Chris Rattue: Cameron has learned a brutal lesson

Shane Cameron might now consider whether it is wise to keep pursuing his boxing career. Photo / Dean Purcell

The fight of the Century did not even last 200 seconds, and in truth the contest was over way before the final, devastating blows arrived.

It left David Tua with a shot at the big time again, or at least it got people who should know talking about him having a shot at fulfilling his dream to become a world heavyweight champ. He is a dangerous beast of a boxer with his juices flowing.

In the black, blue and red corner we found the badly damaged Shane Cameron, a man slammed into boxing's overflowing casualty ward, who, if he is able to muster the good sense, might now consider whether it is wise to keep pursuing this career.

This brave but hopelessly over-matched fighter with unrealistic world-title pretensions went from Fantasyland to Disneyland in a few horrific minutes that will forever define his career and remain in the memory of those who witnessed it.

The question worth asking now, after witnessing the barrage of thunderous punches to his head, is whether it is wise for Cameron to keep fighting on in what will be his new role as a locked-in member of boxing's undercard. It's uncertain where Tua will fight next, but the ultimate (and not-too-distant) aim will be to re-establish his name in America and launch another bid for a world-title shot.

But it was the stars and stripes in Cameron's eyes that left the strongest - and scariest - image from the ding dong in Hamilton.

This was a butchering, the tattooed Cameron turned into a piece of meat on Tua's hook.

Who knows what the devastating barrage of punches delivered by Tua to the head of Cameron in the first round, and even more so in 14 humiliating seconds of the second, have done to the Mountain Warrior's brain.

Suffice to say though that his manager Ken Reinsfield's assertion from the ring that this was just boxing, that his man would get up to fight another day, was an attempt to resurrect Cameron's career with unwise haste considering the speed and ferocity with which Tua had just knocked it down.

The pummelling Cameron took was not the norm. And even if we accept Reinsfield's statement that this is just boxing, it doesn't mean that to carry on is right.

Having hardly raised a sweat in dismantling Cameron, where does Tua go from here? The possibilities are far greater than any of us could have imagined before the fight. Today's heavyweight boxing scene is mired in shady deals and fighters who are mediocre by historical standards. The sensationally explosive Tua could be drummed up again into the fabulous contender he should always have been.

Even though Cameron is a journeyman by world standards, Tua's crushing victory has raised hope for a renewed career beyond what might have been envisaged beforehand. At the end lies a potential repeat of previous disappointment in this brutal world, but Tua is all dressed up and trimmed down, ready to go.

Years of frustration, the legal and financial problems, the tired world title shot against Lennox Lewis, not to mention the Cameron taunts that helped get Tua here in the first place, were blown away by a devastating whirl of punches.

Tua in this mood and shape is so dangerous that his potential as a promoter's dream will be offset by the threat he poses to turn opponents' careers into nightmares, as Cameron found out.

Even a world champion is going to demand a decent whack before he takes the risk of getting in a ring to face those delivered by Tua, yet Tua might have trouble building up the sort of CV which guarantees sufficient money in a champion's bank account before he is prepared to take the risk. Over to you, dear Klitschko brothers, Don King, and whoever else.

The Aucklander has been down this path before, where - despite getting a world title fight against the long reach of Lewis - management deficiencies also stalled his career.

Having scrambled Cameron's thinking and future, Tua needs to think very clearly about who guides him from here.

What an extraordinary few minutes it was in Hamilton, a display of sweet savagery that brought back reminders not only of the potential Tua once had, but also of those highlight reels that chronicled the rise of the black-shorted Mike Tyson.

Cameron was turned into just another one of those endless boxing stumblebums who were bounced around like beach balls by the explosive T and Ts of the ring, the lethal bulldogs Tyson and Tua.

Within a minute, you knew Cameron was in very serious trouble. Tua stalked him with utter calm and confidence, landing two undefended left hooks to Cameron's head.

In the mayhem that ensued, Cameron took - by my count - 25 massive shots to the head, almost as many being from a speedy, straight right hand as they were from the famous Tua left, along with a couple of illegal cuffs as he swam around on the canvas at a confusing end to the first round.

Had the fight been stopped there, as it could or should have been, Cameron would have been spared 15 crushing punches.

For Cameron, there is no great future anymore much beyond the fare of Saturday night's main curtainraiser between a stumbling Colin Wilson and John Hopoate.

As Cameron sunk with little trace at the third knockdown, you wondered just how many fighters have endured the amount of damage he must have suffered in such a short space of time, whether the risks of him continuing in this game can somehow be quantified and justified.

There have never been many fighters with Tua's power, and those on the receiving end don't usually stand up as long, or are left to stand as long, as Cameron was. Even the bums get a few months between such savage blows.

It was excruciating to watch, although Cameron's overt cockiness going into a fight against such a dangerous and clearly superior opponent put a bit of slack into the heartstrings.

The latest studies, built around protein testing, suggest that brain damage from boxing injuries goes on many months after the fight. Cameron might have suffered irreparable damage on Saturday night.

This being a well-hyped mismatch between compatriot fighters, combined perhaps with the slowness of the referee, meant Cameron was not going down easily and as a result he took an unacceptably high number of punches to the head from one of the biggest hitters in boxing history.

Boxing is not a world of common sense - an attribute that would just about kill the sport off. The call of the ring never dies, nor is it turned down. Any reasonable guess at the effect on Cameron's faculties may only be possible when even more cumulative damage has been done.

Cameron talked his way into a terrific payday, but the cost will be high.

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What a great start to the impending cricket season, along with a lesson about the dangers of reading too much into one-day cricket form. A week or so ago, the Black Caps were the target of slings and arrows. Now, they are in the Champions Trophy final against the arch-enemy, Australia. One day cricket is an erratic beast, and destined for the scrap heap according to some. This surprising Champions Trophy decider is a fillip to the game's flagging fortunes here.