Boxing: Tua too much for Talmadge Griffis

David Tua (R) in action against Talmadge Griffis. Picture / Dean Purcell

Ring rusty and out of shape, David Tua looked every bit a heavyweight who had been out of the ring for two years before springing to life to knock journeyman fighter Talmadge Griffis out in the final round in Auckland tonight.

With less than a minute to go in the 10-round fight, Tua unleashed a furious barrage of punches on the hapless Griffis.

The man nicknamed Two Guns didn't go down but referee Lance Revill decided with 26 seconds to go that Griffis had had enough.

For the first nine rounds, Tua never looked like a man who had won 37 of his previous 42 fights by knockout.

Simply put, Tua made Griffis look good.

For the Waitakere Trusts Stadium crowd, it was better value for money than the last time Tua fought in New Zealand a decade ago - a first round knockout of Cecil "Instant" Coffee.

After nine fairly evenly shared rounds, the 10th was the one that counted with Tua's famed punching power too much for the Colorado fighter.
Earlier, wearing black trunks with silver trim, Tua entered the arena on a platform bearing the "Tua of Duty" legend.

Griffis looked muscular and athletic but giving up 20kg to Tua and without any discernable punching power, he looked solely to survive the fight and hope for the best from the three ringside judges.

The opening round saw the fighters eyeing each other up, Tua controlling the centre of the ring and Griffis pecking nervously with his jab and scoring some light hits.

From there on in, Tua gradually stepped up the pace.

The fourth round saw a Tua left hook miss before he connected with a solid right to the body of Griffis.

Oddly for a fighter whose left hook has been his main weapon, Tua's right looked the more likely, scoring a solid body blow in the fourth.

The fifth saw Tua meaning business - finally. With the crowd baying for blood, Tua threw repeated left hooks - one solid blow followed by an overhand right.

After his earlier watchfulness, there was the sense Tua now knew Griffis had nothing that could hurt him.

But Griffis also grew in confidence after surviving the fifth round barrage and it wasn't until the 10th that he really looked threatened.

But that 10th was enough and it was all Tua and his team could have wanted -- one fight back, one win, no damage to Tua.

Before the fight the talk was that former world title contender Tua was certainly not in peak shape, though much better than expected given the huge amount of excess weight he appeared to be carrying during his extended legal fight with his former managers Martin Pugh and Kevin Barry.

Tua weighed in yesterday at 114kg (251lb), over 21kg heavier than when he made his professional heavyweight debut in 1992.

It was, however, actually lighter than two years ago, when at 117.7kg (259.5lb) he went the distance for a draw with former world champion Hasim Rahman.

Illinois-born Griffis, aged 30 and ranked 130 in the world, was never really expected to be much more than an fall guy for the 32-year-old Tua, despite being nicknamed Two Guns, for his "naturally big arms".

Griffis' defeat took his record to 31 fights for 22 wins, 14 by knockout, six losses and three draws.

Now going by the moniker Tuaman after an earlier flirtation with The Terminator, Tua is now 47 fights for 43 wins, to go with his three losses against Ike Ibeabuchi, Chris Byrd and world champion Lennox Lewis, and his draw with Rahman.

His promoter Cedric Kushner said he wanted Tua back in the ring within 90 days.

- NZPA