Ike Ibeabuchi vs Vitali Klitschko

[AintGottaClue]

i thought ike was in prison cause he kidnapped his little girl and was a lunatic?

[RAESAAD]

I believ Ike was aggressive enough and strong enough to be the one who laid out VK.....as I think Lennox would have done earlier in his carrer and maybe even in a rematch if he was really ready and trained hard had it happened.

[Parody]

He ****d a stripper, and beat her up.

You could'nt be more wrong.

The man who should be known as the best heavyweight in the world, meanwhile, woke up this morning in a jail cell, just as he has for roughly 1,500 straight days. He will do so again tomorrow morning and every morning thereafter for the near future.

His nickname was The President, but save your ballots; he won't be a candidate to fight any time soon.

Ike Ibeabuchi is a symbol of wasted dreams, squandered money and time forever lost. He is serving five to 30 years inside the Lovelock Correctional Center in the Northern Nevada desert for battery and sexual assault.

Many had mixed emotions when Ibeabuchi's parole eligibility was pushed up to Dec. 12. Oh, how we would love to see him back in the ring, plying his wondrously destructive skills in the ring. The Nigerian mammoth is 20-0 with 15 knockouts. In his last fight he obliterated Byrd 5 1/2 years ago, something no other boxer has done. Ibeabuchi also was the first to defeat David Tua.

Ibeabuchi, only 31 years old, would've buoyed what is fast becoming the worst heavyweight era, but the tradeoff for our pugilistic enjoyment was returning an unstable element back to society.

No matter what decision was made, I was going to be happy with it - and equally disappointed, depending on whether I thought as a boxing fan or a civilian.

I wrote a lengthy story on Ibeabuchi's situation right before his hearing this summer. I had the pleasure of sitting down with him for a few hours in the prison's visiting area one sun-baked Sunday morning. I had been looking forward to the interview for months because it took me that long to arrange it. Ibeabuchi reached out to me last year about writing a tell-all story about him; he had liked an ESPN.com column I wrote about him around the time of his arrest. Nevada prison administrators denied my request for a face-to-face meeting, so I went through the visitor approval process -- Ibeabuchi had to invite me by sending out application forms -- and I saw him as if I were a family member or friend.

Prison regulations prohibited me from bringing in a notepad or pen, much less a tape recorder. I was nervous about conducting an interview without any materials, but once I passed through the metal detectors and automatic gates a guard provided a pencil and some paper scraps. After all, there were boards games to be played, and I might need to keep score.

At the time of our meeting, I would have predicted Ibeabuchi's release next month. He had so many factors working for him. He already had been given clearance by a psychological evaluation board. He received Nevada Community College credits in psychology, philosophy, business math, personal finance, English and computer technology. It was clear by what I saw he was well liked by the guards.

The biggest friend to his cause was adviser Sig Rogich, a Las Vegas ad agency executive and crisis-control specialist with a direct line to Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and George W. Bush.

Rogich worked on Ronald Reagan's presidential re-election, was a member of George H. W. Bush's cabinet, served as U.S. ambassador to his native Iceland and is an adviser to the current president. Rogich has earned the current President Bush's prestigious Ranger title by raising more than $200,000 for the campaign.

Rogich also helped Guinn get elected. The governor appoints every parole board commissioner, and they were the ones to decide this summer whether Ibeabuchi could leave prison this year.

But those close to Ibeabuchi were justifiably nervous about our interview. They knew he was capable of insensitive and undiplomatic commentary that could sabotage his parole chances. His English is remarkable, but many of his notions don't translate very well from a cultural standpoint.

Inmate No. 71979 hadn't spoken to a reporter in years. He was engaging and forthright, alternately intense and charming. He didn't avoid a single question, not about that young boy he nearly killed in an apparent murder-suicide auto accident years earlier in Texas, not about the additional **** accusations that arose after his arrest, not about the literal demons he repeatedly told others he saw. He offered philosophical musings on his life.

It was clear, however, his time behind bars had given him plenty of time to justify every troubling situation that had befallen him. The contrition was dwarfed by the excuses. He offered no apologies, saying he was misled and misunderstood.

As one would expect, he made several bizarre statements in trying to defend his deeds:

• "I feel women should bow to me. I have a great ego in going after women. I'm not a person to **** a woman because I'm of the belief she should want to be with me. If she doesn't want to be with me, I don't want to have sex with her."

• "I have had sex with escorts many times. It's no strings attached. I paid with checks and credit cards. ... It was a guilty pleasure. When we have secrets, God has a way of telling you 'I saw what you did.' I thought I could get away with it, but God had to make my little secret public."

• "How can I have the audacity to **** someone I'm paying to have sex with? In Nigeria I wouldn't be in prison for what I did. The system here (in the U.S.) makes sure someone gets punished whenever a woman cries. This was a call girl, an escort."

My story didn't even mention how he told me of his hope to marry an American woman quickly upon his release so as to avoid deportation.

The parole board denied Ibeabuchi's release even though the victim didn't testify. The verdict apparently wasn't even close because he won't be eligible for parole again until December 2007. Three years was the maximum amount of time the parole board could make him wait.

