Ike Ibeabuchi set to return to the ring in December

On the eve of the election, it has been revealed that “The President” will return to action 25 years on from his last fight.

Nigerian Ike Ibeabuchi was a 1990s heavyweight contender who was 20-0 (15 KOs) having defeated David Tua and Chris Byrd.

Byrd was stopped in five rounds but Tua was on the wrong end of a decision loss in a wildly exciting 1997 12-round brawl that set CompuBox records for the volume of punches thrown by both fighters.

But Ibeabuchi, for many a champion in waiting, came off the rails and he has spent many of the subsequent years in prison. 

He had a history of trouble but in 1999 he was jailed in Las Vegas where he served 16 years for sexual misconduct. He announced plans to return but in 2016, after being released in Nevada, he was sent back to prison – this time in Arizona – for violating parole conditions and due to a 2003 warrant he claimed to be unaware of.

Released again in September 2020, the now 51-year-old is slated to fight at the Diete Spiff, Civic Center in Port Harcourt in Nigeria on December 7. In the opposite corner will be Egyptian Ayman Farouk Abbas, who is 4-10-1 (1 KO), who has spent most of his career fighting in Cairo where, in 2023, he climbed off the floor to draw with Christopher Lovejoy. They are scheduled to meet over six rounds.