Tua to face former world champion

David Tua’s next fight will be against American former world champion Bruce Seldon on February 7 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

It is part of a three-fight deal announced on Friday. The second fight will be in New Zealand on March 27 against Friday Ahunanya at a venue yet to be announced.

The third fight is scheduled for May 1 in Honolulu. His opponent is still to be announced but is expected to be a considerable step forward and someone who is likely to position the New Zealander for a world title bout later in the year.

The three-fight schedule, run over 84 days, will get rid of Tua's prohibitive TV deal with Maori Television. All three fights will be broadcast by Maori TV and Tua will then be cleared to cash in on the lucrative pay-per-view market.

Tua's fight against Selden will be on the eve of the American NFL's Superbowl and is expected to help boost his profile in the United States on a busy weekend for sports in the world's most lucrative television market.

Tua will split his training for that between New Zealand and a base in Florida as he prepares to put his WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental heavyweight belts on the line.

The 42-year-old Seldon is an Atlantic City native and has 40 wins (36 KOs) and eight losses (7 KOs) in a professional career dating back to 1988.

While he has kept active, boxing twice this year, the highlights of his career date back to the mid-90s.

Seldon beat Tony Tucker for the vacant WBA heavyweight title in 1995 when their scheduled 12-round fight was stopped in the seventh round because of swelling to Tucker's eyes.

Seldon then battered Joe Hipp in his first defence of the title four months later with the fight being stopped for the same reason in round 10.

A year later he defended the title against Mike Tyson and was knocked out one minute and 49s into the first round.

Tua said he was excited to have a schedule mapped out for him and to know his destiny after a couple of months of uncertainty following his sensational win over Shane Cameron in Hamilton in early October.

"It's been hard to look too far ahead. But this is a great way to look forward to next year now."

The 38-year-old Tua says he's ready to go again.

"It's not when you get knocked down that counts but it's when you get back up that matters. This is a continuation of my journey - I have a good five years left in me and the dream is still alive for me to be the heavyweight champion of the world."

Tua said he had been keeping busy with fitness and gym work three times a week. He would step that up now.

Tua's global promoter Cedric Kushner flew to New Zealand for the announcement and promised bigger things next year.

"These fights are designed to get David active and get him in a position to challenge for a world title in the latter part of 2010," Kushner said.

"Fighting regularly obviously helps the process of conditioning and also raises your profile, because you are prominently in the limelight for extended periods. A series of successful fights will also validate my calls to the sanctioning bodies to elevate David in the rankings."

He believed Tua would be a major drawcard in Honolulu with its large Samoan population.

Tua said he was thrilled to be getting another fight in New Zealand against Ahunanya in a promotion that would be put on by Duco, who promoted the Tua-Cameron fight.

Ahunanya has already called out Tua, with both boxers having been the only ones to beat Cameron, both by knockouts. Tua's came in the second round and Ahunanya's came in the final round.

- © Fairfax NZ News