Rahman fight next on cards

Dec 13 booked for Tua

BY STEVE KILGALLON
Last updated 05:00 04/10/2009
1 of 25
LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff.co.nz Zoom
BLEEDING AND BEATEN: Blood trickles down the right cheek of Shane Cameron after his second round knockout loss to David Tua at Mystery Creek.

Tua and Cameron talk after the fight

Tua v Cameron fight highlights

David Tua
LAWRENCE SMITH/Fairfax Media
BIG WIN: David Tua celebrates his win over Shane Cameron.

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Tua-Cameron fight promoter David Higgins turns 30 on December 13 - and plans to celebrate the day with a fight between David Tua and former world champion Hasim Rahman.

The Sunday Star-Times understands Higgins made a provisional booking for that day at Vector Arena, Auckland, before last night's fight. He was confident that a stand-off over television rights with Maori TV that threatened to block the fight could be solved after extended talks between MTV and Tua's promoter Cedric Kushner.

Asked to confirm the date and venue, he said: "It's a good date for an event, isn't it?"

A key fact that could help a Rahman fight is that last night's promotion was profitable. Higgins said he had definitely broken even and would "make the profit that we deserve".

A Sky TV source has suggested the pay-per-view uptake was close to a New Zealand record 40,000.

Higgins said Mystery Creek was "within 200" of its fire limit of 7900 last night, although that figure included staff and media. Around 150 corporate tables were sold with guests eating roast beef and prosciutto-wrapped chicken.

At the top of the undercard, a brawling all-Australian heavyweight clash between notorious former league player John Hopoate and Queensland coalminer Colin Wilson set the scene for the main event. Low on quality but high on punching, it had a low blow from Wilson, a knockdown from Hopoate in the second and ended a minute into the fourth when Wilson dropped Hopoate for the second time with a thundering short jab that sent his cornermen and fight doctor Dave Renata racing into the ring.

Hopoate, who earlier this year was knocked out by Oliver McCall when he challenged for a minor world title, holds the Australian heavyweight crown, but refused to table it last night.

Wilson said he could claim it anyway but that was dismissed by Hopoate manager Mike Battagli. Asked by the Star-Times if he had finished Hopoate as a serious heavyweight prospect, Wilson said: "I think so.

"They were just waiting for the man to take him back to football. I kept my bum intact, too."

The much-anticipated clash of former world champion kickboxer Shane 'Choppa' Chapman and WBO Asia-Pacific cruiserweight champion Soulan Pownceby was stopped in the third with Chapman cut by an accidental headbutt from Pownceby.

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Two unusual media rights issues were also resolved last night, with organisers allowing Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater to tweet live, and allowing international picture agent Getty Images to photograph the fight at the 11th hour after initially denying it press passes.

- © Fairfax NZ News

23 comments
Post a comment
okinawa   #23   12:34 pm Oct 11 2009

GoD BlEsS YoU nD YoUr fAmIlY.

steve   #22   05:02 pm Oct 05 2009

Vitali wasn,t knocked out my Lewis he was stopped on a cut.

He took the best uppercuts lennox could throw and didn,t even look like going down.

I wouldn,t count david out if he shows up in shape and i hope he wins because if he can win the world title his 1st defence will be for approx 8-10 million dollars and all his financial problems will go away he will be set for life but it will be a difficult fight for Tua.

tall poppy   #21   06:17 am Oct 05 2009

Mike Dela #2 Your seriously gonna question the punching power of Tua?. Can you name any other fighter apart from Tyson that is or has been as effective?. Yeah the boxing world wasn't particularly on fire with this match beforehand, but with the ferocity combined with the hand speed Tua showed, the boxing world will soon acknowledge him as a force again.

Beating Cameron, will put him inside the top 10 of the WBO,(Cameron has been inside the top 10) but would need a scalp in the class of Rahman to project him into contender-type rankings of the other more prestigious organizations (WBA, WBC and IBF).

George Foreman re-captured the heavyweight crown at the age of 45 by knocking out Michael Moorer in a fight where he was trailing every round. So please think about the dribble you post. Tua will be done when the footwork is no longer there and his combinations no longer connect or have any impact, but until then, he'll always be dangerous.

As for the so called Real Boxing Fan #3 anyone that follows boxing knows that a 2nd round knockout of a fighter with literally no reputation outside of Australasia, isn’t going to propel that boxer into contender stratosphere, but most people commenting on this site, are rejoicing in the fact that Tua showed he is in the form that made him the no.1 contender in 2000.

Cameron isn’t a Valuev or Klitchko, but Tua would trouble any contender or champion with that punching power. There is a reason why he’s never been knocked out or why all his opponents (including Lennox Lewis) do not stand in front of him and jab him out. Cameron learnt that lesson on Saturday.

One last thing, Wladimir Klitschko has been knocked out by Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster, his brother Vitali has been knocked out by Lennox Lewis (the same guy that couldn’t even drop Tua), so stop kissing these guys butts, cause they might all be over 6’6” (Valuev is actually 7 foot), but they are beatable.

sergei   #20   10:12 pm Oct 04 2009

Ok.... can i say Klitschko will dominate both men..

steve   #19   09:32 pm Oct 04 2009

Shane Cameron was bragging about how hard man and big he was for months and months. As soon as it came time to walk the walk he got assasinated. Whats even worse is that he knows no matter where he goes in New Zealand now to everybody he won't be 'the mountain warrior' he will be the joker who got schooled by Tua. live with that

Joe Epp   #18   09:27 pm Oct 04 2009

I told the Klitchko brothers years ago, if anyone cane knock your two out, then it's Tua. They afraid of David.

Reb   #17   08:38 pm Oct 04 2009

Shane Cameron should be thanked for promoting the 'new' David Tua. Only now after this fight has David Tua put himself back in the frame as a serious title contender. Before this fight nobody was organising a title fight with Tua. David was waiting, waiting and waiting for someone to 'call him out.' So what if it was only Shane Cameron that put himself on the line. Nobody else seemed interested. Thanks Shane.

Mr W   #16   05:23 pm Oct 04 2009

Cameron got a hiding... which was great to see!

GO TUA MAN

Darren Borick   #15   05:07 pm Oct 04 2009

The old hand showing the young upstart what its all about by giving him damn good beating, and my, what a beating.

JSPARROW   #14   05:07 pm Oct 04 2009

They showed the fight live on foxtel in Australia, the interest was not only in N.Z.TUA has a chance now to fight the top fighters in the world and one day fight for the title.Bring on Chris Arreola!!!!


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