George Foreman (1990) vs Ike Ibeabuchi (1997) - who would win?

Wrong style for ibeabuchi, you seen what happens when you stand in front of foreman and give him chances to hit you

 

I like Ike's activity in this one. Especially with this version of Foreman . Ike concivectly could be the 1st fighter to actually stop Foreman. But more than likely Foreman would survive and lose a unanimous dec.

 

I don’t know. I wanna say George but an iron chinned fast handed puncher might be a bad match for him at that stage. Either way it’d be bloody

 

Cant call this one. Foreman's experience could be a factor. His BigJab and uppercut.
If Ike can take George's power then he is gonna win but there is a reason everyone ran/moved away from Foreman. The President could box his way to a dec. Tough pick

 

I have decided to not rate Ike and put him in the same category as guys like Edwin Valero whose careers were suddenly cut short and had tons of potential.

The difference in experience is pretty crazy here and it's an interesting matchup to think about (unstoppable force vs immovable object), but Ike left us with way too many questions to confidently pick either way (unless you have an agenda).

People are either severely selling Ike short or severely overrating him (the comments about Lennox Lewis being "lucky" Ike was imprisoned or that Ike would soundly beat Lennox are particularly amusing given that Lennox is easily a top 5 heavyweight h2h and bare minimum top 10 for resume).

 

The chances of 80/90's Foreman fighting a fresh, young full size Heavyweight on the up rise who could punch, had a chin , size and had no gassing issues are slim to none and slim just left town even if a belt would be on the line.

He did not even entertain fighting Iks left overs Byrd and Tua ........crickets in even facing the Polish mental Midget.

Fact: Foreman fought exactly three fighters with a pulse in his comeback..........one small A level heavy whose claim to fame is defusing a washed up Tyson and who would go 2-5 in his sig fights and two glass chinned B listers he went 1-1 with....the rest almost comical cannonfodder.

 

I really hope this^ isn't a "Fact".

 

Bad fight for poor George.
He'd take an awful lot of punishment imho.

 

Ike follows the Holyfield blue print and wins a decision

 

Ike stops him. Foreman s face would be battered and hed be rocked all over the ring. He'd keep moving forward but Ikes handspeed and workrate have Georges head knocked all over the place. By around the 8th, Foreman would be half blind and the crowd would be shouting for a stoppage. Thankfully the ref agrees and waves it over.

 

Foreman was damn near 50 when he beat Shannon Briggs (clearly). We cant lump Old George as the same fighter all the way through his comeback. He went from '87 to '98.
Point being he wasnt the same fighter in even '93 that he was in '90 and '91. He was aging in dog years.
I look at the early comebacking Foreman from '89 to '91 As a separate fighter almost.

 

Are people forgetting that Ibeabuchi weighed 245 for the Byrd fight? He'd over power Foreman physically in addition to being faster, quicker, busier...As you mentioned, Foreman wouldn't fight Ibeabuchi for any reason or amount.

The 1970s version of Foreman would get destroyed by Ibeabuchi too. A 217 pound man who lacked stamina and fought as the bigger man would be at a huge disadvantage against a 245 pound man who was faster, stronger, had better boxing skills, and better stamina.

 

And this is a perfect example of why ike threads are weird. There is nothing in this post about the actual break down of the fight or clash of styles, it's just bigger man=win. A guy with 20 fights and only 2 decent wins but he'd demolish foreman and lennox was terrified of him.

Just 20 fights and that's enough to convince people he has the better chin, skill, and will to win???

 

Ike is and will always remain an unknown quantity, at the highest level. It would have been good to see how he fared with the other contenders, at around the turn of the millennium.

Yes, he went through that punch-fest with Tua and he stopped Byrd but, while I think he had potential, with some great match-ups to be had, heading towards the post-Lewis vacuum, it's difficult to come off as convincing, when backing him to beat proven competitors.

There's just as much likelihood of him having been exposed at the top tier.

 

My first initial pick was Ike by points. But after continually thinking about it I think George knicks him out. Ike wasn’t hard to hit and anyone dumb enough to trade w Foreman isn’t winning.