Grant v. Ibeabuchi (1999)

90% of me says that it is obvious that Ibeabucchi would have put a world of hurt on Grant, and 10% of me finds something very suspicious that his team turned down Grant and fought the two most diminutive high-quality heavies he could find.

In any event, I think he would have licked Grant and gone on to lose to Lewis.

 

Ike stops Grant early. Golota exposed Grant, even though Grant came back and won, I knew he was dead meat against Lennox Lewis.

 

Ibeabuchi by KO 3-5.

 

Ike makes a pulp of Grant and then gives Lennox a fight like Mercer did... In my opinion, Lewis, although I remember Boba Czyz's analysis who claimed that Ike would knock out Lennox, this was before Ike went to prison

 

I tend to favor Ike but like the OP, I don't rule Grant out completely.
Grant had a decent jab, was taller, had good combination punching (notably bodyshots) and showed tremendous heart against Golota and Lewis.
It's also worth noting that Grant had more wins against top 20/30 opposition, but Ike had the greater wins with Tua (which was controversial) and Byrd.
I don't think it would be that one-sided.

 

Ibeabuchi would not miss what Golota missed.
Ibeabuchi win by KO.

 

I think Grant could have been a dangerous fight for Ike. Far closer to 50-50 than most people here seem to believe. The dude could punch.

 

I'm not sure if Ike was all there in 1999. He might show up obese and crazy.

 

Grant had decent power, but he wasn't a huge punchers. Definitely levels below Tua, and Ike took the best punches from the best version of Tua for 12 rounds

 

They both went the distance with Wooden. Grant stopped Izon earlier than Tua and Tua stopped Sullivan earlier than Grant.

 

Ike by KO, probably early. Grant had poor fundamentals, defence, reflexes and chin - bad, bad combination against non-stop punching machine like Ike.

Saying that, however, I disagree with those who favour Grant against Lewis in 1999 or 2000. That was a peak version of Lewis and I'm 100% sure he would be super focused for Ike. Surely, Ike's would give him problems, especially late in the fight, but I think he lacked creativity to beat the best version of Lewis. Also, I don't know if he would be able to resist Lewis' holding/clinching. Physically he was exceptionally strong but avoiding opponents holding/clinching requires more than just a physical strength - it requires special clinch-denying skills. Mike Tyson for example never had that skills while being very strong and overall excellent fighter.

All in all I think peak 1999-2000 version of Lewis would beat Ike by relatively competitive but clear decision, something like 116-112.

 

Grant also couldn't stop glass-jawed Ray Anis in 10 rounds, the same Anis who was demolished by Ruiz in few seconds. He also couldn't stop Lou Savarese whom shot Tyson demolished in few seconds, and if you watched his fights against Izon, Sullivan, Abdin, Golota and Cole Grant stopped them all on accumulation of punches (with Cole being stopped on swelling/cuts). He wasn't one-punch KO artist. He had pretty good work rate and stamina for such a big guy, but he certainly wasn't a top-level puncher like Wlad, Lewis or Tua

 

I think Ike would probably win this, but I think he was way overrated and was waiting to get exposed by a boxer puncher who wasn’t a natural 175er. And Grant gets viewed as garbage, but he actually peaked as legitimate top 5 heavyweight who earned his place.