By Jim Dower: Thirty-six year-old heavyweight David Tua (50-3-1, 43 KO’s) may very well have resurrected his career last night with a 2nd round stoppage victory over heavyweight contender Shane Cameron (23-2, 20 KO’s) at the Mystery Creek Events Centre, in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Tua, making his first appearance in over two years since stopping journeyman Cerrone Fox in the 2nd round in September 2007, was all over the over-matched Cameron last night, knocking him down three times before the fight was stopped in the round. Tua had Cameron down twice in the 1st, and then finished him off with a flurry of shots at the start of the 2nd round while Cameron stood with his back against the ropes taking shot after shot.

The final shots were a big left-right combination that sent Cameron down. Referee Bruce McTavish then stepped in and stopped the one-sided slaughter. Cameron, 31, who before tonight had faced strictly B and C level fighters, showed swelling on the right side of his face from the tremendous left hooks that Tua was nailing him with and he was cut under his bloodshot right eye.

Cameron never stood a chance even from the beginning and looked like he didn’t belong in the same ring with Tua. The bout had a little bit of controversy to it because Tua landed a left and right hand after Cameron went down for the second time in the 1st round. The punches weren’t huge shots and didn’t land cleanly, but they did appear to land and were well after Cameron hit the deck near the ropes. The referee failed to deduct any points from Tua, however.

At the start of the fight, Cameron circled the ring throwing nice double jabs to the head of Tua. Cameron found it easy to land his jabs, and was hitting Tua with them over and over again. Perhaps it was the ease of which Cameron could land which made him a little braver, as he then started adding combinations to the head of Tua. However, Cameron made the mistake of getting too close to Tua after throwing a shot and was nailed by a big right hand from Tua that caused Cameron to stagger backwards to the ropes.

Cameron was at the center of the ring when he got tagged by Tua, and retreated in a staggering fashion until his back was up against the ropes where he was trapped like a rat. Tua quickly came after him and landed a short left-right combination and then a big left hook that snapped Cameron’s head back violently, sending him down on the canvas with 33 seconds left in the round.

As Cameron was trying to get to his feet, he collapsed back down on the canvas. On his second attempt, he was finally able to get to his feet but looked out of it, his face red from the big shots that Tua had landed. Cameron looked at the referee, smiling sheepishly, while being told to walk towards him. The fight was then resumed, although you could tell that Cameron wasn’t going to survive for long by looking at his general condition.

He looked in bad shape. Tua then launched into him like a heat seeking missile, tagging him with a right-left combination that once again caused Cameron to foolishly back up to the ropes. Once he had him pinned against the ropes, Tua blasted Cameron with two right hooks to the head and then a monstrous left hook to the face that dropped Cameron for the second time in the round.

A second after Cameron hit the canvas, Tua poured in a left hand followed by a right as Cameron was down on the canvas. The referee had to peel Tua off of Cameron to protect him from getting hit with any additional shots from Tua, who looked to have slightly lost control of his emotions. This time when Cameron got up, he looked in even worse shape and an argument could be made that the fight should have been stopped right here because there was no way he could recover from the shots and keep fighting.

The referee then called a time out for some reason. It looked as if he was going to take points away from Tua for the punches thrown while Cameron was on the canvas, but instead the referee let it go without taking points.

In the 2nd round, Tua jumped all over Cameron at the start of the round, nailing him with a flurry of unanswered punches as Cameron stood trying to cover up against the ropes. Tua’s powerful combinations cut straight through Cameron’s guard, hitting him cleanly to the head each time until Cameron collapsed after getting hit with a 1-2 combination to the head. The fight was then stopped by referee Bruce McTavish as Cameron was still on the canvas. Cameron was cut under his right eye, and the right side of his face was swollen as if his jaw may have been broken by one of Tua’s left hooks.

In winning the fight, Tua captured The World Boxing Organization Asia Pacific heavyweight and WBO Oriental heavyweight titles. It was a great performance from Tua, and showed that he is definitely back. His speed, power and aggressiveness reminded me of his early form in the late 90s when Tua was battling fighters like Ike Ibeabuchi and Oleg Maskaev, and being compared to Mike Tyson.

Although the win was a good one, Tua needs to follow it up by being more active and fighting better fighters than this. There was mention of him fighting Hasim Rahman next. That would be a good choice if Tua can make the fight happen soon.

If not, he needs to go after another top contender and try to stay as busy as possible. He turns 37 in November, and he needs to make a quick move if he wants to get a title shot before he gets much older. The important thing is Tua needs to stay at around the weight he fought tonight, which is 237, and attack his opponents like he attacked Cameron.

This is how Tua used to fight early in his career before he became overweight and more of a plodding type heavyweight. He’s much more effective when he explodes on his opponents with quick flurries because this takes advantage of his hand speed and power, which are still very good. The way Tua fought tonight, I could see him beating most of the top contenders and possibly a champion or two if he attacked them like he did Cameron.