Ike Ibeabuchi gets a lot of hype with people saying he would've been great if he didn’t go to prison. But truthfully he had some major flaws. His defense wasn’t great and he led with his head too much. If he’d stuck around he probably would’ve run into guys like Lewis or the Klitschkos and they would've picked him apart. The myth around him doesn’t match the reality. He’s Hurricane Carter 2.0.
Ike would have lost to Lewis, but i have no doubt whatsoever that he stops Wlad in circa 99-00. It's less clear if he beats Vitali, but he sure as Hell would have had better odds versus Vitali than Lewis.
Yeah, I think most of us felt Tua won, myself included. I've never seen more than maybe a handful of people who felt Ike won.
Ike really fucked up, because he came around at the PERFECT time to succeed. Ike started peaking in 99, by that time: Tyson & Holy were both close to washed up. Bowe was long gone. Lewis would retire only 3 years later. Tua became fat. Grant was a fraud. Both Klits were pre-prime. Ike could have done very well. He didn't have to go through murder's row to reach the top. Even if he lost to Lewis, he could have rebounded and become #1 in the division following Lewis' retirement. Instead, that title went to Vitali.
Ike was basically a bigger stronger version of Holy. Volume power puncher with a great chin. He would def hold a belt in a post Lewis era. Even against Lewis he had a shot we just didn't see enough of him to properly gage... but hell if Rahman could do it so could Ike
I don't think that's entirely accurate. Ike was bigger and stronger than Holy, with more pop, but he lacked Holy's footspeed, handspeed, and fluidity. Holy was also better defensively. Not that Holy was a defensive wiz, but he was adept at riding with punches. Ike always took the full brunt of power punches, and he was vulnerable to uppercuts. He survived that versus Tua, but Tua didn't have a right uppercut like Lewis had. I'm no Lewis fan, but i think Lewis would have blasted Ike.
Ibeabuchi tua was around the time of the holyfield tyson rematch. Tua was helping holyfield prepare for one of the Tyson fights and by most accounts getting his ass whipped in the gym
Not denying that, Ike showed he had a great chin, was very strong and had a good work rate. My position is, however, that if that's not exactly what it took to beat Tua - and Ike imo didn't even do that - then how good could he really have been?
