Boxing: Tua throws chance of world title away

By PETER JESSUP


David Tua appears to have lost the will to box on.

The word is that Tua has told promoter Cedric Kushner he will not get in the ring with Lamon Brewster as scheduled on February 14.

They were to battle for the World Boxing Organisation title vacated by South African Corrie Sanders. The association will undoubtedly go ahead with the fight, replacing Tua with next-ranked Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko.

If the rumours are true it will be the second time the South Aucklander has turned down a world title chance and the decision looks likely to spell the end of any hopes he had of ever getting to the top.

The World Boxing Association has already shifted him from its top three to No 7 after he spurned the chance to meet Hasim Rahman for a third time.

The excuse for ducking out of that bout was the legal argument with trainer Kevin Barry. Neither Tua nor Kushner were available yesterday to comment on the latest rumour.

But Kushner must have been stunned because just two days before he gave a lengthy interview to the respected website fightnews.com clearly stating that he thought Tua's star was on the rise.

"I've been involved with David for about 18 months, I'm very excited about him and I believe he'll win the fight [with Brewster] and then put himself in the picture to get some important fights and some big paydays," Kushner said.

Brewster, 30, is the North American Boxing Organisation champion, and has a 29-2 win from 31 fights, 26 won by knockout.

Asked when the legal battle might be played out, Kushner told fightnews.com: "Well, I'm hoping that there won't be any reason for him not to take the fight. You talk about legal difficulties, it's something I'd like to see change.

"There should be a binding arbitration agreement with the fighters, and the union and promoters and managers.

"If there was a more accelerated process, and I think that most certainly could be arbitration, it would be substantially less expensive - a situation like David's would have been resolved a lot quicker with a lot less expense."

Don King, who promotes Brewster, won the purse bid to stage the title fight. He, too, must have been stunned by Tua's decision. There was no comment from Don King Productions yesterday.

Tua's long-time manager/trainer Barry, who with Pugh is locked in High Court action to, among other things, determine the validity of their contract with the fighter, said he was "dumbfounded".

"David could beat Brewster any day - on his worst day David would win," Barry said.

Barry maintained that his contract with Tua was still valid and said he was pleased that the High Court had awarded Tua $100,000 in an early hearing last week.

"We thought that money would be put to preparing him for the Brewster fight. The most important thing was to put David back in the ring."

But he wondered whether he was more motivated than the fighter.

"I think I wanted it more than he did," Barry said of the world titles.

Of the news that came via Kushner's office, Barry said: "You have to believe he doesn't want to fight anymore. He has no trouble turning up to court to fight, but I honestly believe he's lost his nerve."

He and Pugh would not be backing out of the court action. "The court case is about a lot more than whether he's going to fight any more."

Tua has not been in the ring since March 30, when he fought to a lacklustre draw with Rahman. He has not been himself since his November 2000 pounding by Lennox Lewis.

It has been slow starts and a failure to apply consistent pressure with combinations that has cost Tua in fights with Chris Byrd, then Rahman.

All but one of his wins since the Lewis fight - over Russell Chasteen, Michael Moorer, Garing Lane and Danell Nicholson - were givens. The well-rated Fres Oquendo beat him in the only "serious" contest. During that period he has spent too much time in Samoa and Auckland to be ready for a contest on the scale of the Lewis encounter.

Maybe all the battles with the likes of King and the machinations of the boxing alphabet soup got to Tua. Maybe, at 31 he's decided he no longer wants to be a punching bag.

Maybe it's the combination of all that and the legal action against Barry and Pugh. It's a truism that boxers who lose tend to blame their trainers and managers. Maybe the striking power that comes to Polynesians as adolescents is in decline. No one would know that better than Tua.

If he is retiring he will go out with a record of 42-3-1, 37 by KO, and as only the second New Zealander to have fought for the world heavyweight title. . And an Olympic bronze medal to boot. Not a bad haul. A shame, though, that his career is going down in low-lights.

If David Tua ducks his February bout with Lamon Brewster it is likely to spell the end of his top-level career. Herald File Picture