Ike Ibeabuchi vs Lennox Lewis

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Lewis was champion in 1992 and a top fighter through to he retired in 11yrs later.. during those 11yrs we had several fighters hold versions of the heavyweight title, Bowe, Holyfield, Tyson, Holmes, Foreman, Moorer, Hide, Jones jr. Sanders, Wlad Klitschko as well as many top contenders like Mercer, Witherspoon, Ruiz, Byrd yet Lewis spewed out garbage to the British press that they was all afraid of him, yet he accepted step-a-side-money rather than say "NO THANKS" and have a career highest purse and guaranteed title fight with Tyson in 96, he turned down ?0 million in 95 to fight Rid**** Bowe, he priced himself out of fighting Bowe in 93, he turned down a huge British fight with Hide in late 95/96, he was eventually stripped of every belt for refusing to fight the No1 contenders in Ruiz (WBA) Byrd (IBF) Vitali (WBC) he turned down an offer from HBO of a staggering $36 million +PPV to fight Roy Jones claiming he had nothing to prove by fighting a former middleweight.. if Lewis ducked only one fighter i could understand it, but ducking every fighter who was at the top of their game is another story.. Lennox hand-picked his opponents for harmlessness in Botha, Akinwande, Fortune, Jackson, Butler, Morrison, Tua, Grant, Golota, Briggs he chose them because they had been exposed by other opponents as on the slide or not top class.. Lewis eventually fought Tyson & Holyfield when they was way past their best days and even tried to take Tyson to court to try to make him fight him again knowing that he was a shell of the once great champion he had been 13yrs earlier...This is the reason that Lewis has never been accepted by the USA boxing public, they seen right through him and his tactics at avoiding the top fighters.

This is a really good post,, I usually rate lewis very high,, I thought fighting a ruddock, mercer, and golata at the time lewis did, those guys were all prime,,, same goes for micheal grant, tua, and even vitali,,, Briggs was lineal, morrison was a big name a brought money

But your post contains alot of good info, and is making me rethink my position on lewis,,,
Were did you get the info about lewis pricing himself out of the bowe fight, and how about the tyson fight in 96, and also the 36 mil+ for a jones fight,, what are your sources,, can you provide links,, i have never heard of these, or heard different versions,,
Can you please explain, thx

[Sugarj]

I think lewis would be very leery of Ike's power,,,

I always favor skills and technique and Lewis has it over Ike,,,

Ike would chase lewis, but i think lewis does enough to squeak past ike in a very close fight,,,
I can see it being like the mercer fight for lewis

It wasn't Ike's power so much that impressed me (despite it being pretty damned impressive) but also his punch resistance and workrate. I read once that in terms of rate of punches thrown per round, the only fight in history that bettered Ibeabuchi vs Tua at heavyweight was the Thrilla in Manilla.

Technical skills certainly favoured Lewis, but I don't think Lennox could have outworked him over 12 rounds. Ike had the fitness to outwork Lewis, the chin to possibly withstand his best blows and more than enough power to stop him.

Its by no means certain; and controversial to say, but I've got a feeling that the last 10 years would have been dominated by Ibeabuchi and not the Klitschkos. If the daft wally could have kept his head screwed on outside the ring!!

[Sugarj]

This is a really good post,, I usually rate lewis very high,, I thought fighting a ruddock, mercer, and golata at the time lewis did, those guys were all prime,,, same goes for micheal grant, tua, and even vitali,,, Briggs was lineal, morrison was a big name a brought money

But your post contains alot of good info, and is making me rethink my position on lewis,,,
Were did you get the info about lewis pricing himself out of the bowe fight, and how about the tyson fight in 96, and also the 36 mil+ for a jones fight,, what are your sources,, can you provide links,, i have never heard of these, or heard different versions,,
Can you please explain, thx

Sonnyboyx left or got banned from the forum quite some time ago, so you won't get an answer.

If I'm honest I miss the arguments and banter he brought to the site. He had plenty of knowledge, but wouldn't budge on his opinions. He quite enjoyed a keyboard 'scrap' which I think got him into trouble.

I do remember that he was a huge Lennox fan until he attended his first fight with McCall. I never managed to get him to admit if he lost money on Lewis that night....or if his mates took the mickey out of the second round loss.

But he wasn't the biggest Lewis fan from then on. But if I'm honest quite a few of his points in that old post were either true or reported in the boxing press at the time. (Holmes was never champion in the 90s though!).

But that said, Lewis still is one of the greatest heavyweight champions regardless.

[billeau2]

When you look at a fighter like Golata....when he was able, the guy had good well rounded skills and at the time? many people thought he would destroy Lewis. Thing is Lewis beat a lot of decent well rounded guys. Big guys small guys and in between. But here is the caveat though: Mccall was a fighter whom, like Ike potentially could have been an incredible talent. If we look at Mccall at his best, next to Golata, Mccall had much more natural ability and he showed what he could do against Lewis. While GOlata was potentially a threat, he was not on the level of a guy like Mccall when MCcall was firing on all cylinders.

