By William Mackay: Former heavyweight contender David Tua (49-3-1, 42 KO’s) has reportedly put his sparring partner Israel Garcia in the hospital after a tough sparring session on Tuesday for Tua’s preparation for his October 3rd bout against Shane Cameron for the WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Oriental heavyweight titles at the Mystery Creek Events Centre, in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Tua, 37, hurt Garcia with some big shots during the previous days sparring session, and when Garcia woke up this morning, he discovered that his head had swelled up.

Garcia (19-3, 11 KO’s) then had to seek out treatment at a local hospital to be examined. Garcia, 39, is notable for being stopped in the 3rd round last year by Chris Arreola in September and taken out in the 2nd round in February of 2009 by Denis Boytsov.

Tua is still making a slow upward climb towards a hopeful title shot in the future. It’s been nine years since Tua lost a lopsided 12 round decision to Lennox Lewis in 2000. To be sure, Tua is going to have to speed up his pace if he wants to land a title shot before he reaches his 40th birthday.

Tua needs to be more active and against better quality opposition than what he’s faced in the past nine years. Tua hasn’t fought since stopping Cerrone Fox in the 2nd round two years ago in September 2007.

Before that fight, Tua had been progressing well in his comeback, winning six fights since he had come off a two year layoff from 2003 to 2005. If Tua can beat Cameron for the little known WBO titles, then Tua needs to scrap those belts and start fighting some contenders for a change.

At the very least, Tua needs to start fighting B level fighters again instead of the C and D class opponents he’s been facing since 2005. It’s hard to see what point there is in fighting someone like Cameron. Tua needs to move to the United States and start sparring and fighting quality fighters, not wasting time against lower level fighters. Cameron may be ranked #14 in the International Boxing Federation, but Tua needs better opposition than this.

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James “Lights Out” Toney (72-6-3, 44 KO’s) says that the Klitschko brothers need him to get big money, saying “Everyone wants to see me and no one wants to see you two [Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko]. The only way you are ever going to earn some money is by fighting me!” Toney, 41, is coming off an impressive 2nd round knockout over Matthew Greer on September 12th, and wants a fight against one of the Klitschko brothers, who Toney feels is avoiding him.

Toney is ranked #11 in the IBF and wants a title shot in the worst way against one of the Klitschko brothers. To show you how serious Toney is, he trimmed down to 217 for his fight against Greer, the lowest weight for Toney since 2003.

Toney may need to drop another 10 pounds to get in the kind of shape that he’ll need to be to beat one of the Klitschko brothers. Of course, at less than 210, Toney would likely be far too light to contend with either of the Klitschko brothers in a serious way.