How good was Ike Ibeabuchi?

No.

 

These Ike threads have been beaten to death lately. Ike showed the intangibles of a potential great fighter. He was big, had fast hands, good power and a good chin but he was not a finished product. He still had some shortcomings in his boxing ability.
He didnt do enough to say how good he could have been, and his mental instability that was becoming more prevelant as he became more well known, was the biggest question mark on him. I posted an article on another thread that talks about some of the crazy things he was doing.

At one point he took on an alter personality where he thought he was actually a president. His handlers would have to address him as the president, and explain to him that a president would behave in a certain way, just to get him to get on a plane or go to a weigh in. The guy was going nuts and it was covered up by his greedy handlers, one of which was that weasel that is now advising Manny Pac, Michael Konsz.

 

I knew he was mentally seriously ill but I didn't know about that, or about Michael Koncz. I'll be damned. :-(

 

Yes. It was in Byrd´s prime while Ike won over a still green Byrd.

 

I never knew it was so bad! Is there any good articles or books to read more about him?

 

Again, Wlad went the distance with a guy Ike had already knocked out when he was undefeated. He was green as a pro when he fought Ike, yeah. Ike wasn't exactly a seasoned veteran. Byrd by then had an extensive, valuable and Olympic Silver Medal winning amateur career and faced a couple names as a pro by the time he faced Ike. Nothing as good as Ike's Tua, of course. But how much did the inexperience to that point matter compared to with Wlad later? Was he really that much better after Ike? More experienced, of course. Eh, I choose Ike's win as the better. Maybe you're right... I might review Byrd's fights with both later, see if I change my mind.

 

Byrd himself said he learned very much from the Ibeabuchi fight and improved through it. :good

 

The near shut out Byrd win was impressive enough to launch Wlad to Ring's number one spot in 2001.

Even though he was down on the cards, Byrd's stock had rose after the short notice Vitali fight. That and the Ike fight was good experience for a guy who's previous best pro opponents were Purrity and Thunder.

Wlad's win over McCline was actually a pretty big deal, at least on par with Ike's signature achievements. McCline had stopped former title contender Grant in one and got good press with impressive wins over fellow prospects Briggs and Mount Whitaker. The difference is Tua disapeared before he could badly fade and Byrd actually went on to become a successful title holder.

 

Maybe. Then again, I think recently Miranda said he'd impress with the new boxing skills he'd been working on for the Bute fight. And Holyfield is apparently going to become undisputed champion by mid 2011. And Pacquiao's blood tests ruined him for the Morales fight. From the horses' mouths.

 

Byrd said that after his retirement. There was a recent interview with him on the radioshow Rumsfeld is doing, it was there were he said it.

 

Mhmm. Read on the main page already but didn't listen. Read about the diarrhea and all. :good

 

He learned not to get in the ring with mad Nigerians

 

Well, if that's the case, the brother definitely improved.