Both in their welterweight primes. I'd take Brown by come-from-behind KO. Ike would pile up the early rounds behind his jab and right hand, but Brown would hang in there, and gradually begin landing with more and more frequency, while wearing Ike down to the body. Circa round 10-11 Brown catches a tiring Ike with a big left hook and that Ike doesn't recover from.
Hmm that's a good one. I can just see Quartey piling up points with that jab and taking a fairly close decision.
The threat of a Brown kayo late really looms as a probable outcome. Given his durability, I don't see anyway that Brown exits early. But his solid defense/skill, plus Quartey's low workrate means that if Ike does get a lead, he's never really too far ahead. Ike was a guy I always rooted for and I followed his comeback avidly. I think the Forrest robbery (RIP) stole his soul, because Ike looked like he was only in it for the money against Winky Wright. I wonder why he had such a habit of falling apart in the later rounds. It probably had something to do with conditioning, but I think it probably had more to do with losing focus as the finish line gets closer. Amir Khan is sort of similar: I don't think Khan's chin/defense were ever as bad as made out to be. He was capable of boxing intelligently when he was dialed in, but then falling into fatal complacency.
Quartey-Forrest was one of the worst robberies of the last 20 years. Only robbery I can think of right now that was even worse is Lara-Paul Williams. Ike won 7-8 outta 10 rounds against Forrest.
Great match up. im not so sure Brown is the stronger of the two-Ike was pretty strong too. Brown has an edge I think in durability but its not like Ike has a china chin either. i dont really know if Brown could get through that jab- very hard and accurate . And that jab isnt for scoring points- its for busting you up. im going to go with Ike holding Brown off with the jab and surviving a late Brown surge to win a very close decision.
I agree with everything you said here. Although, Ike did show great conditioning in his title winning effort against Crisanto Espana. Ike was a beast in that fight.
The Espana fight was without question the best version of Ike. He wasn't the same fighter by time he fought DLH in 99. Ike peaked in 94-96
It was the best of both Quartey and Espana. A truly great fight. Fast paced, two way action, lots of skill, and then a surprising and emphatic ending leaving no controversy. Wish we had more like that lately. I was both surprised and disappointed that Espana never really fought again. (He fought just once after Quartey, and won). He had nothing to be ashamed of in that performance. He had Ike shaken up in like the 7th or 8th round, and I thought the fight was razor close heading into the 11th.
Brown by late tko or decision. Prime 147 lb. Brown, in the 1987-1991 time frame was a very, very good fighter.
