Graham Says

August 21, 2008


Even now fight fans debate the decision rendered in the bout between Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. In Sorcery at Caesars, Steve Marantz, who covered the event for The Boston Globe, provides an informative and diverting look back at the fight, tracing the steps of each man to the magical night at Caesars Palace in 1987 before examining the fight itself and its aftermath.

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About Graham

Born in England in 1942. Life as a boxing writer began with a weekly column in a newspaper called the South London Advertiser in the early 1960s. Moved to the far bigger-circulation South London Press, writing a twice-weekly boxing section, in 1966. Joined the weekly Boxing News in 1970 and became editor in 1972. Moved across the pond in 1977 for marriage-related reasons and covered the American scene for Boxing News until joining Boxing Monthly in 1990. ...

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DAVID TUA vs ROBERT HAWKINS

TUA: a chance to make a statement.
Location:
Roseland Ballroom, New York City, Feb. 22
Graham's Odds:
Tua -600; Hawkins +400
Over 8.5 -120; under 8.5 +100

Yes

No

Roseland Ballroom, New York City, Feb. 22

DAVID TUA vs ROBERT HAWKINS

TUA: a chance to make a statement.

Tua -600; Hawkins +400

Over 8.5 -120; under 8.5 +100

David Tua hasn’t had a big win in a long time but he is still very much around, still within one big left hook of becoming part of the heavyweight picture again.

Tua lost two years out of his career due to litigation with former manager Kevin Barry and his recent displays have been somewhat desultory, but fans still remember the big knockout wins. If he can knock out durable Robert Hawkins on Thursday it will be the sort of performance that will make people take notice of him again.

At 35, Tua is not old as today’s heavyweights go. His problem has been inactivity, with just four bouts in four years. He boxed just three months ago, however, knocking out trial horse Maurice Wheeler in the seventh. If he can just build up a head of steam again and keep active there is still hope.

His promoter, Cedric Kushner, said from New York this week: “Robert Hawkins will be a good yardstick as to where David is right now. This guy went 10 rounds with Samuel Peter.”

Tua’s trainer, Roger Bloodworth, told me: “We aren’t taking Hawkins light. He’s a tough guy. We’ll see where David is — to me he’s been looking good in the gym and I think this fight is an excellent fight for him. I think it will tell us exactly where he stands. I’m just looking for the win, but if he did happen to stop him I think it would be a huge statement.”

Hawkins does not go over easily, of course. He was stopped in the fourth round by Oleg Maskaev 12 years ago when both were just starting out, and that was his only inside-schedule loss in 27 fights.

The Philadelphian is not blast-proof, though. He was knocked down by Eddie Chambers and by the ordinary southpaw Livin Castillo, while Samuel Peter floored him in the first round and then coasted to an easy points win. The fight with Peter was delayed for about 10 minutes after the fourth round when the colourful fight figure Panama Lewis collapsed at ringside and had to be attended to by paramedics before being taken to hospital. This interruption could have helped Hawkins to go the limit.

Hawkins’s enthusiasm for boxing might be waning at the age of 36. He has only boxed once in 14 months, when he was easily outpointed by prospect Kevin Johnson and he weighed a career-high 260 pounds for that fight.

If Tua comes out aggressively and puts pressure on Hawkins he can have a good result, but failure to let his hands go has long been one of Tua’s problems. He had difficulties with the southpaw Maurice Wheeler, who was a late substitute, but hurt his opponent to the body before crumpling him in the seventh.

Tua's showing against Wheeler suggested he has gone back significantly but it could just have been a case of his opponent's style making him look bad.

If Tua is as sluggish as he was for the first six rounds against Wheeler there is the possibility that Hawkins will start to fancy his chances, and things could get interesting — but if the Philadelphia veteran starts to get bold he could leave himself open to be caught by a big punch.

I think that Tua’s trainer is right: this fight should tell us a lot about the former contender.

My initial thoughts were that Tua might knock Hawkins down once or twice but that his opponent will find a way to survive to hear the final bell. Looking at the way Tua has been fighting lately, this still seems to me the most likely type of scenario. Having a slight idea of how the business of boxing works, though, I cannot dismiss the notion that the fight has been made for a specific reason — for Tua to go one better than Samuel Peter. He could do it, but he has to believe he can do it and fight accordingly — and with Tua these days, who really knows?


Last Updated: March 7, 2007 9:22pm

Note: Odds are for entertainment purposes only