Ike for president?

[FinitoElDinamita]

IKe would have beat the Clits for sure. He would have beat everybody except for maybe Lewis..

[Max Power]

I seen Ike wither from a few of Tua's blows and I seen him frustrated by Byrd before he struck it rich. So there is merit in what one man above claimed.

Any claims he could have been the greatest is pure speculation of course which is why I don't rank him anywhere silly but I atleast think he is better than Samuel Peter who gave Wlad a hard fight.

[El Kabong]

IKe would have beat the Clits for sure. He would have beat everybody except for maybe Lewis..

Oh would he have? And what do you base that prediction on besides Ike's fights vs Byrd and Tua?

If you look at Wlad fight Byrd I or II he NEVER struggled with Byrd at all the way Ike did. And vs Tua Ike brawled for a bit but he was the one whose constitution weakened and he decided he had better start boxing.

Also Holyfield would have schooled Ike because he would have stayed in the pocket, shoulder rolled and countered everything Ike threw at him and Evander would have never given him a moments rest.

[p4pking]

I don't know, aside from obviously being a scary nutcase he showed a lot of promise and no major chinks in the armour to me. Beating Tua and Byrd when they were both undefeated is very impressive for a 24 year old man without much of a learning curve before that point. As grey said both were limited but they couldn't have been more different either, Ike obviously had some depth to him. I thought he could have made the Tua fight wider and quite a bit easier on himself to, maybe he didn't have the poise to box under a lot of pressure though who knows. Bottom line is he was crazy and wasn't going to avoid prison much longer than he did.

[El Kabong]

The FACT is that Ibeabuchi had half a career due to his mental illness which may or may not have been exacerbated by CTE (just throwing that out there). How he would have faired vs more well established/well rounded fighters is a mystery and how long his career would have lasted is also a mystery. Joe Mesi looked good to fight 10-20 more times right before he fought Jirov, ditto Magomed Abdusalamov. What I try to do is base how Ike Ibeabuchi was vs how other fighters from Nigeria did as pros. Yes there's plenty of room for error as David Izon is not Sam Peter and neither is Duncan Dokiwari, but there is a pattern fighters from Nigeria seem to follow. They start off looking like unstoppable beasts, they slow down, and they end up taking too much punishment from being in one too many battles.

[p4pking]

Fair enough, point is he was on a good track and you can't write off his chances completely any more than you can say he would have beaten someone like Holyfield. Few great HW's ever looked completely unstoppable at the same stage of their career, hell Holyfield was going life or death with lesser guys when he first moved to HW and he had a much better pedigree beforehand. I think Sam Peter or Joe Mesi would have been food for a young David Tua also, but that's just me.

[FinitoElDinamita]

IKe would have beat the Clits for sure. He would have beat everybody except for maybe Lewis..

Oh would he have? And what do you base that prediction on besides Ike's fights vs Byrd and Tua?

If you look at Wlad fight Byrd I or II he NEVER struggled with Byrd at all the way Ike did. And vs Tua Ike brawled for a bit but he was the one whose constitution weakened and he decided he had better start boxing.

Also Holyfield would have schooled Ike because he would have stayed in the pocket, shoulder rolled and countered everything Ike threw at him and Evander would have never given him a moments rest.

We can't make judgements off common opponents but since you mentioned Wlad-Byrd, what about Vitali-Byrd? Byrd schooled Vitali and made em quit like a Ukranian hooker while Ike knocked em out viciously .. and BTW, Byrd was over the hill when he fought Wlad..

It seems like Holy have been old forever. If he had fought Ike any time in the 2000s, he would have got seriously injured..

Ike would fuck up a prime Tyson my friend.

[p4pking]

It reflected poorly on Vitali that he quit but it didn't have a lot to do with Byrd imo, who didn't win a round and wasn't going to turn the fight around. Byrd fought Wlad like a year after Ike beat him and before any of his best performances, no idea where that comes from. Ike would not have beaten a prime Tyson based on anything he ever showed in the ring, going by the Tua fight alone Tyson would've thrown more with a much better variety without getting hit so much.

[Max Power]

Now Finito I am all for claiming Ike MAY have been able to make it to the top but I'm not so sure I'd be making statements like he'd smash up Wlad, Vitali, Tyson and Holyfield like that and maybe only lose to Lewis. It's a strong statement given the assumptions you've made.

For one thing, Vitali thrashed Byrd, it was a gift retirement, that's it! Byrd did nothing to deserve that belt, NOTHING!

