Boxing: Tua's eyes on the prize

By PETER JESSUP

David Tua's rematch with Hasim Rahman at the end of the month has taken on new significance after the demolition of "great white hope" Wladimir Klitschko.

Tua's management is absolutely convinced he will win at the Spectrum First Union stadium in Philadelphia on March 30 and had looked at Klitschko as a next option.

But that changed when the Ukrainian was KO'd by 37-year-old South African Corrie Sanders in Germany a fortnight ago.

Sanders' contract for that fight gave Klitschko a return option should he lose, but also allowed Sanders one other contest before a rematch. Tua's manager, Kevin Barry, would like to take up that slot. Evander Holyfield is another option.

Tua is enjoying a resurgence in the rankings and among the critics in the United States.

Boxing bible The Ring magazine and the USA Today newspaper rate him the world's third-best heavyweight after Lennox Lewis and Chris Byrd, two of the three men to have beaten him, the other being Ike Ibeabuchi.

But while Lewis waits for a match-up he can win at huge financial return and everyone avoids the awkward southpaw Byrd, Tua is quietly working his way back into a ranking where he will be mandatory challenger.

Barry has been engaging in a war of words with Rahman, who sounds increasingly loose mentally.

Rahman sacked his trainer, Bouie Fisher, last week and replaced him with Buddy McGirt. But McGirt is contracted to Main Events, which does not cohabit happily with Rahman's promoter, Don King.

"He's sacked his trainer before each of his last three fights," Barry said. "It's a way for him to put the blame on everyone else. That's how he handles the pressure."

Rahman has made no bones that the rematch is "personal" after Tua knocked him out in round 10 of their first contest in December 1998.

The Philadelphia fighter claimed Tua hit him when he had dropped his guard after the bell rang to end round nine and that he didn't recover.

"The man blatantly fouled me and then wouldn't give me a rematch," Rahman said in a website interview this week, "so this is personal."

Of his change of trainer, he commented "Even if I had no trainer I could whip this boy. The fat midget is going to get hurt."

Tua refused to respond when the comments were put to him.

There was nothing personal in it, he says - "to me it's just business."

Rahman says he has studied the 1998 fight, in which he was ahead on points until he was knocked out, and has picked up avenues to pursue this time.

"I did everything right the first time - I just have to duplicate it."

By contrast, Barry said he and Tua had watched the 1998 video only twice. Both men had different styles now. Rahman would stand and fight rather than dance because he was older.

They had watched his recent bouts, losses to Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and would take him apart through the weaknesses in his fight plan.

"We've trained for the very best Rahman, but I don't know if that's the Rahman we'll see in the ring," Barry said. "Mentally he has a lot of self-doubt. He's been on the canvas twice recently, and now he's facing the heaviest hitter in the division and a guy who has proved he can take a punch too. His career will be in tatters if he loses."

Barry said the taunts against Tua were Rahman's way of psyching himself up. But the "verbal onslaught" was distracting his focus.

Tua is a free agent after this fight. Don King is still trying desperately to sign him. Big money beckons if the win is secured.