Andrew Golota and others.

Tua is the one already being compared to Tyson in power terms, by everyone including Tyson. He is the one referred to as having an excitement factor. When he looks at the television cameras and says he wants to knock Lennox Lewis' block, off he means it.

"David only says what he believes," Barry said. "He says exactly what he feels and thinks. He'll relish being on the world stage - it's what he's dreamed of and worked for. He won't be buried by the media."

Unlike almost everyone else in the business, Tua does not have four stretch limos full of hangers-on following him around town, telling him how mean and bad and what a good boxer he is. It is still him and Barry, the way it has been for years.

They used to stay at Barry's home in Green Bay, in Auckland, with Barry's wife, Tanya, making individual meals for the boxer and packaging them in bite-size boxes.

Barry's partner, Martin Pugh, handles the business, including the title fight negotiations, manager Glen Moore looks after all other details.

A chef has been added to ensure he gets the right nutrition. When in the United States now, he is guarded by off-duty members of the Las Vegas police Swat team. But that is it.

"We don't require [an entourage]. We've never been into that, the lines of false praise and bullshit. Dave would see through that in a second. There's no doubt in out camp about what's going to happen. We've never doubted each other," Barry said.

The Tua camp is aiming to enjoy the build-up to contest. Tua has been oblivious to the fight purse and venue negotiations as he relaxed in Samoa, oblivious also to clamouring from media seeking interviews that will identify the new contender to a public sceptical of johnny-come-latelys and stumblebums.

The next fight for the team is securing a referee they are happy with, who will step in to separate the boxers and let Tua swing if Lewis holds, as Barry predicts.

Lewis was stopped by Oliver McCall in 1994, and nothing he has done since suggests he will take a punch like Tua proved he can when he went toe-to-toe with the others regarded as eventual titleholders, Nigerian Ike Ibeabuchi or Hasim Rahman, on his way up.

But Barry does not think Lewis will stand and trade blows. His trainer, Emmanuel Steward, is regarded as one of the most astute in the business.

"He'll respect Dave's power, he'll be cautious. He'll try and lie his big body all over Dave, he'll hold Dave behind the head and that's why we want a ref who is not scared to get them apart, because I tell you one thing for sure, Dave won't be holding.

"We've seen the best of Lennox Lewis already and we've seen the best of Holyfield and of Tyson. We haven't seen the best of David Tua yet. I can promise Lennox Lewis a frightening experience."