Tua vs. Barrett II on Saturday

By Boxing News - 08/08/2011 - Comments

Image: Tua vs. Barrett II on SaturdayBy Eric Thomas: 40-year-old heavyweight contender David Tua (52-3-2, 43 KO’s) faces 40-year-old Monte Barrett (34-9-2, 20 KO’s) on Saturday at the Telestra Clear Events Centre in Manukau City, New Zealand. For Tua, who is ranked #3 by the World Boxing Organization, this will be his second chance to try and beat the 2nd tier Barrett.

Tua took on Barrett a year ago in July 2010 in what was supposed to have been an easy fight to keep the highly ranked Tua in line for an eventual title shot against WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. However, Barrett spoiled Tua’s plans by knocking him down in the 12th round and earning a 12 round majority draw. That loss messed things up for Tua, and he followed that fight with a 10 round decision win over Demtrice King (15-20, 13 KO’s) in another uneven performance from Tua. Both guys were fighters that Tua should have easily beaten and looked good against if he were really a deserving #3 contender, but he struggled.

Tua says he’s not going to go looking for a knockout on Saturday against Barrett, and instead will focus on just trying to win a decision on points. Tua doesn’t want to blow it again while trying to take Barrett out. Tua really needs to be careful because Barrett showed that he has enough power in his left hook and right hand to hurt Tua. The last thing that Tua needs is to get knocked out while he’s trying to get a title shot.

“If I’m to go out there and look for the knockout, I overlook other things,” Tua said to the nzherald.co.nz. “It’s important for me to pile the points up, then at least you know you’ve got points to fall back on if it comes to that towards the end of the fight.”

Tua needs to punch with speed and combinations. He can’t just load up like he’s been doing and throw one punch at a time. During his best years 10+ years ago, Tua was dangerous when he was putting his punches together. However, after he started putting on a lot of weight and coming into his fights in less than the best condition, Tua stopped throwing combinations and became a one punch at a time fighter. He still was lethal because of his huge punching power but not nearly as good as he was before.



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