David Tua wins unanimous points decision -- Stuff

 By DUNCAN JOHNSTONE, Stuff.co.nz

David Tua's comeback remains very much alive after a hard-fought but deserved points decision over Friday Ahunanya in west Auckland on Wednesday night.

Tua got good reward for being the constant aggressor in the fight although he couldn't land his trademark knockout with Ahunanya fulfilling his promise of durability.

Tua landed constant shots although struggled to get through the tight defence of the big Nigerian for the killer blow.

The card gave it to Tua 109-119, 109-117 and 108-120 for a unanimous decision.

Tua holds on to his WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental heavyweight belts.

This was seen as a dangerous fight for Tua but he was rarely troubled.

He was busy throughout, he went hunting Ahunanya and he ultimately gained a comfortable win.

This was a clean fight with Australian referee Gary Dean reduced to being another spectator at the sold out venue at Trusts Stadium.

Tua might be disappointed at failing to floor his opponent but his corner had spoken of the value of getting some rounds in and he certainly got that.

He worked hard with his right, particularly to the body of Ahunanya and he also managed to score with his hook occasionally.

Coming on top of his two-round demolition of Shane Cameron last October this was a solid performance from the New Zealand heavyweight.

The win left Tua's record at 51 wins (43 by KO), a draw and three losses.

The big question is where to from here for a 37-year-old fighter who still has major ambitions for a world title but is stalled by a prohibitive deal with Maori Television.

There could be calls for a rematch which would be an easy option given the persistent struggles to provide opponents.

But pressure will be for his global promoter Cedric Kushner to work around this and come up with a worthy opponent.

Kushner believes Hawaii remains a workable venue and wants to see Tua in action again within two months. But the search now starts in earnest to find a willing and credible fighter who will help manoeuvre Tua into a better position to a tilt at a title.

One that could provide a pay-per-view audience in the lucrative United States market would also help.

Tua earned $200,000 for this win - peanuts in global terms.

But this latest result will have done Tua no harm in terms of his important WBO ranking which is No 3 on a list headed by champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Ahunanya is left with a his sixth loss from 33 fights and after two years in the wilderness it will be interesting to see if he can rebuild his career from here at the age of 38.

Earlier, Tua's sparring partner Israel Garcia won an ugly fight on the main undercard event at Trusts Stadium in west Auckland tonight.

Garcia's Australian opponent Brett Smith was disqualified in the third round of their scheduled eight-round heavyweight bout for persistent fouling.

Referee Lance Revill warned Smith several times as the outclassed Australian struggled to stay with Garcia, at one stage virtually rugby tackling him.

Smith, in appalling shape after being called up late to make the fight, was no match for Garcia who appeared to be toying with the Australian who was fighting outside of his country for the first time.

Ad Feedback Garcia was well toned and well in charge, showing the sort of form that seemed to justify his desire to fight Shane Cameron.

It was a disappointing end to the preliminaries.

The other heavyweight contest on the undercard saw giant American Clarence Tillman win a split decision against rugged Wellington fighter Leamy Taito.

They fought over four rounds with Taito producing a gallant effort despite being seriously out-sized.

Tillman entered the ring at 130.2kg compared to Taito at 108.1kg.

The difference was too much in the end although Taito did trouble Tillman in the final round.

Source: stuff.co.nz

Bernard Hopkins relishes chance to send Roy Jones Jr. into retirement -- Las Vegas Sun

By Brett Okamoto, Las Vegas Sun

When Roy Jones Jr. suffered a first-round TKO loss at the hands of Danny Green in December, there were some who believed it no longer made sense for him to take on the still highly dangerous Bernard Hopkins in 2010.

Among those with that line of thinking was Hopkins's head trainer, Naazim Richardson.

"I didn't think the fight (Hopkins vs. Jones) was going to happen," Richardson said. "I picked Danny Green by knockout, so I didn't think it was going to happen. Then when (the knockout) came to terms, I really didn't think it was going to go on."

But despite the quick loss to Green — which has become somewhat controversial after Jones's camp complained Green used illegal hand-wrapping procedures — Hopkins still saw value in fighting Jones, whom he lost to in 1993.

