Tua, Rahman Draw

By Clinton Mollett

30.03 - What a fight! What an unforeseen outcome. This fight told an interesting tale of a performance improvement by David Tua (42-3-1 37 KO's) who was able to jab effectively with Hasim Rahman (35-4 29 KO's) who himself processes one of the best jabs in the heavyweight division. Yes Rahman was a lot heavier than in their first fight together, yes he looked bad in his rematch with Lennox Lewis and yes he fought a bad fight against Evander Holyfield 10 months ago but he still has not forgotten how to box David Tua. Putting his jab to work Rahman scored consistently throughout the fight causing swelling under the Tuaman's eyes and tying him up when Tua got inside. Tua for his part did his best to jab his way in, even doubling up his jab but did little once he got within range. The 30 year old Tua however showed his vast experience and maturity by not getting frustrated and reverting back to swinging wild left hooks around. He did not execute his game plan to perfection but he did however rock 'The Rock' on three separate occasions in the 4th, 7th and 8th rounds, especially in the 7th round when he bounced a big right hand off the side of Rahman's head leaving the former heavyweight champion visibly shaken but able to recover.

It must be said that Tua did considerably well in this fight when compared to their first fight when he fell hopelessly behind on points before the punch after the bell. This time round he was able to keep in touch with the score board and at the end of the 8th round I even had Tua winning by one point. He showed a more polished defense than we're used too, moving his head and picking off the punches most of the time. The punch Tua and Kevin Barry have been working on in training camp, something between a jab and a uppercut called the '45' because of the angle it's fired from was not a factor in this fight because Rahman would not let him get into position to throw it. Tua launched it a couple of times in the fight but could not execute it properly. The '45' was supposed to be the punch to set up the Tua left hook by forcing an opponent to bring his right glove across his body to block it and there by leaving h! is right side open to a left hook but Tua could not, or would not fire it off.

Rahman's weight was supposed to be a liability for him in this fight but it in fact turned out to be an asset by helping him to soak up some of Tua's bigger punches and proving that 259 lbs does not come crashing down so easily. He managed to take Tua's punches as well as can be expected but I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Tua had fought out of his usual southpaw stance, I mean sure Rahman would have seen the left hook coming but if Tua did get the opportunity to land against Rahman, 'The Rock' may not have taken it so well. Then again fighting from the orthodox stance seems to give Tua a greater chance of landing and has evidently helped the brawler hold the boxer to a draw. I feel that Tua fighting out of the orthodox stance rather than the southpaw stance has improved his ability to be able to hit his opponents but at the same time has taken a bit of power away from his left.

The knockdown

The bell sounded to signal the end of the fight, seconds before that Rahman was holding his arms in the air believing he had won. This action by Rahman did not please the Tuaman who proceeded to try and crush Rahman's belief with an all out two-fisted attack in the final seconds. The bell sounded but both men continued to exchange and Tua, knowing the bell had just sounded, relaxed for a split second and that's when he got caught squared-up and off balance with a counter left hook, right on the jaw which knocked him backwards onto the canvas. He was immediately up on his feet and appeared unhurt. However had the incident of happened during the fight it would have been called a knockdown but that would not likely have happened given the fact that at no point in either of their fights together has Tua even so much as flinched at any of Rahman's punches while Rahman cannot say the same about Tua's punches.

After the fight Rahman claimed he was robbed, "It's the same old stuff," he said, "I can't beat this David Tua. I beat him twice and I don't have a win on my record, I'm speechless. I out-boxed him, out-punched him, knocked him down, I don't know what else they expect me to do." Tua said that he thought he had done enough to win the fight by landing the harder punches and being the aggressor but also admitted to waiting to long for the opportunity to land. "I was looking to counterpunch. I was working to set it up. I hit him with everything I had. I think maybe I was admiring my work to much," says Tua.

In the end though when the smoke cleared I think a case could be made for both fighters but the God's honest truth is both warriors fought a good fight but neither did enough to win a clear decision. In other words neither combatant dominated the other and the fight was close enough to justify a draw. Tua - Rahman III coming soon....

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