A highly ranked heavyweight contender for most of his career, Tua was known for his formidable punching power, especially in his left hook.

[4] Nicknamed the "Tuamanator", his fast-paced bob and weave pressure fighting style has often drawn comparisons to Mike Tyson.

Tua fought many of the best boxers of his era and challenged once for the unified world heavyweight title against Lennox Lewis in 2000.

[5] Tua said that he lived with four brothers, four sisters and ten other relatives while growing up, and his mother held down three jobs while his father worked long hours.

[7] In his early career, Tua trained three days a week at a small gym in Mangere Bridge, under boxing trainer Gerry Preston.

Prior to this, Tua had scored devastating knockouts against future titlist John Ruiz (via 1st-round KO, in only 19 seconds) and Darroll Wilson.

Following the Lewis loss, Tua regained steam with a KO over Danell Nicholson but lost by a close decision in his next fight to future champion Chris Byrd.

Tua was inactive for over two years before he stepped into the ring on 31 March 2005 and bested Talmadge Griffis in a 10-round bout—ending the match and earning a TKO victory with 26 seconds remaining.

[16] Tua, looking in good shape and weighing in at 237½ lbs (his lightest fight weight since 2001), was featured as the main event of a Pay Per View show[17] on 18 August 2007 in Sandy, Utah and ended the bout quickly with a first-round knockout of Mexican champion Saul Montana.

[18] Tua, again looking in good shape and weighing in at 234 lbs, fought the unheralded Cerrone Fox at the Soaring Eagle Casino, Mt.

However, the fight was moved to 17 July at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City in a bid to promote David Tua's career in the United States.

At 38 years old, Monte Barrett (34-9, 20 KOs) was viewed by some as an easy opponent for Tua as he had lost his previous three fights.

Belarusian Alexander Ustinov defeated him by unanimous points decision, following which he announced his retirement from professional boxing.

[25] Ringside Report were mixed in their evaluation of his career, referring to him as "one of the best heavyweights never to win a world title".

Tua's own home was purchased with borrowed money, and the boxer's purses were linked to renovation costs for Martin Pugh's property.

The dispute gave both sides legal victories: over the issue of the coastal land property, the court ruled in favour of Barry and Pugh, since Tua failed to properly clarify his ownership over the land; on the issue of the terminated 2003 contract, the court ruled in Tua's favour, concluding he clearly owed no expenses to his former management from that contract.

In October 2009, it was reported in The New Zealand Herald that the parties had settled all previously unresolved matters arising from the protracted litigation.