Get ready for a real shocker! Former heavyweight contender Ike Ibeabuchi, who last fought 25 long years ago, this when he scored a nasty yet at the same time hugely impressive 5th round knockout over Chris Byrd, is to fight again – at age 51. As per a story on Boxing Social, with the bout up and listed on invaluable site BoxRec, Ibeabuchi will face Ayman Farouk Abbas, 4-10-1(1), in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
The fight is scheduled for December 24th, over six rounds and Abbas of Egypt is 47 years of age and coming off two straight losses. However, in March of this year, in what proved to be a weird fight that took place in Cairo, at least it was certainly a weirdly scored fight, Abbas held Christopher Lovejoy to a draw, this despite being decked in the fight and appearing to lose almost all of the rounds.
Now, with the word weird out there, what on earth can we expect to see when Ibeabuchi, 20-0(15) steps into the ring with Abbas? Fans know the Ibeabuchi story, how he was seen by many people as possibly the next great heavyweight, his thrilling war with David Tua recognised as a modern day classic, his KO of Byrd truly stunning to see. But then Ibeabuchi began acting strangely, with him reportedly hearing voices coming out of the air-conditioning, with the highly ranked fighter insisting on being addressed by his ring nickname of “The President.”
And then Ibeabuchi was jailed for doing unspeakable things to a call girl in Las Vegas. Fighting for years and years to get out of jail and be able to box again, Ibeabuchi now has his wish. It is, however, almost certainly far too late for Ibeabuchi to be able to come close to picking up where he left off way back in March of 1999.
But fans will watch the upcoming fight, simply out of sheer curiosity. If, that is, there is any TV or internet coverage of the fight. What kind of shape, mentally as well as physically, Ibeabuchi is in today we can only guess. How much, if anything, can Ibeabuchi possibly regain of his old form?
How far Ike gets in this wholly unexpected comeback we can also only guess at.
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