Evander Holyfield vs Ike Ibeabuchi

Tua & Byrd were far from green Ike was then one that was green. I was ridiculed & laughed at when I predicted Ike would beat Tua. Tua was the next big thing they said. I'd watched Curtis Cokes transform Ike from a crude brawler to the consummate boxer/puncher. It was a tragedy what happened, not only for Ike but for Curtis too. The only guy I saw that maybe beat Ike was a 100% Lennox. After Ike annihilated Chris Byrd there was talk of one more fight then a title shot with Lennox, Sadly we never got to see that it would have been a barn stormer

 

That is worth noting.

However, we still need to look at where these men were at, when these fights took place.

Byrd obviously got much better.

Tua should have got better, but that was probably his finest hour, quite frankly.

As for Ike, he didn't get much further than the version of Tua that he fought, on the day that he fought him.

 

If holy is prime and in good form then I pick him to win a decision.

 

LOL You never saw him working most days

 

Educated. So, I'd really like to hear.. Holyfield vs. Ibeabuchi?

 

Huh? From where I was sitting it was Bowe who benefited from the long break. Evander was doing more than just working on a jab successfully before the halt in festivities. Bowe was gonna' get knocked out.

No way a square up fighter like Ike (i.e. easy to hit as we saw against Tua) could outsmart, outwork, out punch or out jab Evander Holyfield. Different level of a fighter than anything Ike had ever seen. How many champions or top 10 fighters did Ike face (serious question)?

 

He fought two and beat them both.

Holyfield struggled every time he stepped up

He faced the ghost of Buster Douglas, not his fault but it went down hill from there, he was blowing hot and cold and was never dominant most likely because he never could get a grip on his PED cycle.

Take the rose colored glasses off, Bowe beat him like a rag doll in the first, Holyfield needed a different strategy, a fan man and Bowes wife collapsing Ringside to get a razor thin decision, Holyfield was never ever stopping Bowe in that bout, lol, but guess what, in the third Holyfield did knock Bowe down, Bowe got up, survived and later stopped Holyfield face down and out, that is a fact.

I agree with Mendoza, Holy is 1-2 against Bowe, 0-2 vs Lewis, 1-1 with glass cannon Moorer and 1-1-1 with Heavyweight disgrace Ruiz.....so he won 3 out of 10................he lost more than he won.

A washed up post prison Tyson who barely fought more than half a dozen rounds in 4 plus years is the only rack Holyfield can hang his hat on and even with those two wins included in the above he is 5 wins vs 7 losses.

 

I guess it's safe to assume you don't think much of Holyfield's HW credentials then

Do you think he was a greater H2H fighter than his record would suggest?

 

Holyfield was always in shape, natural or not, came to fight and was always in entertaining bouts but he had no consistency and was never “The Man” at Heavy,

H2H his lack of real fire power and the tendency to brawl is (and was) his undoing against skilled Big Punchers., he blew hot and cold in his career and he would blow hot and cold vs Fantasy matches, in other words you never know what Holyfield shows up…….

 

I don't think Holy was ever knocking Bowe out here. Both men benefitted from the Fan Man break in action but Bowe looked like he was turning the fight in his favor. However, the action went back and forth and neither man had the advantage for long.

Holyfield fought the best fight he could and an almost flawless execution of work rate. His added bulk slowed him down but it enabled him to fight a far more measured pace than a year earlier. He had to pick and choose wisely.

Got distracted there, sorry. My points are that Holy would need to replicate what he did in the Bowe rematch or similar to what he did against Tyson. He could out work Ike at a smaller weight of 205 for instance, but he would need the added muscle mass and power to earn Ike's respect.

 

Holyfield UD.