Fight fans know the Ike Ibeabuchi story, or they know large chunks of it, anyway. Once a special heavyweight talent, a man who seemed to have it all: immense skill, great physical strength as well as conditioning, hurtful, damaging punching power, a very solid chin – Ibeabuchi was seen by many as future world champion; perhaps even a dominant one.
Then, his mental health starting to unravel after his punishing war of a decision win over fellow powerhouse David Tua, Ike eventually lost his mind. To this day, nobody can be sure if the Nigerian warrior has managed to find it. We know how Ibeabuchi ended up in prison, this for basically torturing a call girl, and we know that Ike was said to have been hearing “demons in the air-conditioning,” and we know he suddenly pulled out a knife when sat eating in a swish restaurant with promoter Cedric Kushner. “They knew it!” Ibeabuchi bellowed as he slammed the knife into the table, with Kushner and others having absolutely no idea who “they” were, or what “they knew.”
What happens when a myth meets a ghost of a fighter?
This was over 20 years ago, and plenty of jail time and numerous deportations later, Ike is still determined to fight again. There have been a few dates and opponents listed over the past year or so, but in the end neither fight actually happened. Maybe this will be the case yet again next month, when Ibeabuchi, now age 52 and seemingly in decent physical shape for a man of his years; at least judging by the few recent photos we have seen of him, is set to face Danny Williams.
Williams as we know is another man who should have stopped fighting many years ago, but for entirely different reasons to Ibeabuchi. Williams, once a good, world class fighter, started losing again and again and again. Now the holder of a 55-33(42) record, Williams, who is also 52, has been stopped some 17 times. Who knows what we will see unfold should Ibeabuchi and Williams actually fight.
26 years later—can Ike actually do it?
But Ibeabuchi has steadfastly refused to allow his comeback dream to die. You must go back to March of 1999 to find Ibeabuchi’s most recent fight, this when he took out Chris Byrd with a shotgun blast of a bomb masquerading as a punch. “The President” was last an active fighter back when Bill Clinton was the actual US president. But all these years later, and Ike is doing all he can to see to it that he fights again. You could say he is a man possessed. But let’s hope those demons have gone now.
Can Ibeabuchi, 20-0(15) get as far as actually stepping into the ring again, and if so can he walk out a winner?
Ibeabuchi vs. Williams is scheduled for August 23, this in Lagos, Nigeria. The fight is optimistically set to go out as a PPV offering. However, the fight is not up on invaluable site BoxRec. Again, don’t be surprised if Ike’s latest comeback fight slips away.