Boxing: Challenge of Ahunanya taken seriously

New Zealand boxer David Tua could get a shot at the title in 12 to 18 months, but first he must beat Friday Ahunanya. Photo / Dean Purcell

At last, a fight.

Almost six months after felling Shane Cameron, David Tua will step into the ring again.

We don't know the where yet, but we at least know the who - Humpty Dumpty.

Or Friday Ahunanya, the 38-year-old who handed Shane Cameron his first defeat after cutting and then cutting down the Mountain Warrior in a 12th-round stoppage, as he is also known.

The US-based Nigerian was memorably dismissed as a potential opponent by Tua's worldwide promoter Cedric Kushner just a few weeks ago.

"I'm not going to ask David to fight Humpty Dumpty," Kushner told the Herald on Sunday when he initially rebuffed Ahunanya's advances.

The fight was originally mooted for December.

So what has changed?

Well, for starters, Ahunanya is no Humpty Dumpty. Beneath the light pink shirt he wore to a midweek press conference, his physique had plenty of bulges, and they were certainly in all the right places.

Looks good then, but can he fight?

David Higgins of Duco Events, the promotions company behind Tua-Cameron, insists he can.

"Friday is a very credible, tough opponent," Higgins said. "He is skilled, he has lateral movement, he knows how to box and he has never been knocked out cold.

"A lot of top-level contenders have avoided Friday."

Higgins is promoting the bout, so he would say that.

Boxing historian Bob Jones, however, has never been known to confuse a spade with a shovel. Jones described the cancelled Bruce Seldon fight as a "minor scandal" waiting to happen, so he would be highly unlikely to pull any punches about Ahunanya.

"We know this fellow is a reasonably competent fighter," Jones said, pointing to the fighter's most recent victory over the previously undefeated Cedric Buttler.

"After that he has never been able to get a fight and I think one of the reasons is that he is perceived as reasonably dangerous and useful.

"He will be a test because for all that Tua did good against Cameron, it was only for a matter of half a round that we could evaluate him. In that half round he wasn't doing much, just following [Cameron] around doing the same old thing.

"But then he hit him and Cameron just stood there and it was all over. So we really haven't had a good look at him."

Ahunanya may be credible, then, but "threat" might be stretching it. Cameron was out-pointing him comfortably before being cut, while Lance Whitaker, Taurus Sykes, Sultan Ibragimov and Alexander Povetkin have all claimed Ahunanya's scalp.

In reality, he is a cut-priced journeyman who will be expected to put up a decent showing without seriously troubling Tua.

Given the limitations of Tua's Maori TV deal, Ahunanya is about the highest quality of opponent that could be expected, Higgins said.

"I'd like to think that we are as close as we can get to a big opponent and a big show.

"We tried to make this fight for December but it fell apart. We've made it for March and now we are happy. It will be a challenge promoting it without pay per view revenue but it just means everyone takes a pay cut. Both boxers take a pay cut and so do I, that's how we make it work."

Higgins, who admitted to earning what he deserved after spending a year putting the Tua-Cameron fight together, remains optimistic big name fighters can be enticed to New Zealand to fight Tua.

Tua-Cameron had shown major bouts could be staged here and even a world title fight was possible.

"[Tua-Cameron] showcased that a major boxing event can be staged in New zealand and revenues driven out of New Zealand. With the right timing you can tap into a global audience as well, so there is no reason why New Zealand can't host international boxing events.

"It would be wonderful to bring top three contenders down to fight David and I don't think that is too far away," he said.

"I think David will get a title shot within 12 to 18 months. That may well be overseas but, if he wins, which is a possibility, then control will rest with the Tua camp and they could opt to have defences here in New Zealand. There has never been a heavyweight world title fight in New Zealand so that is big - like a rugby world cup final."

But for any of that to happen Tua needs to first fulfil his obligations to Maori TV.

Now that Tua has pulled out of the Seldon fight, the first of those bouts will be Ahunanya in March.

Whether the fight captures the public imagination almost half-a-year after the Tua-Cameron hype has subsided remains to be seen.

Higgins is confident of putting on a first-class show and the slick, multi-faceted promotional campaign his company ran for Tua-Cameron suggests he could well pull it off.

He won't however, have the advantage of the obvious mutual antipathy that existed between the Kiwi rivals to help him drive the pre-fight publicity.

Ahunanya's promoter, Luis Tapia, labelled Tua a chicken when he initially refused to take the fight. But Tapia has already admitted there was no substance to the trash talk.

"If you want to fight David you have to call him out. I think it will be a good fight and that Friday will come out on top. I know what he is capable of."

Tapia might have a slightly distorted view of his own man's ability, but it is unlikely Ahunanya will be fazed by the prospect of facing Tua.

"Honestly, fighting David Tua is just like fighting anybody else," Tapia said. "It is not a big deal. He's fought, what, two rounds in the last two years? He is a good fighter but when he stepped up he lost. Lennox Lewis - he lost; Ike Ibeabuchi - he lost; Chris Byrd - he lost. So to me he is like any other fighter, he is nothing special. Friday is going to beat him."

"It has taken 37 years for me to realise what I am supposed to be doing," Tua said.

"I am supposed to be hitting a guy, supposed to be hurting him, supposed to be beating him up. That is what I am supposed to do."

Yep. And it's high time he did it.