Ike Ibeabuchi VS Chris Byrd - Revisited.

I currently have the fight on pause having watched the first round.

I can't help but get the feeling that Byrd could have won this fight or atleast avoided getting Ko'ed.

It looks to me as if Chris Byrd believed the hype surrounding him at the time that he was this quick skilled southpaw heavyweight that had so much speed and was so slick that he could beat anyone and look good while doing so. I have this feeling that if Chris wouldn't have believed the hype about himself and approached this fight with a workman like mindset that he could potentially even have won that fight.

Regardless of Chris's mistakes during the fight is looks as if Ibeabuchi had a style that was practically designed to defeat a fighter like Chris Byrd.

I must admit, I can understand why Chris Byrd was soooo full of himself, some of the defensive moves that he showed that night VS Ibeabuchi were simply out of this world, the ropadoping among other things, I don't think that anyone has ever avoided more flashy heavy leather on those ropes in such impressive fashion as Chris Byrd did that night.

Looking at the face that Ibeabuchi made at the end of round 3.... most fighters don't make faces like that.... adds credibility to the claims that Ike is a nutcaste.

Chris Byrd landed some shots on Ibeabuchi in round three that he practically jumped into, eye pleasing stuff really.

Watching the beginning of round four it makes you think really, a more mature Chris Byrd posessing some of the same skills as this young one that fought Ike Ibeabuchi, it would have been a very very close fight especially if Chris would have decided from the getgo to make more of an assault of Ike's mind.

Perhaps Chris really did win this fight and Retire Ike Ibeabuchi, think about it, Ike never fought again, perhaps the heavy leather he recieved from David Tua plus the embarassment that he suffered while fighting Chris Byrd combined to just cave Ike Ibeabuchi completely in. It can't feel too good to throw your heaviest right hand at its target time and time again only to see it miss and your opponent mock you with silly faces.

The referee was slightly too much on Chris Byrds case, not sure exactly what he was complaining to Chris Byrd about all the time but it wasn't really called for, it was either due to the fact that the ref just didn't like the way Chris was fighting or because the ref made a little extra $$$ that night... either was it wasn't exactly blatant but still makes you wonder. It must be hard enough to be in there with someone who outweighs you by 40 pounds without having the refs voice echoing in your head with BS while you're trying to focus on countering and defending yourself.

I wonder how Ike would have reacted to getting tied up a little bit. Chris should have done some of that, clinching is an art really, it's ok to do a bit of it. I think that clinching would have messed even further with Ike's head. Also Chris shouldn't have worried soooo much about winning the fight, if he had like just tried to go the round instead, just slow the big man down for a round or two, make em boring and the ****er frustrated, that could have worked wonders.

The knockout - Ike times Byrd beautifully on the rope and connects with a killer left hook sending sweat flying all over the place from Chris Byrds head. Chris goes down, he gets up and ducks a straight right hand from Ike Ibeabuchi, Ike's bodyweight lands on Chris's right arm while Chris is still ducking and Chris fell over. Perhaps a jab landed but I do not think that it contributed to Chris falling over. Referee mistakenly called it a knockdown, mistakenly since the reason that Chris fell over wasn't a punch.

Ike Ibeabuchi moves in for the kill for the final time, Ike throws alot of punches and lands one really good one and one or two decent ones, Chris Byrd starts to notice that the referee is thinking about jumping inbetween the fighters to stop the fight and starts paying attention to the referee instead of focusing on Ibebuchi making his worries come true.

The stoppage was legitimate but I can't help but to get the feeling that another referee somewhere out there would have made it possible for this fight to move into the next round and we'll never know just what exactly would have taken place if it had..... it would most probably been Chris Byrd getting slaughtered in the next round or not coming out/having his towl thrown in before the round started.

The knockdown was really a killer but the finishing off it wasn't anything spectacular which sort of reduces the credit that Ibeabuchi can be given for this fight.

Ike won the battle that much can't be denied but shortly after this fight Ike found himself in jail while Chris Byrd went on to become a two time world heavyweight champion and a somewhat successful fighter so it can perhaps be said that Chris won the war.

 

After the first KD he was just acting macho trying to tell the ref in the most decided manner he could that he was fine.

After the second KD he was on one hand complaining that he didn't suffer a legitimate knockdown trying to complain that Ike Ibebuchi had pushed him and on the other hand trying to convince the ref that he was Aokay. Byrd was partially right, Ike did kind of throw his body on Byrd but it wasn't a deliberate push and Byrd was out of position exposing himself to the crash, Byrd also wouldn't have fell from that incident if it wasn't for him being disoriented from the punches that lead to the first KD.