Ike Ibeabuchi (1997-98) vs Riddick Bowe (1992-93) - who was better and who would win?

Bowe might get a decision, based on more proven ability and and more performances, but Ike could certainly fall into the category of someone who may give him problems.. Beating prime undefeated versions of David Tua and Chris Byrd with so few fights behind him, is no small feat.

 

But in the ring against Byrd , a better boxer than those good boxers , he won.

Ibeabuchi did not win against Tua.
The surest thing is he is going to do better than Holyfield did in any of his 3 fights against Bowe.

And it is also a mistake to bring Golotta as someone who beat Bowe , as their fight was not allowed to end , and there is a good chance Golotta would have cullapsed under the presseur ! if the fight continued.

 

What smarts and savvy ? the use of the head ? clinching ?
Ibeabuchi was stronger and even had a better chin than Holyfield , but was about the same speed , not faster .
If he performed the way he did , fighting Tua's fight for most of the fight (he did box Tua in some parts of the fight) , and ended the fight in a respected way (I don't claim he won) , then what brawler of that caliber did Bowe ever face ?

If Bowe will decide to completely (or almost completely) box Ibeabuchi , then he has a very good chance , and even be my favorite to win a decision against Ibeabuchi . But if he tries to brawl Ibeabuchi , he loses the fight , I don't know if by decision or a stoppage , but as I said , Ibeabuchi would have faired better than Holyfield who hurt Bowe and was stopped in 1/3 of their fights. So Ibeabuchi would hurt Bowe even worse , and won't get stopped. Holyfield also got a decision over Bowe (although I do not count it too much) , so Ibeabuchi stands a very good chance of at least winning a decision against Bowe.

 

Bowe wouldnt fight Ike like Tua did. It was a known fact that Kirk Johnson was handing Ike his ass in sparring sessions, because he couldnt deal with his boxing ability. Ike was strong but he wasnt the finished product. Bowe was pretty dam good in all areas when he faced off against Holyfield.

 

Byrd was not a great boxer, he was a cutey type fighter that allowed his opponents to get close and make them miss. He was beating Ike until he landed that shot. Bowe was a 6'5 big man with a pumping jab and big righthand and good infighting game. Ike had not seen anything like a prime Bowe.

 

Bowe is more proven. I think he would have the better of it both at a distance and in close due to his jab and better in-fighting ability. Only Bowe's defense could let him down in this match-up I think. Ibeabuchi was strong and threw a lot of punches, it would have been a brawl.

 

Bowe was better, and Bowe would win.

 

In an entirely pure boxing match , if Bowe would want and if bowe could maintain , I give Bowe the edge of course , it is easy to understand a taller man will outbox a shorter man unless he is significantly slower/faded / chinny/whatever , but if either Bowe decides to brawl as he liked , or even try to purely box for the entire fight which is untypical for him , and Ibeabuchi still manages to get inside , then Bowe is in trouble and will probably lose the fight.

And if Byrd was not a great boxer , you probably have a very short list of great boxers , would you mind to share it ? Except Holmes and Ali , who else you consider a better boxer than byrd ? Ruiz ? Kirk Johnson ?

Sparring is one thing and a real fight is another.
In a real fight Kirk Johnson could give Ibeabuchi troubles about as long as Byrd did , maybe even longer , but Ibeabuchi will get much more time to wear him. And if he took Tua's punishment , he could take Johnson's.

 

Tough one to really pick here. On one hand, Bowe clearly holds a better single win than any single win on Ike's record. However, what's the second best win on Bowe's record? A past it Tubbs who he barely beat?

Bowe was only ever really tested against a top end fighter against one fighter (Holyfield) and he looked magnificent in that fight. Ike was only ever tested against top notch fighters twice, against Tua and Byrd and both of these fighters are a step below Holyfield which complicates matters further. However, outslugging Tua is something no one ever did before or after and something very few fighters in history could of done. And catching and finishing a slick unbeaten Chris Byrd shows that he could handle skills. But the common denominator between Byrd and Tuaman is that neither of them were big heavyweights. Bowe was a huge heavyweight. Same goes with Riddick. He looked great against Holyfield, but he had a significant weight and strength edge in that bout where he wouldn't against Ike.

Stylewise, I think Bowe is in trouble. Ike being able to withstand flush shots from an ATG puncher in Tua makes a possible stoppage win unlikely against a lesser puncher in Bowe. And Ike showed with the superhuman workrate him and Tua had that outworking him isn't going to happen.

The key here and the deciding factor imo is that Bowe isn't a guy known to use his height/reach/jab. Bowe is among the best offensive HW's ever imo, but he did this on the inside. He's not going to suddenly become Muhammad Ali and keep Ike on the outside while peppering him with jabs and right hands, he never ever ever did that. This is going to be fought toe to toe, and I favor the more durable Ibeabuchi after seeing him stay on his feet after taking Tua's best. And make no mistake, Ike was a monster offensively with a variety of different shots.

 

Johnson was routinely putting Ike down in sparring. Ike was susceptible to being hit at range by boxers with good jabs and straight punches behind it. He was having trouble with guys like that. Go watch some of his earlier fights. Byrd was slick, but he was slick in punching range, Bowe could bomb guys from the outside.
If a fighter establishes range and boxes, its not difficult to complete a fight. He didnt wear Byrd down, he caught him on the ropes with a fast combination.

 

But again , I did not claim Ibeabuchi could outbox Bowe , it was not the question , and I already stated I favor Bowe as long as it is long range boxing , but Ike would not even need to catch Bowe , Bowe will cooperate and play Ibeabuchi's game , and even if he will try not to , Ibeabuchi had a chance of slipping to brawling range and Bowe will then cooperate , and in brawling match , I think Ibeabuchi was better although not with ease.

Also the range one should maintain against Ibeabuchi is bigger than the range he should maintain against Tua or Tyson.

And did Riddick Bowe fight like Kirk Johnson ?
And then again , in 12 rounds , for how long could Johnson repeat his sparring success against Ibeabuchi ?
It is very possible Bowe could have won , but I think , considering it is Bowe , and not a tall pure boxer that Bowe will cooperate with with Ibeabuchi , and all the long range boxing becomes irrelevant.

 

Possibly, but it sure would be fun to watch. I think Bowe Seldon is probably a similar scenario in physical matchups. Not saying Seldon is better than Ike, but they were similar in stature and Seldon had pretty quick hands. Look how Bowe sets up his righthand off the jab and at distance to a fighter putting pressure on him.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9_gZ_u-Rqw[/ame]

 

Not only Seldon is not as good as Ike , he was a lot worse ,
at least regarding the chin , the punching power and I think even the style , as many fighters , some lowly regarded did take McCall the distance , but Seldon was not one of them.
And despite Ibeabuchi listed as 6'2" and Seldon as 6'1.5" From the first frame of the video it is obvious the difference between them is even bigger .

 

Styles make fights and Bowe had a shaky chin ... his managers avoided all big punchers. In addition, even at his best his defense was suspect which is why Ike had a very decent shot at making it a brutal fight for Bowe .. Bowe threw his title in the garbage rather than fight Lennox Lewis ... that says a ton.

 

Seldons jab was ten times better than Ikes. Ike didnt fight enough to prove how much better he was than Seldon. He only proved he was young and strong. Prime Bowe is a different class.