Anyway Byrd was frustrating Ike before he got whacked. Wladimir wasted Byrd easy.

As for Tua it was a fair even slugfest really, Ike wilting under the power of Tua but Ike throwing and landing a greater volume of shots due to combination punching over Tua's hard single shots.

I think he had the potential though sure!

[Britkid]

I do believe if his illness was diagnosed and controlled early enough, Ike would of been a heavyweight with decent power, a solid chin and little more.

Now 'just' having them virtues in this Heavyweight era maybe good enough to sneak a world ranking, but back in the 90s the quality of the Heavyweights was such, I suspect Ibeabuchi would have at best lost a fight to a top contender, then been an 'opponent' for future contenders.

[El Kabong]

We can't make judgements off common opponents but since you mentioned Wlad-Byrd, what about Vitali-Byrd? Byrd schooled Vitali and made em quit like a Ukranian hooker while Ike knocked em out viciously .. and BTW, Byrd was over the hill when he fought Wlad..

It seems like Holy have been old forever. If he had fought Ike any time in the 2000s, he would have got seriously injured..

Ike would fuck up a prime Tyson my friend.

A few things
#1 Vitali was ahead on all 3 scorecards and only retired due to a torn rotator cuff. Or didn't you know that since it's not like it had been discussed on this very site over a hundred times?
#2 Wlad fought and beat Chris Byrd when Chris Byrd held a title. In the first match it was the WBO title, in the rematch it was the IBF title. Over the hill indeed.
#3 Ibeabuchi never won a title did he? Awww shame that.
#4 Prime Tyson? Eh I think Tyson would take him on points in his prime. But then again we don't know how good Ibeabuchi could have been, we just know he couldn't outbox Byrd and he couldn't outslug Tua.
#5 Just from the standpoint of being offended by a poor choice of insults "Quit like a Ukrainian hooker" ....are Ukrainian hookers known for their lack of intestinal fortitude? Are they recognized world wide as giving up when the going gets tough? Or are you just having fun trying to type some kind of scathing insult and this is the best you could come up with?

Back to the drawing board chump

[Bo-Bo24]

We can't make judgements off common opponents but since you mentioned Wlad-Byrd, what about Vitali-Byrd? Byrd schooled Vitali and made em quit like a Ukranian hooker while Ike knocked em out viciously .. and BTW, Byrd was over the hill when he fought Wlad..

It seems like Holy have been old forever. If he had fought Ike any time in the 2000s, he would have got seriously injured..

Ike would fuck up a prime Tyson my friend.

A few things
#1 Vitali was ahead on all 3 scorecards and only retired due to a torn rotator cuff. Or didn't you know that since it's not like it had been discussed on this very site over a hundred times?
#2 Wlad fought and beat Chris Byrd when Chris Byrd held a title. In the first match it was the WBO title, in the rematch it was the IBF title. Over the hill indeed.
#3 Ibeabuchi never won a title did he? Awww shame that.
#4 Prime Tyson? Eh I think Tyson would take him on points in his prime. But then again we don't know how good Ibeabuchi could have been, we just know he couldn't outbox Byrd and he couldn't outslug Tua.
#5 Just from the standpoint of being offended by a poor choice of insults "Quit like a Ukrainian hooker" ....are Ukrainian hookers known for their lack of intestinal fortitude? Are they recognized world wide as giving up when the going gets tough? Or are you just having fun trying to type some kind of scathing insult and this is the best you could come up with?

Back to the drawing board chump

Owned.

[C.J.Rock]

Ive got to add my 2 cents worth here....

I knew Ike from the day he walked into Curtis Cokes Home of Champions gym in Dallas Tx.
He was telling everyone he was going to be world heavyweight champ & no one would beat him.
I watched as Curtis molded him from a crude brawler to being a great boxer / puncher.
He was right in his statement that day No one did beat him in the ring as a pro. His downfall came at the hands of a vegas hooker.
In my opinion Ike would have been the natural successor to Lennox Lewis. The Klitschko brothers would have been demolished.
As for Ike's mental condition? Put yourself in his place he was kept under heavy sedation for 14 months like a zombie almost because they were scared of what he MIGHT do
After 14 months of sedation anyone would have mental problems don't you think
Yes it was a tragedy what happened to Ike Ibeabuchi not only for him but for Curtis Cokes too. Its every trainers dream to train the heavyweight champ. Curtis had two guys more than capable Ike & Kirk Johnson bot both failed to win it for very different reasons