By Allan Fox: In a predictable outcome, 40-year-old David Tua (52-5-2, 43 KO’s) wrapped up his boxing career with a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to the much taller and bigger 6’7″, 292 lb. Alexander Ustinov (29-1, 21 KO’s) on Saturday night in their fight for the vacant WBA Pan African heavyweight title at the Claudelands Arena, Hamilton, New Zealand. The final judges scores were 119-110, 119-109 and 119-108. Tua reportedly retired after the fight.

Tua, 5’10”, was too short to land his wild shots on a consistent basis, and he failed to let his hands go the way he did earlier in his career. Instead, Tua just seemed like he was looking for one big punch to try and KO Ustinov, and he badly telegraphed everything he threw.

You could tell when Tua was going to throw something because he was like an old car engine turning over for 2 minutes before finally coming to life with a trail of bluish black smoke coming out of the tailpipe. When Tua would throw a shot, Ustinov would lean backwards to easily avoid it. Although Tua was in good shape, he looked like a fighter that was in a different weight class than Ustinov due to his lack of height.

Ustinov did a good job of controlling the fight with a pawing jab followed by left hooks thrown that were more arm punches than a power punch and he landed a lot of clubbing right hands without much power. It was like watching a slower, weaker version of Vitali Klitschko with the way Ustinov fought. Ustinov didn’t need power because his huge size and reach enabled him to pepper the shorter Tua with shots all night long without having to worry about anything coming back at him.

Tua hadn’t fought in two years before this fight, and you have to question the wisdom of Tua coming back without a tune-up to face a huge fighter like Ustinov. This kind of fighter would have given even a prime Tua a lot of problems with his size, but against an older 40-year-old Tua without the ability to throw combinations like he did in his youth, he never stood a chance.