So we can see by Lewis' actual comp, some indication of what might happen in this fight. Ike was the goods, he would have been a nightmare for Lewis and me thinks he presents a lot like a talented Mccall in the ring and we know what happened in that fight. Ike had the punch, the speed and the smarts. He beat a much better version of Tua than Lewis fought.

[Sugarj]

When you look at a fighter like Golata....when he was able, the guy had good well rounded skills and at the time? many people thought he would destroy Lewis. Thing is Lewis beat a lot of decent well rounded guys. Big guys small guys and in between. But here is the caveat though: Mccall was a fighter whom, like Ike potentially could have been an incredible talent. If we look at Mccall at his best, next to Golata, Mccall had much more natural ability and he showed what he could do against Lewis. While GOlata was potentially a threat, he was not on the level of a guy like Mccall when MCcall was firing on all cylinders.

So we can see by Lewis' actual comp, some indication of what might happen in this fight. Ike was the goods, he would have been a nightmare for Lewis and me thinks he presents a lot like a talented Mccall in the ring and we know what happened in that fight. Ike had the punch, the speed and the smarts. He beat a much better version of Tua than Lewis fought.

Agreed.

He fought the best version of Tua ever. Tua was terrific the night he lost to Ike.....

[JAB5239]

This is a really good post,, I usually rate lewis very high,, I thought fighting a ruddock, mercer, and golata at the time lewis did, those guys were all prime,,, same goes for micheal grant, tua, and even vitali,,, Briggs was lineal, morrison was a big name a brought money

But your post contains alot of good info, and is making me rethink my position on lewis,,,
Were did you get the info about lewis pricing himself out of the bowe fight, and how about the tyson fight in 96, and also the 36 mil+ for a jones fight,, what are your sources,, can you provide links,, i have never heard of these, or heard different versions,,
Can you please explain, thx

Lewis didn't price himself out of a Bowe fight. Newman and Bowe offered a 90/10 purse split and dumped the belt instead of going to purse bid after they had agreed the winner of Bowe-Holyfield would face the winner of Lewis-Ruddock. a few years later the Bowe camp made an offer but Lewis didn't trust them because of their initial refusal to face him for a customary split and no longer needed him. Tyson paid Lewis step aside money in '96 so the Holy fight could get made. The Jones fight had little meaning and was of little threat. Lewis instead fought Vitaly and retired as he said he would. Sonny was an adamant Lewis hater who tried to discredit him at every turn as can be seen by calling Lewis' resume into question considering its one of the deepest of all heavyweight champion.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Lewis didn't price himself out of a Bowe fight. Newman and Bowe offered a 90/10 purse split and dumped the belt instead of going to purse bid after they had agreed the winner of Bowe-Holyfield would face the winner of Lewis-Ruddock. a few years later the Bowe camp made an offer but Lewis didn't trust them because of their initial refusal to face him for a customary split and no longer needed him. Tyson paid Lewis step aside money in '96 so the Holy fight could get made. The Jones fight had little meaning and was of little threat. Lewis instead fought Vitaly and retired as he said he would. Sonny was an adamant Lewis hater who tried to discredit him at every turn as can be seen by calling Lewis' resume into question considering its one of the deepest of all heavyweight champion.

ok, thanks for clearing that up

[Anthony342]

Speaking of Tua, I heard he's coming back and fighting again August 31 at 40 against someone from Belarus named Alexander Ustinov. I'd ask why but then again these guys usually come back because they need the money and see a big payday for one day's work. Some guys just miss the glory of the spotlight and/or think they can get back to the top again. In Holyfield's case, it sounded like a little of both. I just hope Tua doesn't fight again after that and doesn't get hurt too badly, he was always a favorite of mine in the '90s and 2000s.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Speaking of Tua, I heard he's coming back and fighting again August 31 at 40 against someone from Belarus named Alexander Ustinov. I'd ask why but then again these guys usually come back because they need the money and see a big payday for one day's work. Some guys just miss the glory of the spotlight and/or think they can get back to the top again. In Holyfield's case, it sounded like a little of both. I just hope Tua doesn't fight again after that and doesn't get hurt too badly, he was always a favorite of mine in the '90s and 2000s.

Tua will be back,, Ustinov was working his way up the rankings but recently got beat by pulev....
Tua's managers took all his money from his heyday,, he has been in court alot against those guys,,, The house tua lived in, he didnt even own, he thought he did but he didnt,,, It seems like he didnt know anything about his personal finances, and managers took advantage,, Its a sad situation, but like the saying goes,, fools and their money are easily parted,,