After pulling out from his fight set for February, David Tua is likely to fight twice in next year here in New Zealand choosing to put his mother and her battle with cancer, first.
The Sunday Star-Times understands Tua's mother has breast cancer and underwent major surgery last Friday.
Tua decided on Wednesday evening – just hours after holding a press conference to promote his March fight in New Zealand with Friday Ahunanya – that he could not leave the country before that bout.
He had been due to fly to the US on Boxing Day for a pre-fight training camp before a February 6 bout at Atlantic City, New Jersey, but phoned his promoter Cedric Kushner that night to cancel.
The February fight was billed to be against former WBO champion Bruce Seldon, but negotiations with Seldon were in fact already on the rocks and Kushner was pursuing a replacement, with a 15-2 fighter named
Mark 'Oak Tree' Brown the likely candidate. Kushner is somewhat hamstrung by being able to offer only small purses; Ahunanya is being paid just $35,000 and Tua himself is fielding a $100,000 fee top-up for that fight above his $50,000 payment from broadcasters Maori TV.
It's understood Seldon had increased his financial demands at the same time that Kushner was reconsidering his credibility as an opponent after extensive media criticism, given his age and poor record in recent years.
"I got a little carried away with the fact that he was a former world champion: it has a nice cachet to it, `Tua KOs former world champ'; it was nice for the resume but maybe not good for everyone else," Kushner said.
Kushner said the Ahunanya fight was unaffected, and a planned April bout in Hawaii would "absolutely" go ahead, but that still leaves him one fight short of fulfilling the three-fight contract with Maori TV.
That means scheduling a second fight in New Zealand, possibly in July, would be the most appealing solution.
Kushner said he'd already spoken to the promoter of the March fight, David Higgins, about that prospect. Higgins said he would "have a close look" at any such proposal, saying it was a "privilege" to work with Tua.
Kushner said Tua's trainer, Roger Bloodworth, will now arrive in New Zealand 10 weeks before the Ahunanya fight.
"It is a longer gap [between fights] than we would have wanted, but if he is in the gym doing what he has to, he can make up for it.
Source: stuff.co.nz