So...how good was Ike Ibeabuchi??

Interesting. Inspired by the thread in MM. Just interested in hearing YOUR opinion, how did you see his career progressing if he hadn't gone mental? Was he a fraud on the verge of being exposed? Could he have beaten the Klitschkos? How would he have done against Lennox Lewis? Let's ave it

 

The truth is that nobody really knows any of that because he was still being tested when his career ended

I think he was certainly a good contender with some skill and by all appearances an excellent chin... He has a nice win over Chris Byrd... but that is all there really is in his favor

People who act like he was this uncrowned champ are bonkers, though

 

Cdogg, at the time did you think he could have beaten the Klitschkos who were also emerging around that period? At that point anyway, and did you see him as a genuine threat to Lewis? I know you said it's impossible to tell, which is true, but after the Byrd win did you think "this guy is by far the best of the contenders coming up" or "man, Lewis has his work cut out beating this guy"?

 

As cdogg said, no one really knows.

My hunch? Contender, possible paper belt holder - would have been spanked by Lennox Lewis.

 

We can't be sure how good he actually was, but imo Ike was not a fraud. He was an excellent contender who fought a couple top guys of contrasting styles and beat them with no more than 20 fights under his belt. i think both the Klits and Lennox would have beaten him. Maybe Ike beats Wlad if he catches him before he was so cautious... but i don't think so

 

He was undefeated so i'm going to have say best of all time.

 

He went life and death with David Tua.

 

So did Mayweather against Castillo.

 

You know boxing

 

in his 17th pro fight he stood right in front of an in-shape Tua and traded punches with him, beating him with excellent stamina, punch output and chin.

the gameplan was certainly flawed, but i thought the manner in which he beat tua spoke volumes about his abilities as a fighter

 

:bears:

 

Castillo was good though.

 

I'd agree... but Tua won at least six rounds in that fight.

 

Yeah but not undefeated kind of good.

 

Fair

 

You also know boxing. artie:

 

In an all out slug fest. Who slugs with Tua and wins?

 

Absolutely. I don't know why this is so hard to understand for so many people. Then when you couple this with how he dismantled the tricky Chris Byrd we know thats this fighter's talent was undeniable.

 

Same.

I think he was at least as good as the best Sam Peter.
I think he might have been good enough to beat Lennox and the Klitschko's, but I would have bet on them.
I would have picked Ibeabuchi over Holyfield, though.
Without any confidence, I would have picked Ibeabuchi over prime Bowe due to how easy it was to hit Bowe cleanly.

 

Good, not great. For context - significantly better than Hasim Rahman, Sam Peter, Kirk Johnson etc, not as good as Vitali Klitschko.

 

It's Hard to Imagine More CONTRASTING Styles than those of David Tua & Chris Byrd...Nonetheless, Ike Ibeabuchi Found a Way to Best BOTH Men...

Ike Beat THE BEST Version of David Tua that EVER Existed...Tua was YOUNG, IN SHAPE, MOTIVATED, UNDEFEATED & Riding a Growing Wave of Momentum as Possibly Being "The NEXT Mike Tyson"...Say what U Will about David Tua, but he's 1 of THE HARDER Pure Punchers in Heavyweight History...

& Ike Ibeabuchi Stood IN FRONT of Tua & SLUGGED w/Him...For All of Tua's Shortcomings & Losses, NOBODY had the Balls or the CHIN to Go Toe-to-Toe w/Him as Ike Did...

It's Hard to Say HOW Ike Would've done vs. the Klit Bros. or Lennox Lewis, but REED has a HARD Time Envisioning Ike Being KEPT on the Perimeter, Behind their Looooooooooong Jabs, for 12 FULL Rounds...Ike Would've TESTED Each of them in Ways they were RARELY Tested....



REED:hammert:

 

THIS!!!...

The WAY Ike Beat Tua is what's IMPORTANT Here...



REED:dancingBaby:

 

How good was Byrd though...really? Look at his fights against Oquendo, Golota, McCline, both fights with Wlad, etc.

 

By showing zero ring intelligence or ability to maintain decent mobility for more than a couple of rounds? :dunno:

 

I think Ike had good potential. Tough like Lamon Brewster, a bit raw, probably would've had his hands full against guys like the Klitschkos and Lewis. I think we really needed to see Ike against a 6'4 solid seasoned heavyweight in their prime. Maybe even somebody like a Golota, Bowe, Holyfield, Rahman, Kirk Johnson...heck even a late 90s Shannon Briggs or a 1998-99 Michael Grant.
I didn't see Ike in anything other than the Tua and Byrd fights. Tua is a 5'9 guy with a 69" reach and Byrd is a woodpecker with nothing much to offer than than being a pesky gnat who was lucky to hold the belt for as long as he did.
Many many questions needed to be asked of Ike. There were many fighters out there he needed to beat who would've tested his all round skill. Also, wasn't it Tua that put Ike on the path to brain damage?

 

I would have picked Ike over prime Bowe with alot of confidence actually. Bowe, IMO, was more overrated than Ike.

 

Bowe is more overrated than almost everyone in fact.

MTF

 

suffice it to say that the division would have been better off had Ike kept his head and stayed out of the loony bin. I pick Lennox and the Brothers Klitsckho over him but I think he was good enough to beat all the other heavyweights, give the elite 3 great fights, or prove me wrong and maybe beat one or two of them.

 

He may have KOed Wlad and he may have decisioned Vitali. At this point I too would have probably picked all three to beat him but not with too much confidence on the Wlad fight.

 

I want everyone here to quietly recount in their heads, at an estimate, how many times theyve ever complimented or spoken highly of either Tua or Byrd outside an Ibeabuchi convo.

Hmmm...