Boxing: Hype builds over big face-off

David Tua has trained his hardest for the fight against Shane Cameron. Photo / Dean Purcell

Hyperbole is a staple in boxing's diet and 100 years is a long time.

But there's no denying the sense of anticipation and fascination that is building ahead of "New Zealand's Fight of the Century".

After years of talk and months of preparation, the country's two premier heavyweights, David Tua and Shane Cameron, will finally get it on in Hamilton on Saturday.

Promoter Duco expects that, come fight night, the indoor venue at Mystery Creek will be host to a full house of 8000 boisterous fans.

Duco director David Higgins makes no apology for adopting the Fight of the Century line.

"The media coverage will be unprecedented," he said.

"The year-long build-up, the polarisation of the country, the fact that both men have credibility and either man can win, the sheer public interest generated - I think it can justify that."

There was also the reality for both boxers that their hopes of shot at a world crown would probably evaporate with defeat.

Tua has had one go at reaching the sport's summit, in Las Vegas in 2000, when he became the first New Zealander since Tom Heeney in 1928 to challenge for the world heavyweight title.

Like Heeney, who was stopped by American Gene Tunney, Tua came up short.

His bid foundered in a lopsided defeat to Briton Lennox Lewis, who used his height and reach advantage to grab a unanimous points verdict.

In recent years, Tua's career has been more about what has happened outside the ring than inside, namely, his bust-up with manager Kevin Barry.

Their long-running dispute is still going through the courts and coincided with Tua's drop in fight activity.

His last bout was back in September 2007, a second-round TKO of American Cerrone Fox that took his career record to 49 wins (42 by knockout), three losses (all on points) and a draw.

Tua's key weapon is his devastating power, particularly his feared left hook.

He decided against a lead-up bout before facing Cameron, concentrating instead on his conditioning and removing the excess kilos that had accumulated on his body.

By all accounts, the "Tuamanator" has been applying himself with great diligence and observers remarked on the transformation in his physique when he opened his camp to the media last month.

His trainer, American Roger Bloodworth, said he had had never seen Tua work so hard.

People who believed Tua, at 37, was too old and too slow would get a shock, Bloodworth said.

"This is probably the best condition I've seen him in since going back to his early 20s."

Tua was given added time after the bout was postponed because of a hand injury that Cameron aggravated in his win over American Robert Davis in Gisborne in March.

The injury needed surgery and forced a change of date from June 6.

Cameron, who is back to full punching power again, has compiled a record of 23 wins (20 inside the distance) and one defeat.

However, the quality of his opponents haven't matched Tua's and the manner of his solitary loss, a final-round TKO in November 2007, highlighted his tendency to cut easily.

The opponent who ended his perfect record was Nigerian Friday Ahunanya, who twice sent him to the canvas and left him with a bloodied face and needing stitches to gashes over both eyes.

Cameron, 31, has since has the bone above his eyes smoothed to try to reduce the likelihood of the skin there opening up, but the operation hasn't totally eliminated the issue.

Tua himself quipped that he shouldn't have looked too hard at Cameron, when the pair had a stare-down at a media conference, in case he cut him.

What can't be questioned about the "Mountain Warrior" is his heart and his greater athleticism.

He is also certain to be well-prepared to go the distance - provided he doesn't walk into Tua's left hand.

"He's not going to outbox me," Cameron said.

"The only way he's going to beat me is to knock me out."

Still, Tua has been the favourite with the TAB ever since the fight was confirmed in January.

The latest prices have him at $1.50 to win and at $1.60 to get there by way of knockout.

Cameron is at $2.50 to emerge the victor, with a points decision ($3.25) seen as his most likely route.

Opinion in the boxing community appears less clearcut.

Boxing commentator and businessman Bob Jones tips Cameron to grab a points decision, even though Jones rates him as just "a tough and determined plugger".

Jones' rationale is that Tua's peak was a decade ago, he is on his second comeback and there is an old boxing adage that "they never come back".

On the other side of the fence, Barry, despite his bitter legal battle with Tua, is backing his former charge.

Barry said Tua might be older and have lost some his speed, but he had never been knocked out or cut and still retained his natural power.

TUA v CAMERON

David Tua
Age: 37
Born: Apia, Samoa
Height: 1.78m
Reach: 1.78m

Record: 53 fights, 49 wins (42 by KO), three losses, one draw; heavyweight bronze medal at 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Key bout: v Lennox Lewis (Britain), Las Vegas, November 11, 2000, for the world title. Defending champion Lewis uses his height and reach advantage to secure a unanimous points decision.

Shane Cameron
Age: 31
Born: Gisborne
Height: 1.88m
Reach: 1.87m

Record: 24 fights, 23 wins (20 by KO), one loss (by KO); heavyweight bronze medal at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Key bout: v Friday Ahunanya (Nigeria), November 2, 2007, Auckland. A bloodied Cameron loses his 100 per cent record as Ahunanya scores a final-round TKO.

- NZPA