The Story Of Ike Ibeabuchi

     
 

Recent picture of Ike Ibeabuchi

His real name is Ikemefula Charles Ibeabuchi aka “The President” Ike Ibeabuchi. Ike Ibeabuchi could have been the greatest Nigeria’s boxing export had he stayed grounded. In the late 90’s, the heavyweight division was all but dead. Legends like Evander Holyfield, and an angry struggling Mike Tyson, but for the most part, Lennox Lewis was making his way through a bunch of fighters he should have fought when they actually had something in the tank.

There was one man, who stood out above every other, HBO did not jump on the bandwagon of Ike Ibeabuchi but chose instead to invent a fighter who came to be known as Micheal Grant – who proved he could not hang with the big boys very quickly on the television sets around the world while Ike Ibeabuchi proved he is a force to be reckoned with.

Not since young iron Mike Tyson did we see a man fight so viscously and hit with so much bad intention. His path to history started when he fought and defeated the then undefeated prospect David Tua for the WBC international heavyweight title on June 7, 1997. Both fighters held an undefeated record under their belt – Ike Ibeabuchi fought 16 and won 16, David Tua was 27 – 0 and tipped by experts to be the next Mike Tyson. The two fighters set a compustat heavyweight division record of 1,730 punches thrown. Ike Ibeabuchi, in that fight set a personal compustat record by throwing 975 punches, averaging 81 per round. Ike won the contest by a unanimous 12 round decision over David Tua – scoring 117, 116, 115 against David Tua’s 111, 113, 114. The fight helped established him as number one contender for the world heavyweight title.

With an aging Evander Holyfield and a champion named Lennox Lewis who had an impressive right hand but no beard to speak of. Ikemefula Charles Ibeabuchi’s dreams for success were about to become a reality. But it’s amazing how the  simplest of dreams can turn into the most complex of nightmares.

Immediately after he beat David Tua, He began complaining of chronic headaches but MRI revealed nothing. Sparring partners were seriously injured by him – there was an incidence where he cracked the skull of one partner, and broke the leg of another.

The real Trouble started a couple of months after the David Tua fight, Ike Ibeabuchi abducted a then 15 year old son of his former girlfriend and slammed his car into a concrete pillar on intersect 35 north of Austin, Texas. The court concluded Ike was trying to commit suicide and was sentenced to 120 days in jail after pleading guilty to false imprisonment. He also paid $500,000 civil settlement. There was this claim by him of seeing demons and also started making impossible monetary demands from promoters. He developed a new persona based on his nick name, “The President”. Former boxing promoter and former HBO executive, Lou DiBella had this line to say of him : “He would get to these mental states where he insisted on people calling him the ‘the president’, not of the United States but maybe the President of the world”. Some promoters thought of his behavior to be like that of a Viking.

He returned to the ring and knocked out Tim Ray in first round in July 1998 after being inactive for thirteen months. Then He defeated Everton Davis in 9th round just two months after Tim Ray’s fight.

Chris Byrd aka “Rapid Fire”, who was a 1992 Olympic silver medalist and a future world heavyweight champion – a quick and slick southpaw with an undefeated record of 26 – 0 was his next opponent

During the fight, after the 4th round, the three judges scored the fight evenly : 38-38 even, 39-37 for Ike Ibeabuchi and 39-37 for Chris Byrd. Then, in the 5th round, Ike Ibeabuchi’s damaging left hook and it sent Chris Byrd to the canvas. Chris Byrd came back to his feet but was quickly knock back down. Once again, Chris Byrd made it on his feet, but was trapped to the ropes and taking punishment as the referee waved it off at the 2:59 mark. Following that wonderful display against Chris Byrd, he turned down $700,000 to fight fringe contender, Jeremy Williams, and also turned down $1 million to fight the undefeated Micheal Grant.

Not long after that, he telephoned a local escort service and had a woman sent to his room at Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The 21 year old lap dancer claimed Ike Ibeabuchi attacked her in the walk-in closet after she demanded to be paid upfront and raped her in the process. That her only mission there was to dance. Ike Ibeabuchi barricaded himself in the bathroom and police discharged pepper spray under the door until he surrendered. From July, 1999 to November 2015, Ike Ibeabuchi has spent sixteen years in prison without incidence. He has since announced he will be returning to ring to continue his professional career. You wonder which serious challenger will take on him after such a long lay out.

Struggling out of the ghettos and abject poverty of Nigeria, Ike Ibeabuchi rose to the top of arguably one of the most difficult sports in the world. He planned on joining the Nigerian military before he witnesses Buster Douglas knock out Mike Tyson in 1990. Inspired by Buster Douglas’s effort, he decided to start boxing as an amateur. In 1993, Ike emigrated to Dallas, United States with his mother and there, he won the Dallas and Texas State Golden Gloves tournaments at heavyweight in 1994.

He had it all and whether it was mental illness, greed, ego or just plain stupidity. Ike Ibeabuchi lost what would have been a history making career along with tens of millions of dollars. As a fight fan, you think about what could have been the excitement and fanfare he could have brought to the heavyweight division and to his people back home.

IKE IBEABUCH STATISTICS

REAL NAME                 Ikemefula Charles Ibeabuchi

   NICK NAME               The President       

    RATED AT                    Heavyweight

    HEIGHT                        6ft 2in (188)

NATIONALITY                Nigerian

    BORN                             February 2, 1973 (44 yrs.)

    STANCE                         Orthodox
 

                                                 20 fights : 15 knockouts, 5 by decision