And even though his own trainer didn't agree with him, Hopkins made his stance clear — he wanted to fight Roy Jones Jr.

"He said, 'I'm going to fight Roy Jones,'" Richardson said. "And I was like, 'Why?' I'm telling people, and I told Bernard, I would not take this fight.

"But I support Bernard. He's the man who put in all this work all those years, and if a man like him hasn't earned the right to pick a fight that he wants to fight, who has in this sport?"

With rumors of bad ticket sales and limited fan interest leading up to Saturday's main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, it's become clear this fight possibly is more for the fighters than for the public.

For Jones (54-6, 40 KO), it's a (possibly) final chance to prove he still can compete at the highest level in the sport he once stood at the top of.

For Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KO), it's a chance to beat the guy who ruined his first world title shot 17 years ago.

"To me, in 17 years you learn to get immune to it. It doesn't get my blood pressure up high or anything like that," Hopkins said. "But that's because I'm a true veteran and I'm not trying to waste energy answering questions on whether I like him or not in the days before the fight.

"When you've been around the game, everything is controlled until that bell rings. But around Friday after the weigh-in, you'll start to see it bubbling up."

After losing to Jones in 1993, Hopkins went on to win a middleweight world title and successfully defend it 20 times, the most in boxing history.

He took out the likes of Glen Johnson, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright and Kelly Pavlik.

He got past the disappointment of losing his first shot at a world title.

But then the opportunity finally came to make a rematch that fell apart so many times in the past because of conflicts over financial splits and suddenly the loss became something Hopkins needed to vindicate before the end of his career.

"Bernard had really come to terms with the Roy Jones fight," Richardson said. "He really found peace in the fact that two of the guys that destroyed Roy (Tarver and Johnson), he destroyed them. So he was comfortable that, 'I can retire knowing that I put it to bed.'

"Then when the talk came up about it and started to line up, he went back into the fight and he was interested in it."

So, 17 years and 71 combined fights later, Hopkins will get his chance to write not only the final chapter to his rivalry with Jones but possibly also to his opponent's storied career.

If Hopkins does send Jones into retirement Saturday night, he says his emotions will be exactly how Jones' probably were in 1993 — no remorse.

"I've been brought up kind of different," Hopkins said. "Where I come from, I don't love my enemy. When you conquer your enemy based on him trying to conquer you, I can't have love for you. If you don't like me, I don't like you.

"If you try to do something to me and your gun jams and now you're asking me for mercy, not because you changed your mind but because your tools didn't work, I got to kill you right there. I got to lay you in the ground."

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com. Also follow him on twitter: LVSunFighting.

Source: lasvegassun.com

Harrison hits out at Haye -- Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Audley Harrison says David Haye needs an early knockout against John Ruiz as he is not in good enough shape to go the distance, while also claiming 'The Hayemaker' is not a big name in the heavyweight division.

Harrison fights Michael Sprott for the vacant European title on April 9 at Alexandra Palace, just six days after Haye defends his world title in Manchester.

Haye fights veteran American Ruiz on April 3 at the MEN Arena, live on Sky Box Office, but Harrison thinks he may have underestimated his opponent.

The former Olympic champion has seen Haye in training and does not think he is in good enough shape to go the distance, so needs an early KO to retain his WBA title.

"I watched a training session of David Haye from Sky Sports and his timing is off. He's also carrying excess weight," said Harrison.

Long night

"I know David very well and mark my words, if he doesn't blast out Ruiz early, which is possible, then it'll be a tough night. Golden Boy have also signed Ruiz, so they are in with the winner and out with the winner.

"But it's a funny old game and if it doesn't go well for David on Saturday night then who knows what the future holds for him."

Prizefighter winner Harrison thinks he can get a world title shot if he claims the European strap, but he would not be going after Haye if he did.

Instead, California-based Harrison says he would want to fight Wladimir Klitschko or his brother Vitali, claiming that Haye is not a big enough fight for him.

"The heavyweight division is desperately looking for marquee names and, no disrespect to David Haye, but no one in the US is talking about David Haye," added 38-year-old Harrison.

