Which of the following would beat Ibeabuchi at his best?

We never really found out.

 

Never seen Sullivan fight so can't comment.
Ike mowed down Byrd and would mow down Corbett.
Fitz vs any HW is a tough ask, come from behind ko, like Vitali v Hide
Jeffries should be able to outfight Ike.
Dempsey will ko any hittable HW
Braddock gets mowed down
Schmelling is 50/50 but should be favoured
Baer is 50/50 but should be favoured.

 

My point is that he was about two fights away from the point where I might start favouring him over some of these people.

 

Although you could argue that in beating a prime Tua and a prime Byrd, he has a better h2h resume than some on that list.

 

The problem is that he got them both about a year before they made their breakthrough.

This leaves us some leeway in how we interpret these wins, and makes his next few fights important.

 

Ibeabuchi was a physical marvel. The size and power of a true heavyweight, and the conditioning and workrate of a flyweight.

He had a solid skillset, one of the best beards in the game and great instincts. He was something special and I'd make him a favourite over all of the men he's pitted against here.

 

It does that.

 

Then I would say that you were more than premature.

The fact is that there have been a fair few fighters like Ibeabuchi over the years, who appeared to be the complete package on paper.

Most of them turn out not to be the next big thing, and of course we usually get to see it put to the test.

Ibeabuchi might have gone on to be a future lineal champion, or he might have imploded in spectacular style, and be remembered today as one of boxing’s great disappointments.

What separates all the men on that list from him, is that they all answered the questions that he never quite got asked.

 

John L. Sullivan
Jim Corbett
Bob Fitzsimmons
Jim Jeffries
Jack Dempsey
Jim Braddock
Max Schmeling
Max Baer

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He beats them all. He was to "modern."

 

Which questions exactly was he never asked?

His resume lacks depth, but his two wins come over two boxers of completely varying styles, both who are masters at their trade.

Tua was one of the best pure sluggers in the history of the divsion, wih incredible power, stamina and an indestructible chin.

Byrd was in contrast one of the trickiest, most elusive boxers the division had seen, with a good chin himself.

Ike won both fights in great fashion. He outpointed Tua while standing directly in front of him, trading punches, something which nobody else could do with a guy like David...and he broke a punch stat record doing so. I think his chin, stamina and mental make-up were "tested" in that fight.

Against Byrd, he showed patience and skill, timing him on the ropes and knocking him out into lala land - something that nobody could do to Byrd before he was in his late 30s.


Truthfully, his punch output alone wins him most of these fights as there is little to no way he's getting stopped by any of them....and this is not taking into account his incredible power and size advantage.

 

I think that too much is being made of his wins over Tua and Byrd, by yourself and others.

Possibly far too much.

While these wins are impressive, it must be noted that he beat them both about a year before they hit their prime runs, and probably a year before he was going to hit his.

These wins have to be looked at in that context, and the subsequent career of Tua should be a salutary warning, of how such a promising start does not guarantee success at the very highest level.

The bottom line is that we don’t know what was going to happen next with Ibeabuchi.

He might have been the next dominant champion, or he might just have been a Greg Page or Michael Dokes type contender.

Either way people should be very cautious about picking him over people who did navigate the next two steps successfully.