Ike Ibeabuchi-Lennox Lewis

Lewis' resume gets a little brighter.

 

The only good gauge of Ike was his win over Tua, he showed a great chin and toughness and decent skills. Against Lennox he'd have an uphill battle with his boxing ability. He'd need the Rahman version of Lewis to show up to win

 

One more fight or maybe two that was the plan for Ike People forget he was really just on his way up. The late great Curts Cokes had transformed him from a crude banger into a good boxer puncher. He'd out boxed Tua while still unknown. I was ridiculed for predicting he would beat Tua I remember .After the fight it was Where have they been hiding him??lol Then there was Byrd who he nearly decapitated lol.
I'd have loved to see a Lennox-Ike fight there was no one else to give Lennox thewill to stay on when Ike got derailed by that Vegas hooker. It was a tragedy really not only for Ike but for Curtis too. Its every trainers dream to train the World Heavyweight Champion. Ike had a good chance of achieving that for him

 

People tend to forget Lennox had a great resume He beat every man he faced in the pro ring. The reason he wasn't undefeated was really his own fault he underestimated McCall & Rahman. He put the matter right in the rematches though LOL The Rahman KO was a classic

 

Ike has a better chance of beating prime Lennox than anyone else in the late 90s\early 2000s did. Sure, he lost to McCall and Rahman, but Ibeabuchi is someone I see capable of beating Lewis on more than one occasion.

You have to favour Lewis, obviously.But I think Ike would've likely been the toughest fight of his career.

 

I’d make Lewis a heavy favorite to win but Ike could be dangerous . Hard punching contender with an iron chin

 

My hunch regarding Ike, is that he was always likely to unravel sooner or later.

He was not going to be another Joe Louis or Larry Holmes, because he simply didn't have the temperament for it.

If you put a gun to my head, I would say that he would have generated a lot of excitement as a challenger, but he would have gone home as just another Lewis victim.

I don't think that Lewis woudl have been likely to underestimate him either.

A fair few pundits woudl have picked Ike to win before the fight, and Lewis would have come to the ring, prepared to see off a serious challenge.

 

Ike was not the only promising heavyweight contender who was removed from the picture too soon.

Luther McCarthy and Henry Flakes, are perhaps equally fascinating what ifs.

 

Imo, partially because Ike vs Tua was a very close fight, with opinion split on who won. Whilst when Lewis fought Tua, he won at a canter without needing to get out of 2nd gear. Ike was on a similar level to Tua, Lewis was levels above.

I appreciate triangle theories are not definitive, but it's about the best we have to go on, except of course the following key wins of each excluding Tua:

Lewis - Vitali, Holyfield x 2, Golata, Ruddock, Tucker, Mercer, Morrison, Bruno, Rahman, Grant, McCall, Botha, Mason, Akinwande and Biggs.

Ike - Byrd.

Yeah, based on the above, I'd have made Lewis a heavy favorite too.

 

What you say is correct but Tua was out of shape vs Lewis at 245 pounds, compared to 226 pounds which he weighed vs Ibeabuchi which is quite a considerable difference.

Ibeabuchi was a nut job though so sooner or later he was going to implode, he certainly didn't have longevity on his side with his mental state.

I think Lewis beats Ibeabuchi aswell but i think out of all the contenders at that time, Ibeabuchi would've been one of the most dangerous opponents for him if in a perfect world he fought Lewis before he imploded entirely.

Wladimir
Ibeabuchi
Sanders

I would say these 3 were the most dangerous opponents for Lewis during late 90s/early 00s who had a realistic chance of upsetting Lewis.

 

Cheers DP, agree with all of that.

The only thing I'll add, and it doesn't counter anything you've said, is that Tua deliberately added weight.

I recall reading an interview of him around the late 90's and he was quite open about having a complex about his lack of size (frame-wise) vs other HWs, and said he needed to pile on the pounds to match up. Whilst the gain was deliberate, I don't think it was the best thing for him to do.

 

Because Lewis was more proven at the world level

 

Lewis. He never lost when he was focused.