Heavyweight knockout artist David Tua (49-3-1, 42 KOs) destroyed a badly over matched Cerrone Fox (8-6, 8 KOs) in the 2nd round and in the process knocking him down three times on Friday night at the Soaring Eagle Casino, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Fox, 28, a fighter with a poor record, must have felt like he’d won the lottery by getting a shot at Tua. However, by the end of the fight he probably felt otherwise as he badly hurt in the first round by a big right hand from Tua. However, after hurting him, Tua backed off as if were toying with Fox in order to prolong his suffering for a while longer. Fox was able to get off some shots when Tua backed off, but he looked wild and dreadfully unskilled as a fighter, not so much different than the skill of a typical MMA fighter.
In the 2nd round, Tua was through play nice guy, as he opened up with cannon-like hooks to the body and head, using both hands. However, it was Tua’s left that did most of the damage, sending Fox down to the canvas three times in the round. After the 3rd knockdown, the referee stopped the bout due to Fox being badly shaken from the hook and unable to clear his head enough to continue further in the fight.
Unfortunately, this is Tua’s seventh consecutive win over B grade opposition and it’s beginning to wear thin with many of his boxing fans. However, Tua later said that his management team had been unable to land a bout with a named fighter from the top tier being that none of them wanted to take a bout with him, perhaps fearing that they might lose badly and end up hurting their career. Nevertheless, Tua is being hurt by the level of his opposition because he’s stopping them too quickly in order for him to gain much from beating them.
What he needs is a tough opponent, one that will press him and give him some rounds and show him different things that he’ll likely face if/when he goes up against Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF heavyweight champion, who Tua has been rumored to be possibly facing in early 2008.
Tua came into the bout at 234 lbs, the best weight for him in ages, going back to 2001. However, I fear, that for him to continue to stay at this kind of excellent condition, he’s going to need to continue to stay active otherwise he’ll likely end up gaining weight again and losing his conditioning once again.