Heavyweight Kingsley Ibeh entered the boxing gym for the first time to sell an insurance policy to a boxing coach. He then left as a fighter.
Ibeh faces Scott Alexander in a scheduled 10-round fight on Friday at the Emerald Queen in Tacoma, Washington.
Ibeh, 31, may be best known for his run with Top Rank. He fought Guido Vianello to a draw and knocked out Jared Anderson, which propelled Anderson’s career trajectory. Now on a nine-fight win streak, Ibeh laughs when you bring up the Top Rank bubble experience.
So, how did boxing begin for him?
“Insurance is what led me into the boxing gym,” Ibeh said.
He had a friend who referred him to a boxing coach to sell him some insurance. Ibeh was looking to set up an insurance policy. He entered the gym in a suit carrying a briefcase. Then the coach said, “If you want my time you get in the ring with any of my guys. Then I’lI know you’re man enough to talk to me.”
A fighter with a 10-0 record volunteered to spar with Ibeh. “I took my shirt off,” Ibeh said. “I have the video of putting on the head gear. He wasn’t sure what would happen.
“Good thing that worked out and I happened to drop the guy.”
Ibeh, who trains out of Phoenix, Arizona, has been a professional for nearly five and a half years. In September, another odd occurrence took place in his career when his scheduled fight with Mario Heredia in Mexico didn’t happen. It is listed as a no-contest on BoxRec with the notation, Kingsley Ibeh refused to fight.
“I wanted to fight. I didn’t go to Mexico to not fight,” Ibeh explained. “The day of the fight, the morning of the fight, I got stung by a bee.
“I don’t know if I’m allergic or not, but I started swelling up. I turned very red. My coach panicked.”
He went to the hospital where he was given prescription medication.
“The doctor told me I’d need 24 hours to recover from the allergic reaction and the medication,” Ibeh said. “That was why I didn’t fight. The doctor said not to.”
Now, Ibeh faces Alexander, a 35-year-old Los Angeles veteran who holds a record of 17-6-2 (9 KOs). Ibeh sees this as the next step in his career as he seeks big challenges.
“We just need that right opportunity to make a statement,” Ibeh said. “For me, it doesn’t matter where it is or who it is. I’m willing to go to the UK to fight top guys like Fabio Wardley. In the U.S. there are a couple of guys like Richard Torrez Jnr. That’d be a good fight.”
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