You're right. He isn't just "overrated" - he is RIDICULOUSLY overrated. Two fights against live bodies, that's it. Puh-LEEZ.atsch
The guy was an up and coming heavyweight star. He was still developing, and getting better. He beat undefeated Tua, and undefeated Byrd. What heavyweight in recent memory has two wins like that in only 20 fights? His upside was still huge, because he was still developing.
That Tua wasn't one dimensional. Statements like that might work when people didn't see the fight, or know of Tua's fighting style back then. Ibeabuchi beat the best version of Tua. That wasn't he slow plodding low work rate Tua that Lewis fought. That Tua actually had great defense, and a high work rate on offense.
That Tua wasn't one dimensional. Statements like that might work when people didn't see the fight, or know of Tua's fighting style back then. Ibeabuchi beat the best version of Tua. That wasn't he slow plodding low work rate Tua that Lewis fought. That Tua actually had great defense, and a high work rate on offense.
Potential is just another word for failure, or whatever that quote is. It was NEVER going to happen for the guy. He was a bigtime steroid user and that would have caught up with him sooner or later. I am not talking about sensible prepareatory use like everyone else. I mean haphazard abuse. He also had severe mental issues that would have haulted him as well, errrmmmm... Actually they did. I know having two dominant white heavyweight champions makes many of you uncomfortable and you would very much like to rewrite history and Ike is your security blanket but NO WAY. Even if he continued the guy was not not going to get any better. When you take a swarmer with overrated power and a questionable skill set then pump him full of PED's your finished product arrives pretty quick.
You people sound like parrots with your "potential" B.S.. Once again; When you take a swarmer/volume puncher with little sense of distance or timing, then pump him full of PEDs your finished product comes around pretty quick. The guy was not going to get any better. At least not to any degree of signifigance.
Yeah you're right. Take Lennox Lewis for example having a rough time with Bruno. In your book had he got jailed shortly afterwards and people said he had the potential to be great you would mock them and consider him a failure.:roll:
Their management would have never put them in the ring with Ike in '99. He would have destroyed both brothers on the same night - back to back. The Klits would have been run out of the ring. Vitali is incredibly overrated considering he never fought a single top fighter that was still prime in his entire career to date. One would think that a guy larger than all of his opposition would have been put in the ring at least once without every advantage possible. Safety first has been the consistent and obvious objective ....
:deal he had a phenomenal legacy opening up till his craziness landed him in jail... people love to martyrize those who have great unfinished legacies... i.e. Valero
Big difference. Lewis, while also overrated, actually DID something. Ibeabuchi did, basically, nothing - when compared with actual great fighters, like Lewis. Speculating on what he "might" have done is just that, pure speculation. Based on what he actually did, he's nowhere near as good a fighter as people make him out to be. Hence, he's not just overrated - he's ABSURDLY overrated.