88 Mike Tyson vs Ike Ibeabuchi

[p4pking]

Prior to fighting Tua, Ike really fought nobody with a winning record outside of say Anthony Wade. He had only fought over 8 rounds twice. Tua was his 17th fight. Tua on the other hand had fought 27 times. Tua at the time was being touted as the next Tyson and had recently blasted out Ruiz, Wilson, Izon and Maskaev. Tua had been fighting 10 and 12 round fights for 4 or 5 years. At the time, it was being said that Ike was a flash in the pan and a coddled contender. As it turns out he was not the sum of his past opponents. Dark Lord Al makes a great point in that Ike would have had no fear and it may have been Tyson who got intimidated. That is a huge factor imo. Tyson may have fought about 15 times in a year but let’s be honest here, he was spoon fed more than Ike or Tua. He never even fought any kind of a perceived threat until 1987 and that was Thomas. I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer here.

Fair post, except that it's purely speculation that Tyson would've been intimidated in his day, as is most anything that points to Ike having much of a shout here imo. Tua hardly blased out Maskaev either, for what thats worth. He was looking pretty damn pedestrian and being soundly outboxed until he caught up late. If Ibeabuchi had any inclination to box that may have been a clear win for him, I actually thought Tua could've easily got the nod instead.

[El Kabong]

Watching Ibeabuchi vs Tua .....honestly a decent jab could have turned the tide in that fight good news for Tyson. Both guys did get staggared in the fight.

[p4pking]

Watching Ibeabuchi vs Tua .....honestly a decent jab could have turned the tide in that fight good news for Tyson. Both guys did get staggared in the fight.

Exactly, it was an incredible scrap but a bit as though both made a pact to forget about boxing. It's not as if there wasn't room for it as you say, any kind of adjustment for Ike would've made things a lot easier on him, his approach was horrifying.

[IamInuit]

Prior to fighting Tua, Ike really fought nobody with a winning record outside of say Anthony Wade. He had only fought over 8 rounds twice. Tua was his 17th fight. Tua on the other hand had fought 27 times. Tua at the time was being touted as the next Tyson and had recently blasted out Ruiz, Wilson, Izon and Maskaev. Tua had been fighting 10 and 12 round fights for 4 or 5 years. At the time, it was being said that Ike was a flash in the pan and a coddled contender. As it turns out he was not the sum of his past opponents. Dark Lord Al makes a great point in that Ike would have had no fear and it may have been Tyson who got intimidated. That is a huge factor imo. Tyson may have fought about 15 times in a year but let’s be honest here, he was spoon fed more than Ike or Tua. He never even fought any kind of a perceived threat until 1987 and that was Thomas. I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer here.

Fair post, except that it's purely speculation that Tyson would've been intimidated in his day, as is most anything that points to Ike having much of a shout here imo. Tua hardly blased out Maskaev either, for what thats worth. He was looking pretty damn pedestrian and being soundly outboxed until he caught up late. If Ibeabuchi had any inclination to box that may have been a clear win for him, I actually thought Tua could've easily got the nod instead.

I suppose we could split hairs here for quite awhile but Tyson had issues with Thomas, Tucker, Tillis and even Biggs. And that was this prime Tyson. The Tua v Ike fight could have gone either way and when you are dealing with that kind of punch output I'd hate to be a judge. All I am saying is that Tyson vs Ike is far from a forgone conclusion. Either one of them could win a best out of three.