Boxing: Respect replaces trash talk

Photo / Steven McNicholl

It was the calm before the storm at yesterday's final press conference for Saturday's David Tua-Shane Cameron million-dollar prize fight.

The trash-talking, apparently, is done.

No more mountain goat taunts from Tua, no fat boy on the verge of a heart attack ripostes from Cameron.

The second-to-last set piece - the final one is tomorrow's weigh-in at SkyCity in Hamilton - before the leather flies was marked instead by a respectful, slightly sombre tone.

The death of Sir Howard Morrison, who had been due to sing the pre-fight national anthem, and Tua's revelation that an aunty was among the victims of yesterday's Samoan tsunami, saw to that.

The hype may have been toned down a notch but there was still plenty of ballyhoo about where the fight will rank in the grand scheme of things.

It will be the fourth Fight of the Century for veteran caller Colonel Bob Sheridan. Two of the others involved Muhammad Ali, but the Kiwi version was "as big as any of them", he said.

Promoter David Higgins of Duco Events said several hundred general admission tickets and a handful of corporate tables were still available but he expected the event to sell out.

Over 6000 general admission tickets and 150 tables had already been sold and pay-per-view pre-orders had been encouraging.