By Jason Kim: David Tua (51-3-2, 43 KO’s) should consider himself very fortunate that he escaped with a 12 round majority draw with journeyman Monte Barrett (34-9-1, 20 KO’s) last Saturday night, because Tua looked really horrible throughout the 12 round bout at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Tua looked like he had trained Dennys, sporting a nice coat of fat around his midsection and looking slow, and frankly kind of old.

It wasn’t Tua’s finest hour, that’s for sure. In the 12th round, looking exhausted, Tua tried to go after Barrett and score a knockout. However, Tua was just too tired and too short to connect with his shots. Somewhere along the line, Tua lost his cool and threw Barrett to the canvas.

Maybe Tua thought he would get away with that. He didn’t. The referee Randy Neumann immediately stopped the action and took away a point from Tua for roughing Barrett. Tua then looked like he was trying to make up for the point loss by opening up with a flurry of shots. Barrett, now backed against the ropes, opened up with a flurry of his own, hurting Tua first with a right hand and then putting him down with a hard left hook to the jaw.

Tua hit the canvas and then staggered to his feet, looking really hurt. To his credit, Tua was able to recover after a brief period of time but he was really hurt. Luckily for Tua, Barrett really didn’t go after him in any real way because I think he would have knocked Tua out had he opened up with another hard flurry. I think Tua should have lost the fight, but being the more popular fighter, he was able to escape with a 12 round draw by the scores of 115-111, 113-113 and 113-113.

The scary thing about Tua is that he may actually get a title shot against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko very soon. Tua is ranked number # 2 in the WBO, and that means he’s going to get an opportunity soon unless he gets beaten up by another 2nd tier fighter. But it’s worrisome that Tua struggled so badly against the 39-year-old Barrett.

This was a fighter that Tua should have been able to easily beat. Instead, he looked horrible and throughout the fight. He no longer can throw fast combinations and has slowed down a lot. Tua is now a one punch at a time fighter for the most part. I think he would be a sitting duck against someone like Wladimir or his brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko.

Tua will be turning 38 in November, so he’s got to make a move soon before he starts looking even worse than he did against Barrett. This is a fighter that the younger Tua would have totally destroyed, but this version of Tua is incredibly lucky that he escaped with a 12 round draw, because I had Barrett winning that fight.