By Tim Fletcher: Unbeaten heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi (20-0, 15 KOs) is out of prison and plans on continuing his once promising boxing career. Ibeabuchi, now 43-years-old, hasn’t fought in 16 years since 1999, and he reportedly wants to fight on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s next fight on April 9th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Judging from the photo of him at Yahoo Sports, Ibeabuchi looks to be in fair shape and can probably get himself in good enough condition to fight on the Pacquiao card. Ibeabuchi hired Michael Koncz, the adviser for Pacquiao, to manage his career, according to Yahoo Sports.
Ibeabuchi will need to get a boxing license for him to fight again. It’s unclear how many hurdles he’ll need to jump through to make that happen. According to Kevin Iole, the 6’2” Ibeabuchi says he weighs 245lbs right now, which would put him at about the same weight he previously used to fight at during his career.
Born in Nigeria, Ibeabuchi is naturally muscular like Anthony Joshua, and doesn’t need to lift weights to look incredibly muscular. The question is can a fighter like Ibeabuchi find success at 43 after having sat outside of the ring for what will be 17 years by the time he fights again? It’s a tough ask.
Ibeabuchi was in prison from 1999 to 2014 for battery conviction and attempted sexual assault. Before going to prison, Ibeabuchi was seen as a future world champion. He’d beaten Chris Byrd and a prime David Tua in exciting fights, and there were many boxing fans who felt that Ibeabuchi would beat the likes of Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis.
Unfortunately, Ibeabuchi never got the chance to face those fighters to find out if he had the talent to beat them.
“[Ibeabuchi] has served his time and wants to improve himself and Manny feels that since he’s served his term and is trying to turn his life around, he deserves a second chance,” Koncz said to Yahoo Sports.
Ibeabuchi wants to fight for a world heavyweight title. However, he’ll be turning 44 in February, and even under a best case scenario, we’re probably looking at it taking Ibeabuchi two to three years to get in position to fight for a world title. That process could be sped up if Ibeabuchi’s promoter matches him tough almost immediately against top 15 contenders, but that would be a risky thing.
David Haye is coming back to the sport after being out of the ring for 3 ½ years, and he expects to get ranked quickly if he can beat #10 WBA Mark De Mori on January 16th. However, Haye is younger than Ibeabuchi at 35, and he hasn’t been out of the sport for 16 years like him.
The only heavyweight that has stayed out of the ring for long duration and comeback to find success was George Foreman, who made a comeback after being out of the ring for 10 years. Foreman eventually won a world title when he beat IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Michael Moorer by a 10th round knockout in November 1994 at the age of 46.
Ibeabuchi could in theory accomplish what Foreman did, but it’ll be very difficult. Foreman, 6’4”, was bigger than Ibeabuchi, and had a lot of boxing skills plus an Olympic background. The 6’2” Ibeabuchi was just a hard puncher who had a high workrate, but who didn’t have much defensive skills.
“I am definitely in shape and I understand I would have to prove this,” Ibeabuchi said to Yahoo Sports. “I need to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world and I understand that I will have to prove myself worthy…I am willing to cooperate and do whatever so that I may obtain my boxing [license] and appear on this card in Las Vegas.”
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