Needless to say, Ibeabuchi blamed my story, which appeared on ESPN.com, for his denial. The timing clearly was not in his best interests, but he wanted me to interview him, and one of his attorneys facilitated the meeting. Ibeabuchi also was the one who informed me of Rogich's involvement, something he probably should have kept to himself in a presidential election year. The last thing Bush would need is a Willie Horton scandal, even if by extension.

I eventually received a letter:

Tim Graham, you bastard!

You misrepresented my opinion on women in your article, when you promised me that you would be TRUTHFUL.

You caused me my parole, you son of a gun!

I don't ever want to see you again!

Now, you're attacking SIG'S abilities! Of course, We all know who Sig is. Why sing it to the public?

Again, I don't ever want to see you again. Consider yourself warned!!!

And as I folded the letter and placed it back in its envelope, that disappointment I felt about not being to see Ibeabuchi back in the ring for a few more years quickly abated.

He'll stay in prison a few more years. We're probably better off that way.

[wmute]

I think the deciding factor would be ike's stamina and chin. Vitali would win the first few rounds because of his reach and clever boxing (note clever, not pretty) , but ike would just keep coming, at the same unrelentless rate. First chop down the body, the arms.

I am giving vitali credit because he was never stopped in the "KO" sense, so I will say that he would make it to the distance, but rounds 8-12 would have become his worse memories ever.

It is my opinion that Ike would have been the next champ after Lewis (maybe not as dominant as lewis was, but without ****** ko losses), because of his combination of power, stamina, chin, speed (pretty fast at cutting off the ring), and skills (see his fight with byrd).

too bad he was a crazy bastard

[AintGottaClue]

I think the deciding factor would be ike's stamina and chin. Vitali would win the first few rounds because of his reach and clever boxing (note clever, not pretty) , but ike would just keep coming, at the same unrelentless rate. First chop down the body, the arms.

I am giving vitali credit because he was never stopped in the "KO" sense, so I will say that he would make it to the distance, but rounds 8-12 would have become his worse memories ever.

It is my opinion that Ike would have been the next champ after Lewis (maybe not as dominant as lewis was, but without ****** ko losses), because of his combination of power, stamina, chin, speed (pretty fast at cutting off the ring), and skills (see his fight with byrd).

too bad he was a crazy bastard

rounds 8-12 is only 5 rounds, u need 7 to win or alot of KD

[RAESAAD]

Ike would **** Vitali.

[Parody]

Ike would **** Vitali.

bro i love ur avatar...damn i cant copy you, but ill make one like this of lacy

[RAESAAD]

bro i love ur avatar...damn i cant copy you, but ill make one like this of lacy

It is a progression that is happening and hopefully will continue. All the credit goes to one of my favorite posters he knows who he is.I picked the pics he made it possible.

[AREALFIGHTER]

If Ike was ouboxed by Tua, Vitaliy would beat the crap out of Ike and finish him late by a TKO.

Vitaliy was never outboxed in his professional career.

I agree But Ike damb Ike I have never seen VK take a hard 1,2 on the chin He has absorbed great single shots but Not speed with power however. VK hieght alone will - some of that power. Speed will not beat VK because he is always in position to defend or punch hence why he has never been caught by the 1,2 Now the question comes down to a 12 round fight because neither fighter is going to get KO'ed. VK size and skill Vs Ike speed and stamina even out Vk was hurt by sanders bad and sanders has a huge punch but not the 1,2 Ike may have more speed but I think most people forget how good Vk was at not being hit. VK UD 115-112

[AREALFIGHTER]

You could'nt be more wrong.

The man who should be known as the best heavyweight in the world, meanwhile, woke up this morning in a jail cell, just as he has for roughly 1,500 straight days. He will do so again tomorrow morning and every morning thereafter for the near future.

His nickname was The President, but save your ballots; he won't be a candidate to fight any time soon.

Ike Ibeabuchi is a symbol of wasted dreams, squandered money and time forever lost. He is serving five to 30 years inside the Lovelock Correctional Center in the Northern Nevada desert for battery and sexual assault.

Many had mixed emotions when Ibeabuchi's parole eligibility was pushed up to Dec. 12. Oh, how we would love to see him back in the ring, plying his wondrously destructive skills in the ring. The Nigerian mammoth is 20-0 with 15 knockouts. In his last fight he obliterated Byrd 5 1/2 years ago, something no other boxer has done. Ibeabuchi also was the first to defeat David Tua.

Ibeabuchi, only 31 years old, would've buoyed what is fast becoming the worst heavyweight era, but the tradeoff for our pugilistic enjoyment was returning an unstable element back to society.

No matter what decision was made, I was going to be happy with it - and equally disappointed, depending on whether I thought as a boxing fan or a civilian.

I wrote a lengthy story on Ibeabuchi's situation right before his hearing this summer. I had the pleasure of sitting down with him for a few hours in the prison's visiting area one sun-baked Sunday morning. I had been looking forward to the interview for months because it took me that long to arrange it. Ibeabuchi reached out to me last year about writing a tell-all story about him; he had liked an ESPN.com column I wrote about him around the time of his arrest. Nevada prison administrators denied my request for a face-to-face meeting, so I went through the visitor approval process -- Ibeabuchi had to invite me by sending out application forms -- and I saw him as if I were a family member or friend.

