Obed Sullivan was not supposed to be much of a threat to David Tua. But who knew that he would be no threat at all? Certainly there were many who gasped when David Tua tipped the scales at 253 pounds, more than a dozen pounds above his previous high and a good thirty pounds past his best weight.

Despite the extra girth, David Tua demolished Sullivan as soon as he put his hands on him, which in this case was about 30 seconds into the fight. After slipping past Sullivan's flicking jab a few times, Tua unleashed his notorious left hook. The first one cracked Sullivan upside the head, and got his attention. Another hook was blocked, but it was followed by a third hook that caught Sullivan on the kisser. The punch was all knuckles, and it had Sullivan's arms flopping in air before he went down. Obed first slammed into the turnbuckle and then flat on his back. As he stared at the ceiling, referee Joe Cortez performed the requisite 10 count. Tua KO1. Tua improves to 36-1/31 while Sullivan drops his unique record to 35-7-1-1-1/25 (That's 1 draw, 1 no contest and 1 no decision).

And so now Tua goes back to waiting. Lennox Lewis has a mandatory defense against Tua due before Y2K expires. It is a fight that will be exciting as long as it lasts. Lewis will carry the superior reach, and may use his stick to control the Samoan challenger...but so long as Tua carries that one punch kayo power, the fight will be up for grabs until the final bell. If Tua can maintain his physique, it could be a heavyweight title fight for the ages.

One punch kayo power was the story of the undercard, which featured a great battle between lightweight contender Ben Tackie and former junior lightweight titlist Roberto Garcia. Garcia came to the ring looking to prove that his loss to Diego Corrales last year was a fluke. In the first five rounds, he was making an effective case.

From the opening bell, Garcia was on fire. Controlling Tackie with his jab, Garcia was cracking with crisp punches from all angles. He threw classic one-two's, he bunched his one-two's in triplicate, he slammed Tackie's sides, and mixed hooks with uppercuts in blistering combination. Tackie simply could not get off any punches, although when he did manage some wild attempts, Garcia bobbed under them all.

After five rounds, Garcia was really cooking. His combinations were landing with incredible accuracy, and his mixture of head and body work kept Tackie guessing throughout. In the sixth round, Tackie's blind aggression won him a stanza when he rocked Garcia with a giant left hook and then busted open his nose with a hard right down the pike. Garcia made it out of the round, however, and resumed his relentless combination punching in the seventh.

Entering the eighth round, Garcia was winning handily. Tackie was eating almost everything being thrown at him, including some devastating body work. But the high output was tiring the former champion, and things began to unravel in the ninth. With a right eye swelling shut, Garcia dropped his hands and Tackie tagged him on top of the head. The punch jolted Garcia's balance and he went down to the canvas. Up before the mandatory eight, he took more punishment before rallying at the bell to close the ninth round.

Without a title on the line, the tenth round was the final chance for Tackie. Garcia, having lost only one round, needed only to finish to win. It didn't happen. Standing toe to toe with a desperate Tackie, Garcia turned into a brutal Tackie left hook less than 30 seconds into the final round. Slow motion replays would show Garcia's eyes rolling back into his head as he fell straight back. Just in case the punch didn't knock him out, then his head bouncing hard off the canvas should have.

Ever the warrior, Garcia tried to rise. As he sat up at the count of five, a large amount of blood came pouring out of his mouth. He hoisted himself up by nine but looked too damaged to continue. Richard Steele waved the fight over, handing Ben Tackie a come-from-behind kayo victory in the final round. Garcia protested the call at first, but there was no way he could have survived. This is Garcia's second consecutive loss, both by kayo and with both coming after dominating the preceding action. Garcia claimed he would be back, but his title hopes at 130 are now put on hold. His exciting style will likely earn him another television appearance, although it remains to be seen if he can recover from another brutal beating.

Ben Tackie (20-1/12) may not have had a spectacular night, but he won fair and square. Eager to move up to 140, Tackie called out Kostya Tszyu after his victory. Tszyu bangs with power that Garcia could only dream about...but Tackie's awkward lanky style and ability to absorb shots could still make the bout competitive. Look for Tackie to be back in action soon.

This was not a night of championship titles and multi-million dollar purses, but it was an evening of solid boxing action. Tua has established without question that he deserves to be the #1 competitor, and Ben Tackie made a name for himself over a world class opponent. Let's hope that both of these guys get their crack at the gold sooner, rather than later.

.....Chris Bushnell