Originally Posted by NorthSideX4
In the late 90’s, the heavyweight division was all but dead. There were the Legends, like Evander Holyfield, and an angry, struggling Mike Tyson, but for the most part, Lennox Lewis was making his way through a bunch of fighters he should have fought when they actually had something in the tank. There was one man, who stood out above everyone. HBO did not jump on the bandwagon of Ike “The President” Ibeabuchi, they chose instead to invent a fighter who came to be known as Michael Grant. Grant proved he could not hang with the big guys, very quickly on television sets around the world, while Ibeabuchi proved, he was a force to be reckoned with. Not since the young Mike Tyson, did we see a man fight so viscously, and hit with so much bad intention. His story for the fringe boxing fan, started when he beat David Tua, for the WBC heavyweight championship, helping break a record, of the number of punches ever to be thrown in a heavyweight fight. That fight, more than any other catapulted Ike into the top of the late 90’s heavyweight crop, with an aging
Holyfield, and a Champion named Lennox Lewis who had a great right hand, but no beard to speak of. Ike Ibeabuchi’s dreams for success, were about to come true.
It’s amazing how the simplest dreams, can turn into the most complex nightmares. Immediately following the Tua fight, he began to complain of chronic headaches, but MRI’s revealed nothing.
He began to seriously injure sparring partners. It was said he cracked the skull of one, and broke the leg of another. He had run in’s with the police, having to be forcibly detained in one case.
He got 2 moths in jail, for abducting the son of a former girlfriend, then running his car into a concrete pillar. He had also been making outlandish claims about seeing demons, and began making impossible monetary demands of promoters. He continued to fight, with his reputation of being crazy, he beat 3 more fighters, most notably, undefeated Chris “Rapid Fire” Byrd, whom we took out in just 5 rounds. Not too long after that, he allegedly summoned a lap dancer to his room in a Las Vegas hotel. The dancer claims he became enraged when she asked for money up front, proceeded to throw her in a closet, and rape her. It took a more than a few cops, and a lot of pepper spray, to subdue the 250lb fighter.
Struggling out of the ghettos and abject poverty of Nigeria, Ike rose to the top of, arguably one of the most difficult sports in the world. He had it all, and whether it was mental illness, greed, ego, or just plain stupidity. He lost would could have been, a history making career, along with tens of millions of dollars. As a fight fan, you think about what could have been. You think about the excitement and fanfare he would have brought to the Heavyweight division, but as a human being, you may have to agree that he is exactly where he belongs.
Ike is currently at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada stemming from a 20O1 criminal conviction for a bad encounter with a Las Vegas escort service representative in 1999. Ike is serving a 2-10 year sentence and a consecutive 3-20 year sentence. He was granted parole for his 2-10 year sentence in 2001. There was reason for many to believe that Ike would also be granted parole on his 2-10 year sentence in 2001. There was reason for many to believe that Ike would also be granted parole on his 3-20 year sentence at his last parole board hearing in 2004, but Ike was hit with an unexpected and very disappointing three (3) year denial. Ike is not expected to appear before the parole board again until 2007. All tolled, Ike has spent six (6) years incarcerated. doghouseboxing