Klitschkos

"They're all talking about the Klitschkos and no one is giving David Haye any play as a world champion so the guys I want to fight are the Klitschkos.

"If you get a chance against David Haye then people will say 'you now have to beat the Klitschkos', so if I beat Sprott, I want the Klitschkos.

"The fight with Sprott is obviously huge for me because when I get revenge and lift the title it puts me straight in line for a shot at the world title.

"People are talking about me fighting David Haye at Wembley but, with all due respect to David, outside of the UK no one is talking about him - it's the Klitschkos they see as the real heavyweight champions so dethroning one of them is what I really want."

Source: skysports.com

David Tua decisions Friday Ahunanya

Boxing News World

New Zealand’s pride David Tuamanator’ Tua scored a unanimous decision victory over tough Nigerian Friday ‘The 3th’Ahunanya to retain his WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Oriental heavyweight belts just a couple of minutes ago at the Trusts Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

Tua improved his records to 51-3-1 with 43 knockouts.

38-yr old Ahunanya suffered his sixth career defeat.

- Marshall N. B., marx7204@lycos.com

David Haye set to unveil HAYEMAKER MAGAZINE before Ruiz showdown -- Eastside Boxing

Eastside Boxing

Renowned for his exploits in the boxing ring, Britain’s world heavyweight champion David ‘The Hayemaker’ Haye has recently discovered that the pen is every bit as mighty as the sword – or glove. The current WBA world heavyweight king has put his name and distinctive touch to HAYEMAKER MAGAZINE, a commemorative, 192-page, glossy sports magazine, to be released on Saturday, April 3rd. Fight fans can get their hands on the exclusive magazine at the Manchester Evening News (M.E.N) Arena, moments before Haye steps into the ring to defend his belt against mandatory challenger John Ruiz..

“Hayemaker Magazine has been a project I’ve been working on for the last five or six weeks now,” explains Haye, editor and creator.

“Originally, I just wanted to produce a beefed-up fight programme that I could present to fans as a homecoming gift in Manchester. I wanted to give them lots of exclusive pictures and accounts, and loads of never-before-seen access.

“That eventually snowballed into a 192-page sports magazine and a definitive look back at my career to date. I couldn’t be happier with the finished product.”

Not content with just focusing on his own life and career, Haye also found the desire to reach out and include fellow sportsmen and women in his pet project.

“I wanted the magazine to focus on my career to begin with, but then also liked the idea of focusing on other sports stars,” explains Haye.

“I know what makes me tick and why my career has been a success. I’ve always wanted to know how my sporting peers got to the top, though. I basically got in touch with all the guys I wanted to talk to and find out more about.”

In the space of a month, Haye had met up with and interviewed England football captain Rio Ferdinand, former Olympic sprint champion Linford Christie and England rugby ace Danny Cipriani, as well as fellow world champion boxers Amir Khan and Carl Froch.

“I don’t pretend to be some kind of expert or have any history of interviewing people,” adds Haye. “I’m usually the one being interviewed, after all.

“Despite that, I really enjoyed the process and loved talking to these guys. We would sit and chat for over an hour and I seemed to be able to get these stars to open up and talk about stuff they normally keep to themselves. They didn’t feel threatened by me and we could just talk as one sportsman to another.”

Haye’s interviews and photoshoots with Ferdinand, Christie, Cipriani, Khan and Froch all feature in volume one of Hayemaker Magazine, alongside additional interviews with UFC star Georges St-Pierre and leading boxing prospect George Groves.

Hayemaker Magazine also features an exclusive account of Haye’s harrowing trip to Senegal, West Africa, as well as a definitive, behind-the-scenes look at his last four professional bouts.

“I always need some kind of project to work on before a fight,” says Haye. “Anybody that knows me will tell you that I’m always looking for direction and something to take my mind off the fight ahead.

“If you stay wrapped up in the fight too much, you’ll only drive yourself crazy. I needed something like this to keep my mind working in a productive way during training camp.

