88 Mike Tyson vs Ike Ibeabuchi

[ross]

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.

Are you for real? No threats until Thomas?

Trevor Berbick and Bone Crusher Smith were both dangerous and both were defending world champions!

I think id go with Ike, but really it would depend on what had happened to each guy the days prior to fighting on if they'd be there mentally for it.

By 88 this guy was the only one to go 10 rounds, and all he had going for him was a big set of balls and the toughest beard you can ever have. Well he got stopped right in the tenth but thats the most Tyson had done.




Its a hard call, would Ike have been giving back what he was getting is the big question,Id say yeah he would? If so Id go with him. Cause for Mike to last 10 when being hit back is different than lasting 10 giving all the punishment and Mike wasnt used to taking any for long.

Then again Mike could bust his ribs and he could fold in 3.

Mike had already gone 10 against Mitch Green and Tillis

All this shit of "Mike struggled" what you really mean is Mike didn't knock them out and thats the worst you can say. Mike beat all his opponents up and rarely lost a round.

He never got gift decisions or got dropped coming up like a lot of other "great" fighters because he was just too good.