Too much power and too much experience adds up to a David Tua victory, most likely by knockout.
That seems to be the consensus of opinion as the New Zealand heavyweight takes the next step on his comeback trail tonight with a scheduled 12-round fight against Las Vegas-based Nigerian Friday Ahunanya in West Auckland.
There was no shortage of the colourful figures that boxing attracts as the fighters weighed in yesterday.
Both looked fit and trim with Tua weighing 108.7kg (less than 1kg heavier than he was when he demolished Shane Cameron) and Ahunanya 104.1kg. At 1.83m Ahunanya will enjoy a height and reach advantage, but not to the extent that has proved troublesome for the compact Tua in the past.
And ultimately it will be the size of the punch rather than the man that decides this bout.
Boa Athukorala, the Sri Lankan who is the matchmaker for the strong undercard that features five American fighters, believes Ahunanya will provide a worthy test, but Tua will have too much power. Israel Garcia, the big New Yorker who will fight on the undercard and has spent the last two months feeling the power of Tua as his sparring partner, has no doubts his man will do the business.
"Believe me, David has trained even harder than he did for Shane Cameron," Garcia said.
"He is real focused and real relaxed and he knows this is a big stepping stone for him."
Garcia likened a Tua punch to "being hit by a truck, but you don't know it's coming".
He has witnessed the development of Tua's armoury under American trainer Roger Bloodworth and suggested Tua has more weapons than when he entered the ring against Cameron.
"David's a boxer – he can move, he confuses you, he's going to make him [Ahunanya] look bad."
Garcia had no doubt about Tua's ability to hold his power.
"He could go 15 rounds. We sparred 12 rounds recently and he was punching just as hard in the 12th round as he was in the first."
Garcia predicted Tua would win inside four rounds.
Tua said he was in the right mindset to do the business. He would spend his day patiently waiting for the 11pm fight. He had gone on a training run late on Monday night to help get into that time frame.
"The run was great – I had a nice meeting with myself just to think about a lot of things. I'm feeling choice."
TUA was delighted to be able to maintain his fighting weight and agreed that he looked more toned for this bout.
"I did a lot more chin-ups than I did last time and I think it shows. There was a lot of pressure to get to this weight.
"It's been hard work but I had a lot of fun doing it too. I've had such a good camp."
Tua said he felt liberated under Bloodworth who had given him the freedom to explore and expand his boxing skills.
"I've had a great teacher who allows me to try things out. I've always believed I've had more than just a left hook."
Ahunanya, idle for almost two years, says this is an opportunity he can't afford to waste.
"This is a make or break fight – this is huge. I'm putting everything on the line here.
"I know he [Tua] is a powerful dude and he comes in strong. But I've done my homework and I will stick to my strategy."
Veteran boxing commentator Bob Sheridan – a huge admirer of Tua – wasn't sure what effect Ahunanya's long layoff would have.
"They talk about ring rust but I think it's more about a deterioration of skills with age. Both these fighters are getting on but with heavyweights, the last thing that goes is their punch," said Sheridan.
Source: stuff.co.nz
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