A clash between punchers Mike Tyson and David Tua would have been, indeed could have been, one of the most fantastically violent heavyweight wars of the late 1990s/early 2000s. Fans would have paid a pretty penny to see the fight, that’s for darn sure. Tua, with a style somewhat like that of the peak “Iron Mike,” what with his low to the ground style, his wicked ability at slinging hooks, and his sheer aggression, never got the chance to “dance” with Tyson. Yet this could change. At least Tua is willing to make things change.
Tua, now aged 50 and having recently undergone a serious fitness regime that has seen a good deal of his old muscle return, his fat going away, has said he would come back to fight Tyson, who is now 56 years of age.
“I’m taking care of my own health,” a bearded Tua told 1News in New Zealand. “I’m not going to be disrespectful and call the man out. He’s an icon of the sport. But certainly, it’s a fight that everyone wants to see and a fight that never happened. Could have happened, should have happened. We’ll see what happens. It would be a good dance, a nice dance.”
What a Tyson-Tua fight would have been had it happened in the day is an explosion, a slugfest, a war. Tyson, who by the late ’90s, early 2000s was capable of blowing a gasket or three during a fight, might have imploded had he fought the tough and durable Tua. Might Tyson have even quit if he’d fought Tua in, say, 1999, 2000, or 2001? Tyson was past his best at the time of his fights with guys like Frans Botha, Orlin Norris and Andrew Golota, but he was still immensely powerful at the time and he was of course a massive attraction.
Today, with both guys having hit the half-century, who knows what kind of a fight we’d get. But guess what? Even at age 50 and 56 respectively, Tua and Tyson would pull in a big audience if they did fight. The chances of this fight actually happening are of course incredibly slim, but it is interesting that Tua has said he is open to taking the fight. Tyson has plenty of stuff going on these days and his zest for fighting left him long ago. Tyson Vs. Tua is almost certainly a fight confined to Dream Fight status. And, thanks to what Tua had to say this week, he’s got us all dreaming about this fight, a genuine super fight of a clash of monster punchers, all over again!
For the record, Tua retired with a 52-5-2(43) record in late 2013, Tua was never stopped. Tyson retired with a 50-6(44) – 2 no-contest ledger in 2005. Tyson was stopped five times.
Whose chin, whose nerve, whose intestinal fortitude would have caved first had Tyson and Tua rumbled back in the day?