Cameron's manager wanted fight stopped before round 2
BY MATT RICHENS
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Shane Cameron's manager Ken Reinsfield wanted the "Fight of the Century" against David Tua stopped after round one.
Reinsfield said in the post-fight press conference on Saturday night it had been a team decision to carry on after two knock-downs in the opening round, but New Zealand Boxing Association president Lance Revill said Reinsfield had wanted to throw in the towel at the first break, but it was Cameron himself who wanted to fight on.
"That's what I've been told," Revill said yesterday.
As it happened, a seven-second, 13-punch Tua assault on Cameron finished the fight early in the second round anyway, and Cameron was taken to hospital, but just as a precaution, according to Reinsfield.
Revill, who refereed Tua's three previous New Zealand fights, stood in two fights on Saturday night and had a 16-year professional career of his own, said the fight should have been stopped earlier and much-hyped referee Bruce McTavish let the fight go on dangerously too long.
"It should have been stopped at least six punches earlier.
"[Cameron] had dropped his head and wasn't defending himself or throwing punches. That's a key indicator to a referee. That fight went too long."
Revill said he didn't want to criticise McTavish's performance, because it was a difficult job and had he called the fight off earlier he would have also come under fire.
Tua was too powerful, too fast and a class, if not two, above Cameron. But Revill said the fighters weren't as big a mismatch as their corners were, and it was that and poor tactics which cost Cameron.
"That fight wasn't a mis-match," he said. "But the tactics were all wrong for Cameron."
Revill said talk of Cameron needing to stay away from Tua was misguided and the 31-year-old should have got closer to Tua if anything.
"He needed to go after Tua, and get close. That might have put Tua off and taken away his power. If you stay away, David can swing and when he gets going, well you saw what happened, but if you get close, sure you'll wear one or two, but if David is more likely to throw one or two then defend; you won't wear six or seven."
He said Cameron needed to adopt the tactics of Evander Holyfield in the infamous ear-biting fight with Mike Tyson in 1997.
"Holyfield got so close, Tyson couldn't swing and got frustrated, that's when he bit his ear. That was the way for Cameron to win, to frustrate."
A lack of a top-level corner hurt Cameron. "They're just inexperienced," Revill said of Cameron's support team.
"Ken (Reinsfield) just got into boxing because he was a bucket-man for Kevin Barry and (trainer) Lollo (Heimuli) is a kick-boxer. On the other side you have (Tua's trainer) Roger Bloodworth, who's trained numerous champions.
"So in one corner you had an expert and people who can read a fight; in the other you had guys that have never fought. That's a big difference."
- © Fairfax NZ News
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Revill's great at bagging all and sundry and think's that he's the only decent ref there is. Just a bitter ex fighter with nothing good to say about anyone.
David Tua was in the best condition both phsycially and mentally that I have seen him in any part of his career, this is a direct result of his condition trainer Lee Parore and his trainer Roger Bloodworthy and there small team of assistants. No one knows about the many times that Lee pushed David to the top of one tree hill or the long series of press ups that David undertook and it was this hard work and his committment to train hard and focus to go in and destroy Shane in this fight that proved to everyone that David Tua is really back. This devestating performance will put David Tua right out there in front of the big American TV moguls Showtime TV -HBO, and ESPN this performance is exactly what American boxing needs and I do think that these companies will be knocking on Cedric Kushner door with options to consider. For Shane Cameron my suggestion would be to get alongside Cedric Kushner after the 3 month stand down period and with the help of Cedric rebuild his career with the possibility of a undercard fight on one of Davids next series of fights in the future as a way of rebuilding his career. The David Tua that I see now is a mature family man totally committed to his family and his ultimate goal of fighting for the World heavyweight championship and what I really find as the biggest change in David Tua is that he can mix with all levels of the community in a relaxed and friendly way,but when he climbs into the ring his fight face comes before us and he is totally methodical and the way that he breaks down and destroys his opponent, this is the sign of a true professional. Well done David you are a man to be admired along with Robina and your family and team.
I agree with most of what Revill said, except that rather than mixing it up with Tua, Cameron should have kept his distance or tie Tua up, much like what Lennox Lewis did. Lewis kept Tua at a distance with his straight lefts so that Tua was unable to reach him or else clinch and tie him up. He never mixed it up with Tua in close quarters. But unfortunately Cameron and his corner did not have the experience nor the expertise to adopt this strategy.
This lack of expertise and experience was further shown by postfight comments by Cameron and his team that they were proud that Cameron was able to take a lot of Tua's punches and was never knocked out. That is plain stupid. Cameron was hurt after the first knockdown and he should have stayed down and taken the count to allow himself time to clear his head and to recover, then kept away or tie Tua up rather than give Tua room to throw lethal punches. Cameron and his corner should learn to respect his opponents. Especially, opponents with powerful punches like Tua, as did Lennox Lewis. They should watch the video and learn from it.
Revill knows team Cameron and he may be right when he says that they are inexperienced. If he is then Cameron needs to find a more savvy and experienced support team if he is to progress. Boxing is too risky a business for him not to get good advise. Perhaps he can afford to do that now with the help of his hardearned $500,000 share of the purse.
now its finally over we can all wait and see whats ahead for both fighters. I would like to thank Cameron for having the guts to fight Tua and also giving Tua the opportunity to resurrect his career because without it, it was all but waste for Tua. best of luck to both fighters
Lance... You told Terry Hill that Shane hit harder than David and would knock him out, back when Shane was first calling out David. And if you think that Lolo has never fought (as quoted here) then maybe Monty Snr hit you a bit hard back in the day and things are still rattling around. You have seen Lolo fight and you know hes a trainer for the ABA, so either your a tad forgetful, or the author of this article is full of it and making things up.
Yawn. Wake me up when the fight starts.....
All I can say give up ,you can say anything now but Tua has already done the DAMAGE.find another career.he looks good&handsome,he can become a famous model but not a boxer goodluck.
The only thing entertaining about the Farce of the Century was the rug the ref was wearing. It looked so nylon a combover would have been better.
Well done to Tua. But really Cameron is an over hyped punch bag that been over promoted by that well known hype factory from Penrose.
The bout went too long. How stupid can a man be? Cameron was gone with 20sec's to go in the first round. What was the ref wanting? The greatest comeback of all time?
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Give Tua his due and move on stop all this should of would of stuff whats happened is history lets applaud and wait for David Tuas next fight Give boxing the bigs ups it deserves