A world title shot within his reach?

Peter Rees  




 
 
Samoan boxer David Tua proved a thing or two when he knocked out Kiwi compatriot Shane Cameron last October in New Zealand’s most watched sporting event of 2009.
  For one, he was still a devastating puncher. Secondly, despite being 37, he was not a spent force in world boxing.
  But for all that, Tua’s Jeckyll and Hyde relationship with New Zealanders, especially the media, continues. It can best be summed up by his omission from the list of Halberg Award finalists for New Zealand’s top sportsman from the past year.
  For a week, it seemed, Tua was the darling of New Zealand again as he commanded the media spotlight following his resounding win in the ‘Fight of the Century’.
  The cameras followed him from the ring at Mystery Creek in Hamilton, to his post-fight celebrations at Burger King, to Auckland airport on his departure to Samoa with good friend and former All Black Vaaiga Tuigamala on a goodwill mission following the devastating September tsunami, which claimed the life of his aunt, Tui Annandale, the co-owner of Samoa’s Sinalei Reef Resort. Tua later said the tragedy of the tsunami where nearly 200 people died touched him deeply and helped motivate him for the fight against Cameron.
  “I thought about those who had lost their lives but I also had to stay focused and find the courage to concentrate on the fight and do what I needed to do. I knew that a triumph would, in some small way, bring a little joy to the people of Samoa after such devastation,” he said.
  But the honeymoon didn’t last long. The media began to question Tua again after he canned his planned February fight with former world champ Bruce Sheldon, due to his sick mum who was diagnosed with cancer.
  “Will age catch up on him before he gets a chance to fight for a world title?” some asked.
  When the nation’s “respected” minds and experts got together to decide what was the year’s best sporting highlights, Tua’s name was missing, prompting one scribe to write in a local newspaper: “...it seems more likely he (Tua) has fallen victim to a decision by the committee and this country’s obsession with rugby and, lately, rowing.
  The 29-strong committee which picks the finalists is made up mainly of middle-aged white males and the almost homogenous nature of the panel is reflected in the white bread sameness of the finalists for the sportsman of year category”.
  Tua is still the subject of ridicule by many New Zealanders who remember his appearance on television show ‘Wheel of Fortune’ in the early 1990s where he famously asked for an “O for Awesome”. Tua’s wife Robina has since clarified that Tua actually said “O for Olsen (Olsen being Tua’s idol former Kiwis league legend Olsen Filipaina).
  Still, many remember that grammatical blemish more than any of Tua’s wins in the boxing ring.
  While falling short of citing racial overtones in the Halberg judges’ decision, some would hark back to similar treatment given to another Polynesian athlete, the most famous All Black of them all, Jonah Lomu. Revered and treated with God-like aura around the world, he barely registers with New Zealand media these days, unless it has something to do with his personal life or marital status.
  Not that the lack of recognition will disturb Tua. He has built his career as much on being humble as destroying opponents in a boxing ring.
  Last December, New Zealand’s Samoan community honoured him by naming him their sportsperson of the year at the annual Samoan Sports Awards.
  Revered boxer
  Tua is a regular attendee and long-time supporter of these awards. It may be that indifferent attitudes towards Tua has much to do with his decision to not solely call himself a Kiwi, instead choosing to acknowledge both New Zealand and Samoa equally. While he was born and raised in his youth in Falesiu, Samoa, he finished school and started his boxing career in south Auckland
  Still, there is no disputing Tua is New Zealand’s best and most revered boxer in history. Ditto Samoa and the Pacific region.
  His professional career stretches back 18 years when he turned pro after winning a bronze medal for New Zealand at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. When he takes on Nigerian Friday Ahunanya in March, it will be the third decade he has fought in.
  Tua has a busy 2010 in store with up to five fights planned by his American-based promoter Cedric Kushner.
  Kushner is confident that (assuming he beats Friday in March), Tua will have another lined up in May, possibly in Hawaii. Australian-Fijian Kali Meehan and former world champ Hasim Rahman are touted as possible opponents.
  Then in the latter half of the year, up to three fights are planned culminating in a possible world title challenge against one of the three reigning world champions; WBA champion Briton David Haye, WBC champion Wladimir Klitschko and his Ukranian elder brother Vitali Klitschko, who is the current IBF, WBO and IBO champion.
  Having lost 26 kilogrammes in the lead-up to the Shane Cameron fight and proving he still has his devastating punching power, many believe Tua’s second coming after almost five years in the wilderness because of legal wrangles with his former managers, will ultimately be his time to achieve his lifelong dream - a world title.
  “2009 was awesome in every way, a year where I focused on what was important and forgot about other things. I used to be the biggest dreamer in the world, man.
  “But where I’ve been in the last seven years, it’s just important to live life day by day, what’s real now...I just don’t know where I will be this time next year,” he says.
  Hopefully, it will at the top of the heavyweight pedestal as a world champ.
  It has been ten long years since Tua last challenged for the world title, a unanimous points loss to then world champion Lennox Lewis in December, 2000.
  At the time, New Zealand came to a virtual standstill as the eyes of the world turned to the pugnacious Samoan trying to carve his name in heavyweight boxing folklore.
  The result was disappointing. Tua went to the back of the queue again but more disappointment was to come.
  It would take him the rest of the decade to get back into the reckoning again as a title contender.
  America has been waiting. For a long time they have known of Tua’s power and KO ability. But struggles with Tua’s weight, management problems and the lack of opponents willing to take him on have taken a big chunk out of his prime fighting years.
  But through the trials and tribulations, Tua matured as a man. He delved into poetry which become an outlet of expression during lonely times. He married his high school sweetheart Robina in 2005. And he became more a family man to his sons, Kaynan (11) and Klein (14).
  2009 was a turning point for Tua. Prior to his October fight with Cameron, he settled his long-standing dispute with his former managers Kevin Barry and Martin Pugh over his assets and earnings, which were estimated to be in excess of US$20 million during his career. Legal costs and inactivity have reduced that wealth considerably.
  Last year Tua signed a multi-fight deal with Maori Television which guarantees him NZ$50,000 a fight. But they may harm Tua’s chances at capitalising on the big money in the US while his name is hot in the news.
  Kushner denies this will hamper his managing of Tua but he will be keen to see out the Maori TV contract with Tua turning 38 this year.
  But as Tua proved against Cameron. Age is but a number. His hunger is back.
  And a world title shot is again within reach. A wiser, more mature David Tua believes his journey is still going. Don’t count out Tua just yet.