How far would Ike Ibeabuchi have got...

I, on the other hand, most definitely think he would not have rewritten the decade.

If he's fighting someone like Lewis for example, for all the "super chin, unending stamina, godlike power" hype he gets, hype that guys like Marion Wilson for example would laugh it considering the fits he gave Ike or journeyman Everton Davis going nine rounds, he's giving up 8 inches of reach.

8 inches is a bloody lot to give up against a long-range guy like Lewis (Rahman and McCall only gave up 2 inches, before that old trope starts).

If Lewis is stupid enough to try firing from the hip against Ike then yes, new World Champion and God help boxing because it would've been utterly destroyed by such a disturbed man being #1.

But boxing him? Ike never went up against a real long-range boxer type, someone that could keep him at arm's length, fight off the back foot and frustrate him.

End result? Ike loses a wide UD, everyone says he was overhyped anyway and why is Lewis avoiding that dangerous Tua fella anyway?

Ike is the James Dean of boxing.

 

It is by no means uncontested.

 

1 of the biggest myths is 'Byrd was outboxing him before he landed a lucky punch'. Ike was hunting Byrd down, hurting him and beating him up

 

People need to realize Ike had 20 fights. Thats not a lot for a heavyweight. In those 20 fights he faced Byrd and Tua, and did well against both. He found ways to win and most times on natural effort, so that counts for a lot in my book. All young heavies have bumps along the way in some form, Wlad, Vitali all of them, but Ike showed a lot of potential for a young fighter, and that what he was, a young relatively inexperienced fighter, so when you keep it in proper perspective, he had a ton of upside potential, he wasnt just a one dimensional slugger, he was a good boxer puncher who was improving fight by fight.

 

1997 Ike beats 2010 WALDO [by KO] And 2003 VITLAY [by cuts or Decision].

 

He beat two of the best contenders of his era in their respective prime. He was nowhere near going down like Gonzalez who never beat anyone. Also he was quite frustrated by Byrd and was a very rough active fight with Tua and kept it together well.
It did seem he was getting nuttier as he became more popular, so its likely he would have imploded mentally at some point, but who knows?

 

My worry with Ike is that he liked to have too much of tear up. In the Tua fight he was fighting too much in the pocket for my liking.

He had great punch selection though and endless stamina it seemed. Great fighter imo and definately would've left an imprint in the 00s if he hadn't of gone off the rails.

 

Ry Mercer with his 77" reach had zero trouble giving Lewis hell. Unlike Rachman, Ike had a first class chin and outstanding stamina. He was far more skilled than McCall ... he seemed to have no trouble teeing off on Byrd, a much more elusive target than Lewis .. we will obviously never know how great he might have been and it is one of those shames.

 

Even if he had been more successful, i dont think a guy like him would have ruled for long.

 

One can only speculate on what a promising young fighter "might have done" had history played out differently. If Donald Curry had either retired, died or gone to jail before facing Lloyd Honeyghan in 1986, some might have picked him to beat Leonard, Hearns, Duran and Hagler.... Well, maybe not all those guys, but let's just say that people had high hopes for him...

Ike was a tough and physically imposing specimen. He was known for being very hard on sparring partners, and with less than 20 fights, compiled big wins over two other promising young heavy weights in Byrd and Tua. I'm still not sold on counting chickens that never hatched, but I suppose he should receive the benefit of the doubt that he would have at least been a contender, perhaps even crossed paths with Lewis at some point..

 

A sane Mr President would of been a very ordinary Heavyweight, who's chin would of dictated weather he could of sneaked a big fight, which he would of lost.

Look at the Tua fight. The man clearly was not all there. You do not walk though a primed Tua left hook for 10 rounds. Sane fighters that are good enough, do what Lennox did.

Ibeabuchi had his fans because he was something different. Sadly for him, what made him different, was that mad streak, and in this day and age, that meant he was destined to never be anything but a footnote in boxing.

Some would say that is sad. But I do not. IMO it shows that even boxing has limits to how much exposure we give to people with demons that they needed help to control.

 

I think his peak would be quite short. I don't think he would beat Lewis, Vitali or the Steward version of Wlad. He would have been in the mix, though, for a short while and provided some memorable moments.

 

He'd have run into Lewis or Holyfield and been destroyed.

/thread.