Boxing: All or nothing for Tua as he faces American

By PETER JESSUP

The International Boxing Federation yesterday offered David Tua a one-step route back to being the No 1 contender for the heavyweight title.

The South Aucklander is to fight tall American Darell Nicholson for the mandatory challenger position in March.

Tua is in pre-fight preparation in Auckland and flies back to Las Vegas and his Prince Ranch camp on Sunday with a new plan to combat the height/reach advantage that Nicholson will enjoy and with no nagging doubts about his ability despite losing to titleholder Lennox Lewis.

He has been pleased that people are still supportive, despite his 12-round points loss last November. "It's like I won the fight." And he wants to repay their faith with a better effort.

"I'm not going to sit around and make excuses. Not being able to perform to my best devastated me, but I've learned, it's made me stronger. I have no doubts about what happened. I've analysed it, I've thought a lot about what I could have done differently."

After the fight he could not stand to look at video footage of the bout. Then one day he heard relatives watching it in another room and it gave him a new perspective; they would not have been watching it if he had been knocked out in round one; they were still proud of him.

He last watched the video two weeks ago and will watch it again. "I'm still learning."

Tua will meet the 33-year-old Nicholson in Las Vegas on March 28 after top-10-ranked Oleg Maskaev - whom he beat in 1997 - pulled out.

The IBF had originally scheduled a four-way fight for its No 1 spot, but Tua's intended opponent, Larry Donald, withdrew. On the other side of the draw, Nicholson's opponent, Hasim Rahman, struck a deal to fight titleholder Lewis instead.

Nicholson has had 39 wins, including 30 knockouts, and three losses in his 42 bouts. Two of the losses were to Pole Andrew Golota, (TKO after eight rounds) and Canadian Kirk Johnson (points loss over 10), in 1997.

Before that, he went 12 rounds to beat WBA champ John Ruiz, whom Tua knocked out in 19 seconds in 1994.

Nicholson won silver at the Barcelona Olympics, losing 7-9 to Cuban gold medallist Felix Savon.

The American, who learned to box while in jail for armed robbery, was a controversial Olympic selection.

He has won his past 15 fights and last year had four second-round knockout victories.

Tua's manager, Kevin Barry, said: "To get another chance at the No 1 position so quickly is tremendous.

"Win that and you're on a direct line to another title shot. But David is realistic. It's a long way to fall if he doesn't perform this time.

"If we don't get this right we'll be in a very difficult position. No one will want to fight him because of his power and durability - he'll be too much of a risk for a young prospect.

"We have to win, and win looking good. The old Tuaman has to resurface - the one who wears opponents down relentlessly."

Among the many changes, Tua is power-walking for an hour from 4 am, adopting a more scientific approach to his diet, and will have a new strength and conditioning coach when he gets back to Vegas.

He wants to lose weight and recognises that getting down from the Lewis fight weight of 245lb (111kg) - which he says was comfortable that day - to around 230lb is also among the changes. But the basic plan he had for Lewis will be redeployed, mainly because he did not use it after round four.

"We realise the height-reach thing will be an issue again and David has a lot to prove in that regard," Barry said.

He will no doubt have a better chance of rocking Nicholson than he did Lewis.

The American spent several years with Lewis' trainer, Emanuel Steward, at Detroit's Kronk gym, and has been described by US critics as having a questionable chin and not always fighting to the best of his ability.

The March fight, for a purse of around $US350,000 ($780,000) for Tua, will be broadcast live in New Zealand - probably on TV3 - although negotiations are yet to be completed.

Tua denied any mental deterioration or nagging doubts about his ability as a result of the Lewis loss.

"Anybody can mess up," he said. "I'll have to do better next time.

"It's back to basics, doing the things I did that got me there in the first place."

He admits he thought too much about what would happen if he won. Now there is no talk of destiny. "Everything will happen in God's time."