David Tua - heavyweight boxer from Samoa, biography, fights

David Tua is a professional boxer from Samoa, performing in a heavyweight division. Has achieved considerable success both in amateur and in professional boxing career. From his achievements, one can distinguish a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, the third place at the World Championships in Sydney in 1991 in the 91 kg category, a triumph in the fight for the title of the WBA heavyweight champion against John Ruiz.

Biography and success in the amateur career

He was born on November 21 in 1972 in Apia, Western Samoa. Since my childhood I began to be interested in boxing. At the age of 14, I enrolled in the local boxing section, where I began to show good results and achieve first victories. In 1990 he became the champion of amateur tournament among boxers of Oceania Nukualofa (Tonga). In 1991, he took third place in the world boxing championship (in the category of 91 kg), held in Sydney (Australia). In 1992, he achieved a triumph at the Oceania Championship and won a bronze medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona.

The fights of David Tua in his professional career

The debut in the professional boxing league happened in December 1992. In the period from 1992 to 1996, he had 22 fights. All ended in a victory with a knockout. Due to this, the Samoan heavyweight was awarded a title fight in 1996 against John Ruiz.

It was a battle for the title of international WBC world champion. Bookmaker quotes for this fight were in favor of John Ruiz, who already had considerable achievements in boxing. However, the desire to win and the fierce pressure of the young debutant could not be broken. At the 19th second of the first round, the battle ended in a victorious knockout! The famous John Ruiz fell on the ring platform from the crushing heavy blow of a young Samoan boxer and could not stand for several minutes. It was a loud application of the whole world boxing community from the Samoan boxer.

David Tua, whose knockouts scared all his potential rivals, became a real celebrity.

In the same year, Tua knocked out such professionals as Anthony Cooks and Darrol Wilson. It is noteworthy that these fights also ended in the first round. To the point to note that boxer Darrell Wilson before meeting with the "Samoan machine" in his track record had no single defeat. David Tua, whose knockouts scared all his potential rivals, became a real celebrity.

Aggressive boxing, David Tua and his duel, which became a rating

At the end of December 1996, two heavyweights - Tua and Aizornraiti - met in the ring. This was the most unprincipled and aggressive fight on the part of both athletes. They already met earlier, but it was in amateur boxing. Then Aizornraiti succeeded by overcoming the Samoan "Terminator" (the nickname of Tua). And now, motivated to the impossibility of David Tua, he was determined to do everything to take revenge on the offender.

The battle was long and sweaty, rivals fought until the last 12 rounds, in the middle of which the outcome of the fight was decided. Tua after another successful attack pressed to the ropes of Aizornraiti and inflicted several crushing heavy uppercuts. After that, Aizornraiti lost control of the situation and missed another blow to the chin, after which he lost his balance and went into a deep knockdown. The Nigerian heavyweight subsequently managed to rise after all, but the referee decided to stop the fight. The victory was awarded to the Samoan "Terminator". This fight was a record in terms of thrown strikes and got into the top 5 of the fights in the heavyweight division.

Fight: Terminator Tua against Oleg Maskaev

In April 1997, Tua met in the ring with the Russian Oleg Maskaev. The battle ended in the 11th round, when Maskaev missed the strongest direct blow and fell to his knees. After a ten-second count from the referee Oleg rose, but failed to defend himself against the following attacks by David. As a result, the fight was stopped, and Maskaev for a long time appealed to the judges about the premature stop of the fight.

New record in the battle with Ike Ibeabuchi

In June 1997, a meeting was held between two unbeaten contenders - David Tua and Ike Ibeabuchi. In this battle, a new record was recorded on the number of thrown blows, there were 1730 of them. Ike boxed in a new style. He did not run away from Tua's attacks, he met them with his tough counter-punches. As a result, Ibeabuchi won, which largely defeated the opponent on points. In turn, David Tua did not argue with the decision of the judges, but simply took the proper steps to study his mistakes.

The first fight with Rahman, the title fight with Lennox Lewis

In 1998, two heavyweights clashed in the qualifying battle for the IBF title. This time, David's rival was undefeated Hasim Rahman. During the battle Rahman looked more fresh and active. Tua, in turn, succumbed to the adventure, and several times put his crowning jam after the ringing gong. Over this incident there were many disputes and contradictions, but it should be noted that Rahman won by right, though on points.

In June 2000, the next battle of the Samoan "Terminator" took place. Here he sent a knockout of Luncheon Sullivon in the first round. This fight was an easy training for David Tua before the upcoming fight with the absolute champion Lennox Lewis.

In November 2000, this long-awaited duel took place. Tua was extremely aggressive in this fight. He began rapid attacks from the first seconds, but was soon surprised by the phenomenal technique of Lewis. The Briton perfectly defended himself and inflicted heavy retaliatory blows. The whole battle was built on the blind attack of Tua and the intellectual defense of Lennox. As a result, Lewis simply "rattled" his opponent with crown jabs and won on points.

Against Tyson

For several years, the boxing community dreamed of seeing a fight between the boxing king and the Samoan "Terminator" - David Tua vs. Tyson. Many viewers saw in Tua some potential, which, perhaps, could resist Mike. However, this battle did not happen due to the circumstances of many reasons. Some bookmakers even bets on this fight, in which David though he was an outsider, but with a very small margin. It's no secret that this fight would fill the story of the legendary boxing confrontations with a new line.