Ike Ibeabuchi vs Vitali Klitschko

What transpires?

(waiting for some idiot to start with "IBEABUCHI WUZ OVERRATED NOT PROVEN OK BICH" about a guy who KO'd Chris Byrd & stood toe-to-toe with David Tua when discussing a mythical matchup against a guy who quit against Chris Byrd and whose best "win" is a loss to Lennox Lewis)

 

This thread has never been done before.

 

Vitali UD

 

IBEABUCHI AND VATALI WUZ OVERRATED NOT PROVEN OK BICH

 

Ike by close decision

 

Vitali by decision

 

Ike. Body punches.

 

Ike UD by virtue of being in shape, in his prime, and not undersized

 

Vitali on points. On what I've seen anyway, impossible to know how good Ike could have been.

 

...

 

hrm, hadn't considered that angle

 

I can see this looking a fair bit like Lewis-McCall II without the crying & quitting. Ike covers distance too ponderously and takes to long to get set- Vitali would move and arm punch him to distraction.

 

Yeah, Ike dealt poorly with movement. He KO'd Byrd but Vitali is much more slick and swift of foot

 

I'd rate giving an ATG at the top of the tree hell for 6 rounds higher than wining a close decision over a one-dimensional banger, or stopping a small light hitting heavyweight.

 

Vitali is harder to beat than Chris Byrd.

 

Byrd stood in front of Ike for most the fight. And was 8 inches shorter than Vitali.

 

We're discussing a specific aspect of their styles here.

Ike Ibeabuchi is harder to beat than Danny Williams.

 

Rahman stopped a better version of Lewis than the one Vitali got stopped by. So I guess Rahman > Vitali

 

We are, but for all his slickness and swiftness of foot, it is way more difficult to win rounds off Vitali than Byrd.

 

Well Lewis was able to secure the rematch and prove he was the better man and that the first fight was a fluke, all the questions were answered. Vitali wasn't afforded the same opportunity.

 

That's because Vitali didn't win. Rahman did. Knocked out an unprepared Lewis that was still better than the one Vitali got his eye turned into hamburger against.

 

Byrd was his normal elusive self & employed a lot of movement, no idea what you're talking about Hut.. Ike did a great job of hunting him down

 

That is not true. Byrd usually fought in the pocket, just like he did here. His game was to slip and duck punches at close and fire quick counters, not to stay away. Ike's workrate was too much for him.

This leads to the problem of rating Ike, despite your very objective opening post. In his two big fights we saw how Ike fights at close. He obviously could throw a lot, had some power and a reliable chin. What we don't know is how well he deals with the jab, movement, reach disadvantage etc. And yes, Vitali brings these to the table, more so than Byrd

 

Byrd was not fighting in the pocket by any stretch of the imagination. Watch the 4th round. He doesn't waste movement, but he keeps his distance and as soon as Ibeabuchi tries to close it, he's out of there. That isn't "fighting in the pocket." There's also the fact that Ibeabuchi did an excellent job of cutting off the ring on Byrd, putting him on the ropes.. The HBO team even mentions Ibeabuchi 'chasing him around the ring.'

You'll have to excuse me if I don't buy this re-imagining of Vitali as Sugar Ray Leonard.

 

Ibeabuchi KO'd Byrd, Vitali quit against him.

 

Yes, but Lewis proved it was a fluke and that barring a lucky punch he was 100% the better man. Lewis' win over Vitali was legit but it was not definitive. There were still questions to be answered. I would also disagree that the Lewis Rahman beat was better. Either way, whilst it wasn't a win, Klitschko's performance against Lewis surpasses anything Ike ever did in his career.

 

*whilst barely losing a round and redeeming himself afterwards by continuing against the last great heavyweight champion with a vagina on his face

 

1997 Ike knocks the fuck out of the Lewis Vitali had in front of him. 0 doubt in my mind about that.

 

It wasn't a lucky punch. It was an out of shape, unprepared Lewis who took his opponent lightly. Rahman landed a nice shot about a minute before the KO punch, too. Lewis was worse off against Vitali, but Vitali only "almost" was able to take advantage of it.

 

Lewis looked worse against Rahman IMO, especially as he hadn't acclimatised to the higher altitude.

Regardless, Lewis proved against Rahman he was the better man with a definitive win. He doesn't have a definitive win over Vitali.