Ike Ibeabuchi v.s Rocky Marciano

It is a shame Ike Ibeabuchi was never going to control himself after his first tough fight because he never got to be a great fighter or got to knock out any world champions. It is unfair to compare. Ike never came close to beating a fighter who was regarded the best of his era.

There is so little to go on with ibeabuchi. All anyone can say is he was big and looked like he might have been something, but his career was over almost as soon as he got going. He made a name for himself then it was over. We will ever know if he would have been anything. the flawed mentality, in all likelihood was always going to let him down. The two name guys he fought went on to be good fighters but its doubtful it guarantees ike could or would also.


Is there another strong contender who never faced a champion worthy of all time greatness after so few fights? isn't it like saying the Pope would have made an excellent husband if he were allowed to marry?We could assume the Pope would have made a great husband and we could also assume Ibeabuchi was not juiced to ****. Neither can be proven. The fact is it is a shame ibeabuchi with all his muscles looked a good fighter before he was locked up. it is also a fact that Ike was mad. It is also a fact that he did not knock out a champion or a fighter considered the best in the world. So it is fair to say it is unfair to compare Ike to all time greatness.

 

We can say a lot more than that. We can talk about his size, his workrate, his power, his handspeed, his balance, his versatility, etc (If the only language we could use to discuss and compare boxers were boxrec-ese, it might be a bit different).

 

I don't even know what to do with this.

 

ike tko in 3 or 4

 

I absolutely agree 100%. We can "talk about his size, his workrate, his power, his handspeed, his balance, his versatility" against the guys he did fight.

And let's not forget, When we do talk about Ibeabuchi, we know he never beat a guy regarded the best of his division within his own era. Not by a long chalk.

 

u joined in.

 

This is a fight between two heavyweights, one is just from an era where 180 pounds was the average and one from an era on average 50 pounds heavier and 180 pound men compete at light heavy. So yeah, you have fairly matched two heavyweights in a fantasy bout.

 

Ike never accomplished anything. He appeared to be a good contender but that is all that can be said. Always go with the proven entity.

 

This is how I see it.

Yes I would be more than interested to see what Ike would have done, had he managed to stay out of prison, but I have to go with what happened in the real world.

 

I disagree with most of what you wrote, but one sentence caught my eye. "Ike never came close to beating a fighter who was regarded the best of his era."

Which is 100% true, but then the questions becomes, were the close to top echelons of the 2000's better than the top echelons of the '50's, and I would submit to you that they were.

I think someone like Tua would have wrecked havoc on almost all the '50's fighters, but going against the fighters the size of Lewis he was made to look ordinary. Ike was a big man and he threw damn near everything he had into a high percentage of his punches, if Marciano were in the ring, they both would be facing leather, but Ike's shots would have far more impact, and I think chin wise, Ike probably edges this as well and honestly I don't envision a whole lot of defense in this match up either.

 

lazy thinking and fallacious logic.

 

I agree with your post but good luck trying to get through to the "size is irrelevant if you have class" crowd.

 

I don't disagree, but the logic fails me. Because boxing has weight divisions for a reason, which is that all things being equal, a skilled big man beats a skilled smaller man. This is one of the cornerstones of boxing. Yet once a fighter exceeds an absolutely arbitrary weight amount, this is all of a sudden suspended, and sized and weight cease to matter. The only problem with that is that they still do and the likelihood of beating a fighter as skilled as you are and who is 50lb heavier and 6in taller and has a fair longer reach, becomes extremely unlikely, and for the most part, it's not even a fair battle to being with.

 

I would say that it is cautious logic to be honest.

Contenders who look like the coming thing are ten a penny, while great champions are as rare as hen’s teeth.

That is why people like myself are reluctant to pick guys like Ibeabuchi, over guys like Marciano.

 

You can tell the newbies when all they talk about is size. It's all about the fight in the man.