David Tua vs Shane Cameron, billed as Fight of the Century was a boxing match between

David Tua Faumuina To'aletai Mafaufau David Tua (born 21 November 1972), best known as David Tua, is a Samoan-New Zealand former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. A highly ranked heavyweight contender for most of his career, Tua was kno ...

and

Shane Cameron Shane Aaron Cameron (born 17 October 1977) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He is a former Commonwealth cruiserweight champion, having also held several regional titles at heavyweight. As an amateur he won a bronze medal in the heavywei ...

. This is considered the biggest boxing event in New Zealand history with a million dollar purse. It took place on 3 October 2009 at

Mystery Creek Events Centre Mystery Creek Events Centre is one of New Zealand's biggest events centres. Located in the outskirts of Hamilton, New Zealand, it is home to many events, the largest being the National Agricultural Fieldays which is held annually in June. Myst ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, New Zealand. Tua won the fight by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

20 seconds into the second round. The event was promoted by David Higgins and John McRae of Duco Events.

History

Background

In 2008, Shane Cameron called out David Tua to fight in a boxing bout. In November 2008, Duco Events made an offer towards the two boxers to make the fight happen, however, Shane Cameron's team were unhappy with the date and money that was offered. In December 2008, Tua signed the contract for the fight to happened, however, Cameron had not signed as of yet. But it was confirmed that both boxers were guaranteed $500,000. In January 2009, David Higgins announced that the fight will happen in June 2009. In February 2009, It was announced that the fight would take place at

Waikato Stadium FMG Stadium Waikato is a major sporting and cultural events venue in Hamilton, New Zealand, with a total capacity of 25,800. Four areas contribute to this capacity: The Brian Perry Stand holding 12,000, the WEL Networks Stand holding 8,000, the ...

, in

, New Zealand. In March 2009, Shane Cameron had a warm up fight against American Robert Davis. Unfortunately, during his fight with Davis, Cameron injured his hand. Due to the severity of the injury, Cameron required to have surgery on the hand, subsequently postponing the event. In April 2009, it was announced that the fight was postponed until October, with the venue changed to Mystery Creek Events Centre. A few day before the event, David Tua's home-country of Samoa was hit by an earthquake and tsunami. Tua's aunt died in the disaster.

Fight card

Fight details

David Tua vs Shane Cameron was held at Mystery Creek Events Centre in Hamilton, New Zealand. Tickets went on sale with prices going between $69 and $399 per person. It was also announced in May 2009 that the fight will be broadcast live on Sky TV PPV. It was confirmed that 7500 tickets were sold (750 corporate tables of 10 people), and 88,000 Pay Per Views buys for the event. The PPV buys were considered a world record on a per-capita country basis. The announcer of the night was Daniel Hennessey, who made his boxing announcing debut. New Zealand Born Philippines resident Bruce McTavish served as the referee, with American Robert Byrd, Thailand's Pinit Prayadsab and Australian Brad Vocale as the ringside judges. New Zealander Pat Leonard served as the supervisor and representative for the WBO.

Broadcasting

Weigh-in

The weigh-in was held on 2 October 2009, at Sky City in Hamilton. David Tua weighed in at 107.8 kg, losing 26 kg for the fight. Cameron weighed in at 103.5 kg.

Aftermath

Tua won the bout by knockout in the second round. After the fight, Tua received a ranking of fourth in the WBO, and fifteenth in the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

. Tua was in a broadcasting fight contract exclusively with Maori TV, which meant he could not fight overseas. Tua went on to fight Friday Ahunanya in March 2010, winning by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

. Cameron went on to fight John Hopoate in March 2010, winning by disqualification. David Tua retired in November 2013, and Shane Cameron retired in November 2014. Tua and Cameron are now long-time friends.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tua, Cameron Boxing matches 2009 in boxing 2009 in New Zealand sport Boxing in New Zealand