Imagine a prime (99-00) Tua against a prime (69-73) Joe Frazier, who would win?

[nomadman]

Frazier - the greatest HW in-fighter, and a video of Tuas poor attempt at fighting on the inside. Right.

Don't try to patronize me you Lennox Lewis nuthugger.

Now was that really worth red k'ing me and sending me an abusive PM? Learn to control your temper.

[StarshipTrooper]

Just a different class of fighter. We know Tua doesn't like it to the body and Frazier had the best body attack I've ever seen at Heavyweight. People are asking how Frazier would take a Tua left hook to the chin when the real question is how Tua would take a Frazier left hook to the ribs......or several dozen as would be the case

Poet

[Wild Blue Yonda]

Just a different class of fighter. We know Tua doesn't like it to the body and Frazier was had the best body attack I've ever seen at Heavyweight. People are asking how Frazier would take a Tua left hook to the chin when the real question is how Tua would take a Frazier left hook to the ribs......or several dozen as would be the case

Poet

He wouldnt take it, and thats why I see Tua quitting. People focus too heavily on Tuas whiskers --- Fraziers body assault would fold Tua like a deckchair. The myth that Frazier cannot beat a puncher, to the point some would not even favour him over a boxer as mediocre as Tua, is quite out of hand.

[StarshipTrooper]

He wouldnt take it, and thats why I see Tua quitting. People focus too heavily on Tuas whiskers --- Fraziers body assault would fold Tua like a deckchair. The myth that Frazier cannot beat a puncher, to the point some would not even favour him over a boxer as mediocre as Tua, is quite out of hand.

It all goes back to the Foreman fights.....and the truth is if you had substituted Tua for Frazier against Big George the same damn thing would have happened. No short-armed pressure fighter no matter how good is going to survive against Foreman. Foreman destroys that kind of fighter brutally.

Poet

[La_Vibora]

Yeah I agree, sometimes I wish that fight with Foreman never happened so people could appreciate Joe alot more than they do. As for Tua, I will never understand this infatuation with him, outside of the Ibeabuchi fight and maybe the David Izon fight, I was never really that impressed with him (this includes the John Ruiz fight). Yet people on this very board still call for him to get a title shot even until this day or talk about him like he was some all time great fighter.

[The Surgeon]

Yeah I agree, sometimes I wish that fight with Foreman never happened so people could appreciate Joe alot more than they do. As for Tua, I will never understand this infatuation with him, outside of the Ibeabuchi fight and maybe the David Izon fight, I was never really that impressed with him (this includes the John Ruiz fight). Yet people on this very board still call for him to get a title shot even until this day or talk about him like he was some all time great fighter.

Power mate Power.... people fall in love with that ***** too much.

Where did all that get him anyway even in this mediocre era??

[Jim Jeffries]

I'd say Tua's prime was in 96-97 when he was in the mid 220's, after that he blew up (save the Rahman fight,) but even then he was inconsistent and too one dimensional to favor over a great like Frazier. Though I think it'd be a hell of an entertaining fight.

[nomadman]

Just a different class of fighter. We know Tua doesn't like it to the body and Frazier had the best body attack I've ever seen at Heavyweight. People are asking how Frazier would take a Tua left hook to the chin when the real question is how Tua would take a Frazier left hook to the ribs......or several dozen as would be the case

True. Thing is, a body attack takes several rounds to have an effect, whereas a shot to the chops is instantaneous. If Tua caught Frazier to the head (as might happen if Frazier decided to focus on the body) then he could seriously hurt Frazier, and a prime Tua was vicious at finishing opponents off (in fact to my knowledge there isn't a single fighter who was knocked down by Tua who went on the finish the fight, let alone win it). If he allows Frazier to get shots off to the body, as might also happen, then I could likewise see him wilting in the mid rounds and possibly quitting on his stool. Tua wasn't a total goon though, and he'd probably try to prevent Frazier from seriously hurting him to the body. Whether he'd succeed or not is a different matter...

[nomadman]

Power mate Power.... people fall in love with that ***** too much.

Where did all that get him anyway even in this mediocre era??

Tua's prime was in the mid to late nineties, not a mediocre period for heavyweights at all. True, his power didn't get him a title, but that was as much down to bad management, poor conditioning and matchmaking as it was to any inherent flaws Tua had (and he had truck loads).

But it's true that the reason I regard Tua so highly in discussions of this type is mostly down to his power. Why? Because it was freaking off the charts! Couple that with one of the best beards of recent times and it's hard not to give him more than a fighting chance against guys whom, on paper, he should get demolished by.

[K-DOGG]

We all know it would be an out and out slugfest, and it would end very early, ala Frazier-Foreman and the 2 Liston-Cleveland Williams bouts. I think Tua would take the fight though.

Tua would have been around 230-235lbs in shape and that would be help him a bit, both have murderous left hooks but I can see Tua taking it in under 3 rounds. Both fighters would take big blows though. Frazier has the heart, but could his chin take Tua's power?

All respect to David Tua; but if he even dreamed of beating a prime Frazier, he should wake up and immediately apologize. Tua, in his prime was tough, relatively fast, and had an iron jaw; but Frazier wasn't called "Smokin' Joe" for nothing. Tua would probably knock Frazier around the ring for the first few rounds; but remember, Joe essentially never won a first round in his life. He was a very slow starter until he started to smoke in the middle to late rounds. Remember, he got bounced by Oscar Bonavena, who wa a big puncher and much bigger than him before he ever reached his prime and fought his way back into it. And Tua was maybe a little more diverse than Bonavena....but not much.

Here's how I see it: Tua takes the early....first 3 or 4 rounds on his strength; but Joe's tenacity and high work rate to the body start slowing David down through the mid rounds until Joe is dominating the fight from the late-mid-rounds on.

It could end in a late round TKO; but I don't think so. If Ibeabuchi didn't knock Tua out, I don't think Frazier would. Look for a close decision in Frazier's favour.