David Tua vs Oleg Maskaev - Highlights (Tua KNOCKS OUT Maskaev)

#davidtuaknockouts #tuavsmaskaev #tuavsmaskaevhighlights

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April 5th, 1997. 22 years ago, 2 hard punchers collided; unbeaten David Tua aka “The Tuamanator” and “The Big O” Oleg Maskaev. It was Tua’s 3rd defense of his WBC International Heavyweight Title which he won via a brutal 19 second destruction of future 2x WBA World Heavyweight Champion John Ruiz.

Maskaev was largely inexperienced at this juncture and his most notable fight was a TKO1 loss to Oliver McCall back in February 1996.

Prefight records; Tua 26(22)-0, Maskaev 10(6)-1.

Entering the bout, the defending champion had top wins over Darroll Wilson, David Izon & John Ruiz while the 28 year old challenger had yet to defeat a single top opposition.

Although lacking exposure at top level, Oleg was able to utilize a good jab to establish his range and tag David with lefts and rights whilst keeping his guard high whilst effectively going backwards to nullify David's dangerous left hook.

Tua on the other hand tried to find openings by working to the body followed by the head but most of his punches were partially or fully blocked by Maskaev’s arms and gloves. Occasionally, the Samoan managed to connect accurately but was largely outboxed in the first half.

However, the Kazakh challenger began to show signs of fatigue in round 7 due to David’s relentless pressure which created openings for him to land cleaner punches in rounds 8, 9 & 10.

After the first minute of round 11, Tua’s persistence finally paid off as he landed a clean left hook after a feign right hand that sent Oleg to the ropes with shaky legs. Sensing the opportunity, he unleashed a fusillade of blows that sent Maskaev to his knees and earned a much needed TKO win as referee Lindsey Page stepped in to halt the bout at the 1:45 mark.

At the time of the stoppage, the 3 judges had it a 3 way draw at 95-95, 96-94 & 98-93.

Despite the scoring, it was evident that Maskaev should be well ahead thus only Steve Weisfeld's card of 98-93 for Oleg was a realistic reflection of what took place.

In the undercard, future world champions Robbie Peden, Vernon Forrest and Zab Judah scored stoppage victories.

In November 2000, Tua took on Lennox Lewis in a bid for the WBC & IBF World Heavyweight Titles. After some early success, he was thoroughly outclassed by the Big Brit and lost via a lopsided UD12. It was his first and only world title fight until his retirement in 2013 with a final record of 52(43)-5-2.

Despite having garnered a number of international and regional titles as well as notable KO victories over 2 former and 2 future world champions, David Tua ironically never won a world title and had only engaged in 1 world title bout.

After the loss, Maskaev went on to compile a record of 22(19)-3 in 8 years (between September 1997 to November 2005) before finally earning his first (and only) world title opportunity in August 2006 against WBC World Heavyweight Champion Hasim Rahman.

Both fighters shared the ring once before in November 1999 where Oleg won via KO8 after knocking Hasim through the ropes and onto the announcer’s table which resulted in a brief melee between security personnel and some angry fans dissatisfied with the outcome.

Maskaev would triumph over Rahman again via TKO12 to lift the WBC World Heavyweight Championship in stunning fashion with 43 seconds to the final bell.

Enjoy it boxing heads and be sure to SUBSCRIBE for boxing goodness!

[adamlees]

The more I watch Tua the more i become a fan.He always carried the potential to take your head off no matter what round it was and 99% of the time did just that!

[AuthenticSelfGrowth]

Maskaev was boxing well on the backfoot. But Tua is always dangerous with them big hooks

[ardennezjr]

David Tua is the man. He walk the walk and talk the talk! You can feel the crunch of his left hooks while on your seat watching him fight.

[rogerfelin]

This short guy was a Monster. A BOXER with a Hearth and not a public entertainment. Tua mutu !!!

[ПолинаГорада-се]

какой бой и никакой грязи, великие спортсмены в ринге

[kevinplacid]

tua at his best that nz to be proud of thank you sir

[sergiodarioable]

I feel sorry for Maskaev..Really good boxer with lovely boxing skills, very good jab, and straight one-twos. Also he had a very good body structure for a heavy weight. Pity he lacked the explosive hand speed, and therefore the explosive punching power, which we all know comes from speed, and for that reason he lacked the deterrence to fence off powerfull punchers the likes of David Tua. He faught well, but eventually got knocked out. In my opinion if he had had that speed, he would have been one of the top contenders. Just my two cents.

[kiowhatta]

Maskaev deserves some credit for taking quite a few of Tua's best shots and firing back. Many fighters folded after just a few combos from the Tuaman.

[leeamraa]

One of the most underrated fighters... Let's go champ!

[manuginobilisbaldspot]

One of the last live CBS boxing telecasts.

[allthingsbike.]

Tuas style reminded me of frazer. Ducking with cross hand guard then swinging a massive left hook bomb!!!

[adamlees]

I'd love to see Tua fight Wilder.He'd absolutely flatten him of which I have no doubt. You couldn't even wobble Tua, he was as solid as a heavyweight could be with Foremanesque power in both hands.

[Riff]

Steel chin never seen the canvas old David Tua 👍🏼

[चेतन_महाराष्ट्र]

These Polynesians are very strong guys but to go till 12th round against Tua is a feat.

[samoansojah]

I feel like heavyweights moved different back then! Not like now! Back then they were much faster and more fluent! Now there all stiff and heavy footed!

[trustme]

See how to adjusted he knew he had to fake the first shot which was the right hand, so it could make him step back think he's safe out of range then tua leaps into range landing that devastating left hook

[No-oinj]

Да Туа был не вероятный!Жаль что рано ушел из бокса

[marlinstrike]

these people that post these fights don't let us know who wins many of us haven't seen these fights you can post fantastic knockout stop giving it away

[trueblue]

Tua looked like a Lumber Jack at the end. Maskaev did well but the lumber jack chopped down the tree.

[quincylove]

They didnt have to stop that fight.Big O has a heart of a Pure Champ.They didnt have to stop it