Evander Holyfield vs Ike Ibeabuchi

Prime Holyfield would have to be the favorite, based upon what little we saw of Ike.

 

Evander is 10 classes above ibeabuchi. Holyfield all day.

 

This probably would be a brawl and evander would outclass ike. Faster,more accurate, much more proven, too much balls, evander is an all time great, ike is a good but overrated guy.
If Foreman,Tyson and Lewis could not ko evander
then what could have done ibeabuchi? he Maybe could last the distance with dignity if anything

 

Holyfield prime- better speed, workrate, more proven

However, i don't see an aging Holyfield beating him post 1997.

Ibeaubuchi beats the Holyfield that lost to Lewis

 

I can't see it

 

That version of Holyfield was only fighting in spurts. There were many moments in the fight where Lewis was doing little and yet Evander was still struggling to throw punches and sustain a decent work rate.

That version of Holyfield was a year away from losing to Ruiz. Even Manny Steward admitted that Holyfield was past his prime by the Lewis fights.

Ibeaubuchi outworks that version of Holyfield. However, prime Holyfield beats Ike.

 

Prime Holyfield beats Ibeabuchi, but in the short period of time when they could actually met (1998-1999) I think Ike would beat washed up Holyfield.

1998-1999 version of Holyfield was noticably slower and had MUCH worse workrtate comparing to the prime version of himself. I think Ike would just outwork him and win by clear decision. Holyfield just wouldn't be able to match his workrate.

 

I know that Holyfield was past his prime at that point. But even so.i think that he would beat ibeabuchi,Ruiz had a different style. And Lewis was leagues above ike

 

Vaughn Bean was a very small heavyweight with a low workrate and he still gave Holyfield a pretty tough fight in 1998. Ibeabuchi was much bigger, stronger, and had very good workrate and stamina. Holyfield, of course, would give him a competetive fight, but Ike would just outwork him.

I think Ibeabuchi was too predictable to beat peak versions of Holyfield and Lewis (in spite of his excellent punch variety), but I'd favor him any day of the weak to beat washed up Holyfield or unfocused Lennox. I'm sure though that Lennox would be fully focused against Ike

 

Everything is possible of course

 

If Holyfield sticks to his optimum strategy.

Oh, who am I kidding, no!

 

We never really fond out how good Ibeabuchi was.

His wins over green versions of Tua and Byrd are very impressive, but it would have been his next few fights, that really told us what sort of ceiling he had.

I think that he was ranked #4 by Ring Magazine when he went away, so he was not far off a showdown with Lewis, or one of the other big names.

 

I think he was much more gifted physically than Holyfield (for HW division), but not as good technically and much more predictable. If we compare him to Lewis, both have some advantages physically (Ike had far superior chin and workrate while Lennox was 3 inches taller and had much longer reach), but, like with Holyfield, Ike was more predictable. His punch variety was great, but he did the same things over and over again while Lennox could box very catiuosly from the distance fighting almost exclusively behind the jab, he could clinch you to death, he could brawl (see Mercer and Vitali fights) and he could explode at any given moment in a slow fight. I think Holyfield and Lewis were just more versatile and less predictable fighters comparing to Ike. Ibeabuchi was very, very good though. Levels above Michael Grant who was ridiculously overhyped even after Golota fight