Lewis confident size, experience will prevail

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Nov. 9, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

Lennox Lewis looks at David Tua much as a parent or taskmaster would view a petulant child.

Utilizing his best tolerant facade, the heavyweight champion sees and hears Tua boasting about confiscating the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation belts and he initially feigns indifference before correcting his younger, less experienced rival.

Lewis, at 35, is eight years older than Tua and portrays himself as infinitely more worldly. As a result, he lends a calming presence to any activity that also includes his vivacious challenger.

"Fiction, pure fiction," Lewis said Wednesday after Tua and his handlers emphatically maintained the WBC and IBF championships would change hands after Lewis and Tua fight Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Lewis presents himself as more amused than threatened by the Tua camp's boasts.

"I'm going to hire you for that job," Lewis said, trying to put Tua in his place after the latter mimicked ring announcer Michael Buffer's booming tones when presenting a new world champion.

"I'm the king of the jungle," Lewis continued. "I'm the lion."

It is, quite clearly, as if Lewis has seen and heard it all before. His trainer, Emanuel Steward, takes it a step further and says Tua is just another in a long line of opponents who has said one thing prior to fighting Lewis and then been forced into doing another in the actual fight.

"They've all had this strategy of wearing Lennox down and roughing him up," Steward said. "But it's not that easy."

Bettors continue to agree, as Lewis remains a minus 330 favorite in the Mandalay Bay sports book. Tua is a plus 270.

"I've got the utmost respect for Lennox," Tua said. "He's been a great champion. But I've waited patiently for this opportunity and I'm going to knock him out."

Tua, of Samoa, is 37-1 with 32 knockouts.

Lewis, of England, is 37-1-1 with 29 KOs and has had a worldwide presence since first ascending to the championship throne in 1993.

"Tuaman," Steward said, using Tua's informal nickname, "has only one chance to win: with one punch. He may become the heavyweight champion some day, but not right now.

"Lennox is just too much for David Tua at this time. He's too big, too good. He's more experienced in big fights and he's also nearing the peak of his career.

"You take everything into consideration and I think, come Saturday, you'll see the continued progress of one of the greatest heavyweights of all time."

Lewis -- who at 6-foot-5 stands seven inches taller than Tua -- could earn that type of lasting respect in these waning years of his career.

"I'm in the best shape of my life," he said. "I'll be victorious."

Playfully, he told Tua at the final prefight press conference that his warrior-like appearance wouldn't be enough.

"You can't just bring power and a bad hairdo," he said. "I'm going to bring everything. I've got an arsenal."

Tua's trainer, Ronnie Shields, espouses his camp's belief that they'll find a chink in Lewis' armor.

"This is no easy task," Shields initially concedes. "But we've been preparing eight years for this fight. David is the toughest guy I know and he's mentally tougher than people give him credit for. We're going to do everything we can that's legal to win this fight."

Tua's manager, Kevin Barry, agreed.

"David has the total package," he said. "He has power, durability and mental toughness and he's the only heavyweight in the world who can maintain that power for 12 rounds. This guy isn't afraid of anyone and will throw punches all day long.

"He'll keep coming at Lennox until he breaks him down."

Lewis responds with little more than a bemused look on his face.

"I'm not going to let Tua off easy," he eventually says with a disciplinarian's conviction.