Heavyweight FOTW #7: Tua-Ibeabuchi-Byrd Triple

Byrd vs Ike

Byrd is more fun for me to watch than he appears to be for Merchant who basically said he was not very manly in the way he was fighting Ike...while he sits behind a desk and mike lol.

I also gave all 4 to Ike, but Byrd was not doing poorly. He actually outlanded Ike in 1,3 & 4 and any of those 3 rounds could go his way, even though we did not. Ledderman gave him the first. I thought Byrd did a nice job slipping punches against the ropes and landing some of his own. No easy task to hold your own against Ike with your back pinned to the ropes. Decent little scrap that I enjoyed.

I didn’t like Merchant saying “shame on Byrd for arguing with the ref”....maybe I just don’t like Merchant? But to me it was clear by seeing his face and the slobber falling down his face that his faculties were not quite all there. Good stoppage IMO. And shame on Merchant for having so little understanding

 

I agree with you, Byrd had no idea that he was even arguing with the ref. And Merchant, like Lampley is a waste of a seat at a boxing match. I also thought that Byrd did everything a fighter could do against a possibly uniquely talented fighter. Byrd did make him miss, but IMO Byrd was probably the best southpaw ever until that time and he was as slick as anybody and he got ran over, from that showing II had few weaknesses and none that were glaring.

Ibeabuchi was an incredibly talented heavyweight. Even more so than I remembered. His combination of size (235,244 lbs), speed, stamina, strength, durability, and patience would be tough to overcome. Nobody is unbeatable, but H2H, he would have as good a chance of winning as anybody I've seen.

 

Good observation post. I am 3 rounds in and while I don’t find Nady quite as intrusive as joe Cortez he has been pretty bad so far. A warning to Tua for a low blow, a legit warning to Tuas corner for not leaving the ring in time, a legit warning to Byrd for hitting with open hand and turning his back...but didn’t require 10-15 seconds for him to lecture Byrd till the crowd boos.

I don’t see a bias yet, but he is becoming a larger fixture than I would like.

 

Byrd vs Tua
Officiating was poor
Commentary was worse
Fight was very good...not great, but a very enjoyable watch for me. I have it closer than Press row had, it and closer than the official judges. I feel like there were 3 clear Byrd Rounds, 2 clear Tua rounds and 7 that can go a variety of ways. I am surprised that I scored 9 for Tua when outside of the biased announcer no other card I have seen does so? Not sure what I missed that round lol. Oh well

RBR
1 Even
2 Byrd
3 Tua (29-29)
4 Byrd
5 Tua (48-48)
6 Byrd
7 Byrd
8 Byrd (78-75)
9 Tua
10 Byrd (97-94)
11 Tua
12 Tua
Chris Byrd 6-5-1 or 115-114 for a narrow win. I can see a draw, but have a hard time seeing a Tua card...likewise who was the lady doing press row scoring that had Byrd wining 8-0 after 8?

I have a hard time picturing Tua winning hypothetical h2h’s against ATG’s and other very good boxers because of fights like this. This was a fight I felt he could have won, he just didn’t do enough.

 

Big shoutout to @Big Ukrainian for getting in the first card for Byrd vs Tua! It’s not easy to beat Pat lol!

I won’t tabulate these till the end of the week, but this was a fun (IMO) fight to score and a first time doing so for me. But there is a cool trend. We have 5 cards in already (it would be awesome to get 5 more!), and our scores are all over the place.

3 for Byrd 1 for Tua and 1 Draw

But the RBR has a big trend there are only 4 rounds all 5 of us saw and scored the same.
Byrd- 7 & 10
Tua- 11 & 12
With 8 conflicting rounds. Man I hope we get some more cards. I enjoyed scoring this one with you guys.

 

Hey bro, you have been a welcome addition in the FOTW threads...I would be interested in your card for Ike vs Tua if you feel like rescoring it with us. I am getting ready to shortly! Cheers

 

Cool insight about the jab of Ike, I will keep my eyes open to watch that. I don’t think he utilized it enough against Byrd, but I think the Southpaw slick style of Byrd presented some difficulties for him early.

Do you have any interest in scoring Byrd vs Tua? We could use a few more cards as the scoring has been pretty diverse so far.

 

Philly, I actually never watched this one back in the day. I probably would have if I wasn't busy, but it was the matchup itself which annoyed me. There are just a couple of matchups I can think of off the top of my head where i said to myself, "What is his management thinking of taking on this fleet-footed boxer?" Those fights are Gratien Tonna going against Ronnie Harris, Gaby Canizales against Greg 'The Flea' Richardson and Daid Tua against Chris Byrd. These matchups all favored the fast-moving boxer and the fan was assured of the slugger chasing for 10-12 rounds. So to answer your question, the interest isn't there, my friend.

 

Tua vs Ike was a top fight. Two big guys throwing hard stuff and being active for 12 rounds.

Ike caught up to Byrd and took him out with a huge shot.

What could have been, a man who can stand toe to toe with Tua, and track down and nail a defensive fighter who had a good chin in Byrd.

 

Ike vs Tua
1-0
2-0
3-0
4-0
5-0
5-1
5-2
5-3
6-3
7-3 (could've been 6-4)
7-4
8-4

Total: 116-112 or 115-113 Ike.

Seems like I score Tua fights more wide in favor of his opponents than others.

I prefer opponent's workrate and boxing skills to Tua's harder punches. But many rounds are really close and tough to score even when Tua lands twice less punches.

 

Would be interesting to score other Tua's fights where he went distance or stopped opponents late.

vs Rahman 1 and 2
vs Izon
vs Maskaev
vs Oquendo
vs Jeff Wooden

 

I actually hope that Tua vs Rahman I & II will make a FOTW in the future. I would be open to some of the others as well

 

Getting ready to watch and score rd 12...I just thought it was funny that all 3 of you scored it different. 1 Tua 1 Ike 1 even...I assume it will be difficult to score

 

Ike vs Tua
What an enjoyable and satisfying fight! Maybe not the best fight ever but certainly among the more exciting HW slugfests with neither guy giving an inch. I did find it funny in light of the punch stats that the commentary kept saying they needed to throw more and be busier. They were about as busy for 12 rounds as you could ask 2 big men to be. Ike’s jab as mentioned earlier is under appreciated....hopefully some more will take the time to rewatch and score this one...well worth the 50 minutes IMO

RBR
1 Ike
2 Ike
3 Ike
4 Ike
5 Ike (Ike 50-45)
6 Tua
7 Tua
8 Tua (Ike 77-75)
9 Ike
10 Ike (Ike 97-93)
11 Tua (Ike 106-103)
12 Ike (Ike 116-112)

This fight is very closely contested with neither guy dominating any one round. Portions were controlled by one guy, but both guys had their moments in just about every round. I had Ike winning 4 clearly and Tua winning one clear...in the closer 7 rounds I had Ike up 4-3 but tough to score quite a few of these.

@Big Ukrainian i don’t think I have had an identical scorecard to anyone in the FOTW series but we had every round scored the same!