Boxing: Next fight abroad in New Year for Tua

David Tua's next fight will be held overseas in January against an as yet unnamed opponent.

Tua's promoter Cedric Kushner yesterday torpedoed plans by promoter Duco Events to pit Tua against Friday Ahunanya - the man who handed Shane Cameron his first defeat - in December in West Auckland.

It also contradicted an earlier statement from Kushner, who said following Tua's second round KO of Cameron that "David doesn't have to fight overseas, David will fight in New Zealand".

Kushner also indicated Tua, now ranked fourth by the WBO, would fight at least once more this year.

Those plans have now clearly changed, with Kushner saying Tua would make the first defence of the WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental belts he took from Cameron in either New York, Sao Paolo, Honolulu or Berlin.

Kushner said the decision was due to the "significant interest abroad" following Tua's win over Cameron.

In reality, it almost certainly has more to do with Tua's three-fight Maori TV deal. Staging his forthcoming fights overseas means Tua's camp can negotiate broadcast deals in the host country. The $50,000 per fight Maori TV deal covers only the broadcast of the fights in New Zealand.

If it were not for the Maori TV deal Tua would be fighting either Hasim Rahman or Evander Holyfield at Vector arena in December, Duco director David Higgins said.

"Had I been able to offer David Tua half a million dollars things would have been different but it is very difficult to make quality fights without pay per view revenue," Higgins said.

Tua has expressed a preference to fight in New Zealand.