Tome Donelson's article at ESBis of the morebetter written and accurate accounts of the fight I've yet seen. Some of the fans'posted comments are worth reading at the article's conclusion also.
Tua-Rahman Aftermath
By: Tom Donelson
George Foreman summed up David Tua's problem in the first round of his fight against Hasim Rahman when he observed that "unlike Joe Frazier, who learned to break his opponent down- Tua has yet to learn the boxing skills to maneuver an opponent to his advantage." Rahman walked into the ring nearly 30 pounds heavier than his last fight and there was the buzz that Rahman spend more time training at Burger King than in the ring. The first four round put those assertion to rest as he boxed beautifully and average nearly 80 punches a round, considerably more than the average heavyweight. Tua, just as their first fight, looked perplexed as he gave away the first four rounds. In the fifth round, Rahman started to hold more as his conditioning gave away. Rahman output dropped in half as the fight proceeded. Tua began to reach Rahman and in the seventh round, Tua rocked Rahman with several shots including a right hand right on Rahman's chin. Rahman, looked shaken, still survived and Tua allowed Rahman two and half minute of rest in the eighth before putting together an effective combination, right left uppercut followed by a left hook. Still Rahman held firm and in the ninth, Rahman started jabbing and scoring. While Rahman was throwing more punches and was more accurate, many of the rounds after the fourth round were close as Tua scored the more powerful shots to make up for Rahman quanity of punches. Tua's ablity to gather a draw was more due to the close nature of the rounds. After the eighth round, Rahman was never in trouble and held his own in the last third of the fight. In the eleventh round, a cut open over Rahman's right eye but by this time, both of Tua's eyes were puffing and bleeding. Rahman got on his toes in the last round to give the impression that indeed he still was in control of the fight. Most ringside observers along with the HBO announcers gave Rahman the fight but the scoring reflected a division among the judges, do you count hard punches more than good jabbing and boxing skills? So neither fighter walked away with a victory and Chris Byrd, who was suppose to fight the winner for his IBF championship may have to find another opponent in which to defend his title. There will be a Tua-Rahman III. What was obvious to me is that Tua has improved very little and at this point in his career, he will never fulfill the potential that was there. Tua could have been this generation Joe Frazier with a sturdy chin to go with a devastating left hand. He has now picked up a right hand to compliment the left hook but yet he has yet to learn to break down a good boxer. Unless the opponent stays in front of Tua, he is in trouble. Throughout the early part of the fight, Tua did very little body work and constantly allowed Rahman to hold in the middle rounds and reduce even further any body attack. As Tua gets older, he has become more dependent upon his knockout power and hopes for the best. At 245, Tua is not as quick as he was 20 pounds lighter and he has not gain additional power with the additional weight. At the age of 30, Tua's ability to reinvent himself as a Joe Frazier is slipping away. The time for being Joe Frazier has long past. Tua had the and still has the tool to be a champion. At this point, the heavyweight division is in flux with most of the major players suffering recent defeats. Wlad Klitschko suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the 37 year-old Corrie Sanders, who was previously a victim of Hasim Rahman and John Ruiz losing his title to Roy Jones, Jr., the heavyweight division wide open. (Tua finished Ruiz off in 19 seconds so it is still conceivable that Tua can yet win a championship.) Lennox Lewis is no hurry to get back in the ring and is perfectly willing to beat up on Mike Tyson for one more payday and then saying goodbye to it all. Lewis at 37 doesn't have much time and any real opponent must provide Lewis the one big gate or Lewis will not fight. He is not going to waste his time on smaller purse and why should he? He has no need to prove himself so the only reason to fight is for one big mega payday. And only Tyson can give him that. With Sanders clocking Klitschko, there is no real opponent that will add to Lewis' resume. So Lewis is just waiting to decide if Tyson wants to fight him. The heavyweight division reminds me of the period between the Dempsey/Tunney era and the Louis era where mediocrity dominated as good and average fighters found themselves alternating the title but there were no dominant star that defined the era. We are there again with no great fighter over the horizon and mostly good and mediocre fighters fighting for the various titles that exist. Lewis has a piece of the title, Chris Byrd has his title and Roy Jones,Jr. has his heavyweight belt. Everyone, it seems, has a heavyweight belt or within striking distance of one. Even Corrie Sanders has a title and this was man who was thinking about his golf game before he fought Klitschko. Which leaves Tua an opportunity that he may not be prepared to take an advantage of. Rahman fought a smart fight and executed his strategy perfectly but Tua's power should have overwhelmed Rahman, a good fighter with a suspect chin. Tua has the power to win at least a piece of the title but he is no Joe Frazier or Rock Marciano. Rocky was an awkward fighter but he learned some rudimentary skills. He could break an opponent down by essentially hitting any and every part of the body. Joe Frazier was quicker than the Rock or Tua and he was not easy to hit. He would tear the body down and eventually end the proceeding with his patented left hook and the only two fighters that he could not beat were Ali and Foreman but then these fighters were two of the greatest. With the heavyweight at its weakest, Tua and even Rahman can still win a title. Rahman has already won the title once with an overhand right and lightening can strike again. Tua still has the slugger chance but somehow I feel let down. When I first saw Tua, I saw Joe Frazier. Now I just see Tua, a fighter a step behind. He could have been a champion and but he is only a contender and soon he will be merely a pretender.
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