“Thankfully, it’s all finished now and I hope my fans enjoy the final product as much as I do. It was really fun interviewing, writing and spreading all the features out.

“Now my full attention is on spreading John Ruiz out across the ring canvas on April 3rd.”

*** Hayemaker Magazine (limited edition) is officially released on Saturday, April 3rd and can be purchased at the M.E.N Arena or online at www.hayemakermagazine.com. Further details can also be found at http://www.hayemakermagazine.com/.

*** David Haye’s WBA world heavyweight title defence against John Ruiz takes place on Saturday, April 3rd in Manchester and will be screened live and exclusively on Sky Box Office.

Source: eastsideboxing.com

Ruiz laughs off Haye's attacks -- ESPN

ESPN.co.uk

John Ruiz laughed off David Haye's verbal onslaught before insisting that he intends to do his talking in the ring on April 3.

WBA heavyweight champion Haye, who is never shy of dishing out insults before taking on an opponent, has labelled Ruiz as "boring" and the "cure for insomnia".

Ruiz, who insists that these barbs have not affected him, is not participating in the war of words. Instead, he is concentrating on his strategy for the fight, which he feels will counter Haye's preferred approach.

"If that's the worst thing he can say about me, then I'm very shocked because people say he really likes to talk," Ruiz said. "If this is what he has to do to get motivated and get in fight mode, then he'd better do as much talking as he needs to because come Saturday, I'll be ready to do my talking in the ring.

"We know he likes to move around a lot and at times take things easy, but we want to throw him off the groove, let him know that basically he's going to have to throw enough punches to keep me away from him."

Ominously for Ruiz, Haye insists that his punches are carrying more menace than at any other time in his career. "The way I'm punching, Ruiz will have had to have improved his punch resistance tenfold to go the distance," he said.

Ricky Hatton echoes Haye's belief that the fight will not span the full 12 rounds. "Ruiz a bit on the slow side and David won't have trouble stopping him. If he can carry on like he's going, David can be a mega-star in the heavyweight division. I'd pay for a ticket to watch him," Hatton said.

"He can fly the flag for British boxing with his great personality, exciting style and his will to finish a fight early by always going for the knockout."

Source: espn.co.uk

David Haye v John Ruiz: American aims to outwork heavyweight weaknesses -- Telegraph

By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk

A stifling style has enabled the canny character to survive almost against top-class opposition, ten of whom have been world champions.

Ruiz is brazen about what he needs to implement in this fight, admitting from his training camp in Manchester that he plans to outpunch and outlast David Haye in Saturday's WBA heavyweight world title showdown at the MEN Arena.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that is his best option against Haye, who must look to stop Ruiz by the middle rounds, both for his own preservation, and to match his fistic statements with his criticisms of others in the slumbering division, notably the Klitschko brothers, who appear intent on winning 'bore' draws.

Ruiz, who has a 44-8-1 record, but has lost three of his last six contests, has been placed as a long underdog, but that must be seen in relation to his experience as both a heavyweight, and at this level.

It will be the 11th time that the American has fought for a world title - he has held the WBA crown twice - with two of those last three bouts being against Russian man-mountain Nikolai Valuev. Both of those contests, were lost, marginally, on points.

Haye, once the undisputed world cruiserweight champion, has had only three heavyweight contests.

Ruiz has also been on the wrong side of world title decisions against Ruslan Chagaev, Roy Jones Jr and Evander Holyfied, but is confident that his plan of bombarding Haye, who is 23-1, with more than 50 punches a round will pay off.

"That is the kind of pace I need to set,” Ruiz said.."If I don't set that kind of pace then I might as well pack my bags now and go home. That is my game plan, to fight him and stay on him and make sure that he is in for a long one here.”

"I'm American. They consider me the last hope, I guess. The last hope to bring a title back home. I am going to rise to that challenge. I love a challenge and I think this is a great opportunity for me.

"I am excited. I feel blessed and honoured to have had a wonderful career and still be in there. I know for sure that I have more to prove, and I think in this fight it is going to show."

David Haye v John Ruiz is live in HD on Sky Box Office on Saturday night

Source: telegraph.co.uk