By Jim Dower: David Tua’s career took a major blow on Saturday night in a 12 round decision loss against 40-year-old journeyman Monte Barrett in Manukua, New Zealand. If this loss wasn’t a sign that it’s time for the 38-year-old Tua to hand up the gloves it’s hard to say what is.

However, Tua is saying he won’t be retiring, even though the loss to Barrett pretty much ends any chances of Tua getting a title shot in the foreseeable future. The problem for Tua is that there isn’t a heavyweight champion that wants to pick him out just based on name recognition rather than accomplishments.

In the past, past their prime heavyweights, such as Evander Holyfield, was able to get title shots against champions without having to beat anyone of note. However, with the Klitschkos holding all four of the heavyweight titles right now, Tua’s best chance of getting a title shot will be if the winner of the Ruslan Chagaev vs. Alexander Povetkin fight for the WBA regular heavyweight title looks his way for fairly safe title defense.

Tua was dominated by Barrett for most of the fight until the last three rounds when Tua seemed to wake up to the fact that he was on the verge of losing a lopsided decision. He came alive and controlled the last three rounds of the fight, even knocking Barrett down in the 12th with a beautiful right hand shot. However, Tua wasn’t able to finish the job and had to settle for losing a close 12 round decision.

It’s a minor victory that Tua barely lost the fight, but when you factor in that Barrett is a journeyman fighter and not a contender ranked in the top 15, it’s a serious setback for Tua. This is the second fight against Barrett in which Tua has fought poorly.

The sad thing about the Tua loss is that he reportedly been contacted by IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladiimir Klitschko for a possible fight. However, with Tua losing to Barrett, that title shot is now down the drain for Tua.