Columnist Dean Juipe: Likable Tua training to become king of the heavyweight jungle

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

Set back off state highway 157, the white house with the red roof offers no real clue as to what's inside.

From a distance, it's Spartan, rustic. Around back, wheelbarrow-toting workers are moving rocks and an assortment of animal pens mix discreetly into the visual setting.

Less than a mile from the U.S. 95 cutoff on a narrow dirt road called Barney St., and within eyesight -- if not a stone's throw -- of Mount Charleston, this is not a regular stop on the boxing beat. But it's where mandatory heavyweight challenger David Tua is training and will live this summer as he prepares for a November fight with World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation champion Lennox Lewis.

Tua, like the house where he's staying, surprises. Engaging and effervescent, he throws out the welcome mat and makes himself available for questions of all types and styles.

Likewise, his manager, Kevin Barry, readily offers a tour of a home which, on closer inspection, is almost utopian. Spacious and attractively decorated, it is currently accommodating a seven-person training camp that needed only a couple of days to comfortably adjust to its surroundings.

"You have to get used to the lion roaring at night, though," Barry said.

Lion? What lion?

"See him over there," Barry said, pointing from an upstairs window to a backyard pen where the regal beast was enjoying the midday sun. "He shares that cage with a tiger, if you can believe it. And there's a camel, and a (trained) gorilla.

"It's quite a place."

It's also a sign that life is good for Tua and those around him, the fighter having steadily climbed the pecking order to where Lewis will have to face him in a mandatory defense this fall. It's a reward not only for his 35-1 record that includes 30 knockouts, but for stepping forward as perhaps the only heavyweight out there perceived as capable of lifting the champion's belts.

"I'm overwhelmed by all of this," Tua said Wednesday as he prepared for a workout to be orchestrated by trainer Ronnie Shields. "I'm flattered by the attention I've been receiving. I'm an appreciative person, whether somebody is doing something small or something big for me."

This is a sincerity that he couldn't possibly fake. Should Tua, a native of Samoa but a resident of New Zealand since the age of 10, ascend to the heavyweight championship, boxers everywhere will need to step up their congeniality in order to keep pace.

"He's a great guy," said Barry, who recruited Tua when the burly slugger was 16 and who has guided his professional career. A bronze medal winner in the 1992 Olympics at Barcelona, the 238-pound Tua signed last year with America Presents after spending the early portion of his professional career with Main Events.

"He's one of my favorite fighters," said his promoter, Dan Goossen, and after hearing Barry and Tua it appears as if the feelings are mutual.

"We were a little annoyed with Main Events," Barry said. "We felt David should have had a title shot two years ago.

"When I met with Dan and (co-promoter) Mat Tinley, we struck a rapport right away. They were ready to make a serious commitment to David and that was good enough for me.

"They had tasted success with (former World Boxing Association junior middleweight champ) David Reid, but they seemed to know it was nothing like the success they could have with David Tua."

As a result of Lewis exposing Michael Grant as an inferior challenger, and as a result of Mike Tyson's European tour and Ike Ibeabuchi's incarceration, the list of those who are available and can claim to be deserving challengers may have been pared to one: Tua.

As such, just in the last month or so he has become the man boxing writers want to talk to and someone boxing fans want to see. But rather than feel the multiple requests are intrusions, Tua's naturally cordial ways have allowed him to ease into the limelight.

"I'm thankful people want to hear from me," he said. "I've dealt with the media for a long time and it's to be expected at this point in my career. The fans need to know what's going on, so doing interviews doesn't bother me."

Boxing fans will grow increasingly familiar with Tua this year and local fans will get a chance to see him June 3 when he headlines a card that is headed to the MGM Grand. Tua, 28, will defend his United States Boxing Association title that night against a durable veteran, Obed Sullivan.

"I won't take him lightly because every fight from here on is a title fight for me," said Tua, who is 8-0 since his lone professional loss, to Ibeabuchi in 1997. "I want to stay on top of things and prepare for the November date (with Lewis)."

Tua is also scheduled to face a Sullivan-like opponent July 29 at a site to be determined.

Sam Hampton and Greg Pickram are serving as Tua's sparring partners and living with him at his exotic training camp.

"I've known David a long time and I knew he wouldn't be comfortable on the Strip," Barry said. "I never liked the idea of staying long periods of time in a hotel, so this complex is much better."

Tua breaks up his day with repeated phone calls to friends and relatives, including his mother, Noella, who he calls "five or six times a day." Those are expensive calls to New Zealand and his phone bill has been known to creep well into five figures.

"I just call her to make sure everything's OK," Tua said of his habit, which Barry never questioned in spite of one phone bill that reached a staggering $22,000.

It's as if everyone in this boxing family respects the idiosyncrasies of the others.

"I've surrounded myself with beautiful people," Tua said. "I look at the bright side of things and refuse to be negative. I believe in my ability and I believe in myself, and I also remember something my father told me: 'When you're drinking the water, remember the man who dug the well.'

"That, right there, is enough to keep me humble and appreciative."

The Samoan warrior wasn't beating his chest -- and it was too early in the day for the lion to roar.

"I want my side to be heard," Arum said, sprinkling his message with a few unprintable words. "I have no interest whatsoever in Hector Camacho Jr. I got one call from his manager (Mike Acri) and he said he thought the fighter was about to become available, but I didn't have any real interest.

"Camacho's only a 'B' fighter. If I was going to steal someone, it would be someone good."

Camacho, 27-0 with 16 knockouts, has been announced as the headliner for a June 18 card at the Regent Las Vegas in which he'll defend a minor title against Manard Reed, 20-1. (Las Vegas featherweight Augie Sanchez will also be on the card.)

"This is ridiculous," Arum said of Goossen's claims. "It's irresponsible of him and I'm not going to let this rest. The only thing I can think of is that (Goossen) is Machiavellian or that he said what he did simply to make Camacho look good.

"Either way, I wouldn't know Camacho if he walked in the door right now. Goossen can have him."

In the main event, former world champion Manuel Medina goes up against Frankie Toledo, while the primary undercard bout pits Raul Perez against Nestor Lopez.

Medina, 29 and a pro since 1985, is 56-11 with 25 knockouts and is coming off a loss in an IBF title fight with Paul Ingle. Medina retains a No. 6 ranking by the IBF but is unranked by the other major organizations after winning only 10 of his previous 18 bouts.

Toledo, 30, is 37-4-1 with 14 KOs and has won eight straight fights, mostly in the Midwest.

Perez, 61-5-3, has seen his opponent change three times in two weeks, as Jose Pablo Estrella gave way to Enrique Jupiter, who gave way to Lopez. First bell is 7 p.m.

WBA middleweight champ William Joppy, 29-1-1, gets his mandatory out of the way Saturday, with Showtime televising his fight with Rito Ruvalcaba, 27-2, from Tunica, Miss. "I don't know anything about Ruvalcaba and I'm not worried about it," Joppy said. "I don't see the fight going 12 rounds." ... The MGM has withdrawn its request for a July 15 fight featuring WBC junior welterweight champ Kostya Tszyu defending against the aging Julio Cesar Chavez. That fight has been pushed back to July 29 and is not apt to be held in Las Vegas, or maybe even the United States for that matter. ... Heavyweight Samson Po'hua, who fought at the Hard Rock two weeks ago, faces a hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission after testing positive for marijuana. A hearing date will be assigned within 30 days.

archive