Boxing: Cutting corners cost Tua

David Tua was at least 5kg overweight for his fight with Monte Barrett. Photo / Annie McDougall

The next move David Tua makes will be fascinating - as his last one may have cost him about $2 million.

That is what many in the boxing game think Tua could have earned against Wladimir Klitschko - the heavyweight champion of the world to whom Tua's US-based promoter, Cedric Kushner, was talking about a possible title fight against Tua, had he beaten Monte Barrett earlier this month.

Most attention has centred on the loss of that opportunity - supposedly Tua's main objective in his fighting life - and the curious hiatus with Kushner that saw the promoter complain that his fighter would not meet him after the Barrett bout and thus did not get to know about the news that a fight with Klitschko had been in the offing if Tua had won.

However, what befell Kushner, who told the Herald on Sunday that he had a contract with Tua and that there was "no problem" at his end if their business relationship was to be continued, is a symptom of a new commercial direction in which Tua has moved - and which seems to be costing him dearly.

This move was first outlined by the Herald on Sunday in May - when Kushner was laid up in hospital in New York and when it became clear that Tua was negotiating directly with Sky TV.

That story said: "The Tua camp have been dealing directly with Sky over pay-per-view and promotion rights and rumours have been circulating in boxing circles for some time that this might be a new direction for Tua; where he relies less on promoters and deals direct with partners like Sky."

What was not clear at that stage was that Tua had made other business moves; cutting overheads to the extent that boxing insiders thought unwise. One such area was his training. Back when he fought Shane Cameron, Tua was trained by the exacting Lee Parore. But Tua has since become his own business manager, savings were made in that and other areas.

The major shift, according to sources close to the action, was that instead of an expensive taskmaster like Parore being "the boss", Tua was the boss and his crew deferred to him. That, sources say, was why Tua appeared for the Barrett fight at least 5kg overweight.

"In past times, if David didn't train right, he got an earful.

But because he was the boss and was calling the shots, no one argued with him; no one had the tough conversations; they all went along with him, happy just to be working with Tua. Also, when a fighter manages his own affairs, he gets drawn into the commercial side and neglects what he should be focusing on: training and sparring."

There is a famous tale in boxing of former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes deciding to run his own affairs after his contract with famed and infamous promoter Don King ran out.

Holmes promoted his own fight but, when he came to count his money, found that he had just earned the least amount he had ever made in any of his title defences. In addition, he was exhausted as he had kept his training regime but had to work through the night to do the deals; all the hard yards of promotional work.

The value of a trainer and manager who can psychologically set a fighter for a key fight also cannot be underestimated. Most who saw the Tua-Barrett bout were mystified and frustrated that the big-punching Tua did not storm the Barrett ramparts early. One possible explanation is that, in his heart of hearts, Tua knew he was a bit underdone and did not want to punch himself out; leaving himself vulnerable to the same sort of Barrett attack that ended with Tua being decked for the first time in his career in their first bout. Barrett is also a tall, quick boxer with a good jab - exactly the type of fighter with whom Tua has had problems before. So he tried to stay in touch, banking on a big finish and a knockout.

It is understood Sky sold about 30,000 pay per view packages (at $39.99 each). The take was split 50-50 between Sky and Tua and best guess is that, after (greatly reduced) overheads, Tua cleared somewhere between $300,000- $400,000. Still not a bad payday - but nothing like he would earn through Klitschko.

However, those uninformed souls calling for Tua to retire have probably missed the point. With his new commercial direction, Tua will be planning more Sky PPV fights. But the loss to Barrett may have clouded matters.

PPV is a fickle mistress. In Australia, the highly promoted Anthony Mundine slipped from selling 180,000 PPVs to only 10,000 as his credibility waned. Tua will now have to gauge how much credibility he has. He will also have to select his next opponent carefully.

Kushner said Klitschko promoter Shelly Finkel's confirmation that Tua was being considered showed the value of an independent, objective representative with the fighter's interests at heart.

"I was tied up with Monte Barrett too - but I didn't want Barrett to win," said Kushner. "I wanted David to win.

"I don't know what he is going to do now or what he wants to do. He hasn't spoken to me for a long time. I was on my back in hospital for four months and, three weeks after that, I didn't want to come back 12,000 miles to New Zealand.

"But I had to and I did - and he couldn't meet me or talk to me? . I thought, on the Sunday after the fight, David would go to church and then we'd get together in the afternoon. But he didn't come and I ended up more or less spending the whole day in the hotel."

Tua's lawyer Blair Edwards declined to comment. Tua did not return calls.