Career
The first words that come to mind when thinking of or describing the career of David Tua are "unfulfilled potential." Wouldn't it have been something to see how things would've unfolded in the heavyweight division had Tua's career had not gone off the tracks after his great fight with Ike Ibeabuchi, a decision loss on his record. That was a fight that he looked sensational in and would've gone through any other heavyweight in the world that night with the exception of Ibeabuchi. For the record I had Tua beating Ike by a point.
Tua announced his retirement from boxing in March 2012.Tua has since announced he is out of retirement as of September 2012.
Tua won a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics as a 19 year old and turned pro after wards. He fought the only way he could being he was just 5'10" -- as a swarmer. Fighting as a swarmer is the hardest route to travel as a professional boxer and requires a fighter to be in the greatest condition possible and he also must be very disciplined. That's why there's only been four great swarmers in heavyweight history, Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano, Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson. When one thinks about how Tua destroyed Oleg Maskaev, John Ruiz, Hasim Rahman and Michael Moorer, who all won a piece of the heavyweight title, yet he never did, it's almost mind boggling. But in his defense, he did meet Lennox Lewis who was at the top of his game in his only title shot. Maybe that's the most mind boggling, the fact that Tua only got one title shot during an era where at least four titles existed that he could've challenged for.
For his entire career fans waited for a fully flowered and not overweight Tua to show up. However, no one ever saw that version. For years we've heard David say how much he loved the sport of boxing and how it was his life. The only thing that blurred his words was the loudness in which his actions spoke as Tua usually came to the ring too heavy and was huffing and puffing after a few spirited rounds. Not the way for a swarmer to approach combat when he's looking to be crowned heavyweight champion.