How great could Ike Ibeabuchachi have been?

[mrlopez]

I got tickets as a graduation present to his fight vs Tua......One helluva fight!!
I think he could have been one of the best of that era of heavyweights. He was a mean mofo and if you tagged him, he'd mos def tag you back! Unfortunately mental illness got him. Damn, what a shame!

[Weltschmerz]

Yeah he was a beast... would most probably have captured a world title.

[DARKSEID]

This thread literally gets remade every couple months.

[billeau2]

This topic comes up especially in the history section from time to time and I have to admit to being very guilty of watching Ibuchi with my skill meter, coulda shoulda woulda meter tongue hanging out of my mouth....Guy had the goods and was a smart, savy fighter. Very experienced and kept his cool taking Tua into a bad place....when I see Ibuchi I see a guy with perfectg size not to small not to big, punching volume, punching power, experience, and a granite chin indeed...He would have had to improve a bit on D and I think he woulda! And...any version of him looks to me like a threat.

As a matter of fact! if I may indulge myself! The way Jennings managed to stay just out of range of Klitschko reminded me of something Ibuchi did with Tua...Instead of being obvious and just staying to Tua's right side Ibuchi would flirt with disaster just enough to make Tua think he might get a shot off.... Nigera has a boxing program and while Peter was a dissapointment, there have been some spectacular fighters out of Nigeria.

[lepinthehood]

lewis would have dealt with him.
vitali would probably eek out the decision.
may of knocked out wladmir, or be knocked out himself.

he never fought any tall talented fighters, so we dont know.

[SUBZER0ED]

Ibeabuchi's demise truly disappointed me. I thought he was going to be the man! What a shame...

[Bram]

I don't think he had the defense to beat the top guys, but he definitely would have been SO fun to watch and it's really a damn shame that he wasted himself the way that he did.

[shinobi108]

He definitely doesn't look a 'young' 40...there is a website up which is about him and his time in prison, set up by his mother I believe...and there's pics of him where he ballooned up and really fat and out of shape, looks a completely different guy.

And I think he got deported back to Nigeria now, with probably no right to travel, so fair to say his fighting days are more than done.

This photo was from 2013 and still looks very young here.

[Slick_Rick]

Didn't he become mentally unstable after the Tua fight, something about hearing voice?

Factor that in, its very hard to say how good he would have been, if he didn't get sent to prison for one thing, it would have just been something else.

That said does anyone know why he is in prison so long in compared to Tyson?

[El-blanco]

Nobody knows, his level of competition was limited due to his shortened career. I'm sure he could have made noise because of his granite chin and power but we'll never know. His fight with tua is incredible and he put a savage beating on Byrd.