Boxing: Tua’s victory earns split decision

A pensive David Tua on his way to the ring to fight Talmadge Griffis. Picture / Dean Purcell

The boxing world's opinion of David Tua's comeback fight is split 60-40 against whether the 10-round TKO of Talmadge Griffis was a good start.

There is concern Tua has lost his devastating power, looked too rusty to recover, was overweight, slow and off-balance, failed to get inside the taller man's reach and fought only in patches in Thursday night's fight at Waitakere's Trusts Stadium.

Some pointedly noted that all are problems of the past repeated. And one Auckland boxing official who didn't want to be named wondered whether Tua had lost his nerve as long ago as 2001 when he stepped back from an opportunity to fight for a world title.

"Who does that?" he said. "You have to question how much he wants to go on - only David knows that. He should have put this guy down in two [rounds]. You have to wonder how much he's fighting for David Tua and how much for the people around him."

Promoter Cedric Kushner will be wondering where to from here. He said before the bout that other fighters were still wary of Tua's power and he had had difficulty getting an acceptor for Thursday's contest.

Kushner wants Tua back in the ring in 90 days, and that's the best way for him to go. He also clearly needs a coach to help him remove ring rust evident against Griffis and to instil discipline in diet and fitness training. Tua will be better conditioned once in the US away from the pressures of Auckland.

NZ Professional Boxing Association vice-president Steve Marshall was "100 per cent certain he's capable of getting back there [top 10]. There was too much expectation on him last night. If he takes the guy out in one round his opponent is a bum; if it goes 10 rounds Tua is hopeless. So he couldn't win. There was certainly ring rust. He has to work on his timing to get back. Griffis had a plan and he worked it well. I have no doubt that he [Tua] will improve from here."

Gary McCrystal, president of the Auckland Boxing Association and the rival NZ Boxing Federation: "He was mediocre. He's a lot slower, his timing was bad. The only mitigating factor is he went 10 rounds. But Griffis was a blown-up cruiserweight. I have reservations that Tua can go any further. The old problems stood out again and he's not getting any younger. He couldn't get inside - Griffis was no Lewis and he didn't have the firepower to put the bigger man down. If that was Vitali Klitschko, watch out."

Former manager Kevin Barry was bitterly disappointed. He is in the United States and won't see the fight until today on pay-per-view, but he had a flurry of calls from New Zealand telling him about it.

"Going 10 rounds is a huge negative. A lot of guys here will think he's finished because David hit Griffis flush and failed to put him on the canvas.

"I was shocked it went 10 rounds. I would have put my house on that it would be over in two. Everything was set up by Cedric Kushner for this to be a devastating knockout. Griffis was the perfect opponent for David. He doesn't have any of the K/O power of David's previous opponents.

"Cedric needed David to look devastating - not for the New Zealand public, but for the people over here who sign the network deals. There is a huge void in the heavyweight ranks. There was a big opportunity for David to step in and that was what everyone expected, that's why [ring announcer Michael] Buffer was there, that's why the Colonel [TV comments man Bob Sheridan] was there, that's why Cedric brought his best cuts man down.

"Buffer was there for the pay-per-view, but Cedric will be wondering would he have put this on pay-per-view if he knew it was going to go 10 rounds."

Barry denied any rancour from the court wrangle in which he is engaged with Tua over management fees and company ownership had any bearing on his fight comments. "I wanted him to win, I care about the guy, I got him to the top. People think Marty [management partner Pugh] and I wanted to see him beaten but that's bullshit. Marty told me he was screaming at the TV, 'Knock him out Dave, knock him out'."

Auckland Boxing Association matchmaker and ABA vice-president Johnny Lloyd criticised the organisation and the television cover, which ran around 40 minutes over time. They'd showed too much of ordinary fights and not enough of the good ones.

"It was a shame about the quality of the undercard. They should have got some good amateurs, guys that wanted to fight, but that "Cuddles" Falemoe, what was that about?" Lloyd said, referring to former New Zealand superheavyweight champ Fai Falemoe's bout with American Tipton Walker.

The pair kept touching gloves in an apologetic gesture after any punches or holds.

They smiled at each other during slow rounds and hugged for too long after the end. The crowd had booed and called remarks about the over-friendliness and questioned whether they wanted to fight. There was mass confusion when the judges' scores were announced as 78-78, 77-77 and 80-72 in favour of Falemoe but the bout as a majority decision draw. Falemoe took a microphone from a performer and told them to respect him and his friend.

It was only one of several bizarre events. Moroni Schwalger was literally saved by the bell in round three when the referee stopped the fight for a standing eight-count; only the standing eight-count does not exist in the NZPBA rules. Rico Chong Nee won anyway.

The fight between Richard Tutaki and Jason Suttee was cancelled as it was due to start. Word was that one of the pair had forgotten his gear.