By Johnny Walker

The web site TVNZ reports that David “Tuamanator” Tua, who lost a rematch with New York’s Monte “Two Gunz” Barrett last Saturday in New Zealand, has gone into seclusion and refuses to speak to his global promoter Cedric Kushner.

Tua waited too late to get in gear against Barrett, who won the first half of the fight while controlling Tua with his left jab. In the later rounds, Barrett began to tire, and in the last three rounds he was holding on as Tua unleashed everything in his arsenal in the attempt to knock Barrett out. He did knock Barrett down and almost out in the final round (later it was revealed that Tua broke Barrett’s jaw), but Monte somehow got to his feet and eked out a victory.

This was just the latest disappointment in a career full of them for Tua, who has been dealing with major financial problems. And to underscore just how much was lost this time, a disgusted Kushner pointed out that had Tua prevailed, a lucrative fight with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko was very much in the offing.

“I don’t want to be the only person sitting up here not telling the truth, it’s a very significant loss, because there was an opportunity to fight Klitschko and that opportunity may not be there tomorrow,” Kushner said after the fight. “I think I’ll have to have a sit down with David and see what the right thing to do is.”

Tua, however, was nowhere to be found when Kushner came calling, and the promoter, who is said to have invested $1 million US in the New Zealand-based heavyweight, flew back to the United States without having spoken to him.

Tua attempted to look at the positives from the rematch with Barrett, claiming that suffering his first ever cut “awakened the warrior spirit in me” and showed “how I need to be more brutal in the future.”

Whether that future will now include a payday against one of the heavyweight champion Klitschko brothers, however, is anyone’s guess at this point.

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