Prison regulations prohibited me from bringing in a notepad or pen, much less a tape recorder. I was nervous about conducting an interview without any materials, but once I passed through the metal detectors and automatic gates a guard provided a pencil and some paper scraps. After all, there were boards games to be played, and I might need to keep score.

At the time of our meeting, I would have predicted Ibeabuchi's release next month. He had so many factors working for him. He already had been given clearance by a psychological evaluation board. He received Nevada Community College credits in psychology, philosophy, business math, personal finance, English and computer technology. It was clear by what I saw he was well liked by the guards.

The biggest friend to his cause was adviser Sig Rogich, a Las Vegas ad agency executive and crisis-control specialist with a direct line to Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and George W. Bush.

Rogich worked on Ronald Reagan's presidential re-election, was a member of George H. W. Bush's cabinet, served as U.S. ambassador to his native Iceland and is an adviser to the current president. Rogich has earned the current President Bush's prestigious Ranger title by raising more than $200,000 for the campaign.

Rogich also helped Guinn get elected. The governor appoints every parole board commissioner, and they were the ones to decide this summer whether Ibeabuchi could leave prison this year.

But those close to Ibeabuchi were justifiably nervous about our interview. They knew he was capable of insensitive and undiplomatic commentary that could sabotage his parole chances. His English is remarkable, but many of his notions don't translate very well from a cultural standpoint.

Inmate No. 71979 hadn't spoken to a reporter in years. He was engaging and forthright, alternately intense and charming. He didn't avoid a single question, not about that young boy he nearly killed in an apparent murder-suicide auto accident years earlier in Texas, not about the additional **** accusations that arose after his arrest, not about the literal demons he repeatedly told others he saw. He offered philosophical musings on his life.

It was clear, however, his time behind bars had given him plenty of time to justify every troubling situation that had befallen him. The contrition was dwarfed by the excuses. He offered no apologies, saying he was misled and misunderstood.

As one would expect, he made several bizarre statements in trying to defend his deeds:

• "I feel women should bow to me. I have a great ego in going after women. I'm not a person to **** a woman because I'm of the belief she should want to be with me. If she doesn't want to be with me, I don't want to have sex with her."

• "I have had sex with escorts many times. It's no strings attached. I paid with checks and credit cards. ... It was a guilty pleasure. When we have secrets, God has a way of telling you 'I saw what you did.' I thought I could get away with it, but God had to make my little secret public."

• "How can I have the audacity to **** someone I'm paying to have sex with? In Nigeria I wouldn't be in prison for what I did. The system here (in the U.S.) makes sure someone gets punished whenever a woman cries. This was a call girl, an escort."

My story didn't even mention how he told me of his hope to marry an American woman quickly upon his release so as to avoid deportation.

The parole board denied Ibeabuchi's release even though the victim didn't testify. The verdict apparently wasn't even close because he won't be eligible for parole again until December 2007. Three years was the maximum amount of time the parole board could make him wait.

Needless to say, Ibeabuchi blamed my story, which appeared on ESPN.com, for his denial. The timing clearly was not in his best interests, but he wanted me to interview him, and one of his attorneys facilitated the meeting. Ibeabuchi also was the one who informed me of Rogich's involvement, something he probably should have kept to himself in a presidential election year. The last thing Bush would need is a Willie Horton scandal, even if by extension.

I eventually received a letter:

Tim Graham, you bastard!

You misrepresented my opinion on women in your article, when you promised me that you would be TRUTHFUL.

You caused me my parole, you son of a gun!

I don't ever want to see you again!

Now, you're attacking SIG'S abilities! Of course, We all know who Sig is. Why sing it to the public?

Again, I don't ever want to see you again. Consider yourself warned!!!

And as I folded the letter and placed it back in its envelope, that disappointment I felt about not being to see Ibeabuchi back in the ring for a few more years quickly abated.

He'll stay in prison a few more years. We're probably better off that way.

I only read the first 3 Pr of your reply and I find your logic and heart infalable your example of you being torn on Ike is true and unfortunetly so Let me be crude and put it this way The contender of the 90's was put in jail cause he beat up a hooker in vegas or somthing like that It must have been a brutal seen for it to come to prosicution and if this is so Hopefully he will stay in prison. I was pissed when the Tooke was executed ya he killed people and he deseved to die but should he have? No he was no longer a danger and I do not feel bad about paying tax dollors for him to stay alive in jail because he now had a possitive meesage of meaning to give to troubled youth now that voice is silenced. Sorry little of topic but Ike has nothing possitive about him and should stay there untill he is old and I have taught my daughters should they come how to wreck shop. Some what biast I know Guys I am a school teacher and will take any possitive message I can get even that of a murderer because I I say gangs are bad people will Kids will Laught at me When the founder of the crypts says its bunk that means somthing and no he's dead what a waste of the person he could have been before gang life and certanly after when he ws executed in a place where he was not hurting anyone