By Mark Butcher
With his wild eyes and extreme views, the dangerous president could return to threaten the world as we know it.
Rumors that former heavyweight contender Ike ‘The President’ Ibeabuchi (20-0, 15 KOs) was unlikely to return hit reality when a December 7th bout with Egypt’s Sami Abdal (10-0-1, 3 KOs) was announced. The Guardian Nigeria newspaper in mid-October.
The Port Harcourt show, uniquely titled ‘Simplified Rumble in the Rivers for Champions’, was supported by the resident monarch King Iteka Tom, Amanianabo of Okochiri Kingdom, with ringside celebrities that will include former footballers JJ Okocha and Phinidi George, as well as musician Burna Boy, a favorite of many readers of this magazine.
But last week, Ibeabuchi, who resembles Richard Roundtree in ‘Shaft’ and is in great shape judging by recent Instagram posts, announced that the show is off the air, at least for the time being. “Please note that the promoter has waived the terms of the contract regarding training and publicity costs. Thank you and God bless.”
Soon after, Ibeabuchi resurfaced asking for someone to help him wire him a $70,675,261 payment from the US Department of Justice, compensation for not fighting Lennox Lewis or Evander Holyfield, who are currently languishing in a US bank account outside of his reach of 77 inches. Just scan the QR code, what can go wrong? “I am ready to pay in cash.” I hope to hear from you soon,” said Ike optimistically.
But, according to Bokrec, there was a return back to with another Egyptian Ayman Farouk Abbas (4-10-1, 1 KO) a man in the firing line.
Welcome back to the crazy, bad world of Ikea Ibeabuchi. In the late 1990s, Ibeabuchi was a heavyweight specter, terrorizing top fighters such as Chris Bird (VTKO5) and David Tua (V12). But his bizarre and increasingly menacing antics outside the ring eventually caught up with him just before the seemingly inevitable world title shot many expected from him.
After busting a stripper in a Las Vegas hotel room in 1999, Ibeabuchi was jailed on a string of charges before being released in 2015 and then returned to prison for a parole violation in 2016. After Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, he was deported back to his own West African homeland more than two decades later.
Despite being 51 years old, the story of Ibeabuchi’s potentially lucrative comeback is less outlandish because Mike Tyson, 58, recently fought. One could imagine Ibeabuchi in this crossover era, if one were brave enough to promote the ultimate loose cannon in boxing.
The bullish Ibeabuchi recently took to YouTube to call out IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois while he was working out on a treadmill. “Hey Dubois! Congratulations you knocked out Joshua in the fifth round… I need that IBF belt! I’m the uncrowned champion… I don’t think you can beat Usyk without beating me. You have to go through me, fight with me, this is my advice as a brother. The undefeated fighter that I am, still training, asking for my rights back. Next time you fight, say you want Ike President Ibeabuchi… You gotta fight me boy…. I’m a bad man, nobody beats me. Thank you and God bless you.”
Given Ibeabuchi’s previous imprisonment, a return and a visa to the US or UK would seem unlikely (despite social media rumblings about the Shannon Briggs fight in Manchester), but a reboot in Africa has no such restrictions. ‘Hysteria in Nigeria’ or ‘Chaos in Lagos’, the slogans of the struggle write themselves.
Of course, we will always wonder what Ibeabuchi was able to achieve at the height of his powers. Respected author Luke G. Williams wrote Ibeabuchi’s compelling biography, “President of Pandemonium: The Mad World of Ike Ibeabuchi”, revealing that the heavyweight’s father, Sampson, dubbed the “Pistor Killer” and “Superman”, was a famous strongman, revered in Nigeria to this day with a statue in the state Abia still holds a mythical status today.
“Ibeabuchi could have gone all the way,” Williams told me. “He had everything a top heavyweight needs – poise, stamina, a titanium chin and extremely solid foundations, built into him under the wise tutelage of Curtis Cokes.” He also had a ruthless streak that many heavyweights possess – check out the punches that nearly decapitated the then undefeated and much shunned Chris Byrd in March 1999.
“I think Ike would have been too much for Holyfield at the time and would have given Lewis an extremely difficult night’s work.” However, like so many compelling “what if” stories that echo throughout heavyweight history, he lacked the mental stability that would have allowed him to fulfill his potential. The very element that caused his destruction is also the element that has so many fans enchanted with him.
“There is nothing as compelling and tragic as lost potential.” However, in the cutthroat world of professional boxing, Ibeabuchi was never likely to receive the mental health support and treatment he so desperately needed. Now 50 years later, he is still training and dreaming of some form of redemption. Against all my better instincts, I can’t help but root for him – if getting back in the ring brings him some form of fragile peace and closure, even in the context of some sort of borderline freak event, then I’m all for it.
“Ike’s world is really surreal.” By the end of writing the book, I couldn’t wait to get away from it all. Amazingly, I’d say it seems a little more reasonable now than it did in its prime. I think the problem would be getting out of Nigeria.”
Back in September 1998, in his penultimate fight, Ibeabuchi stopped Everton Davis in nine rounds at Trump’s Taj Mahal. Maybe Donald was in the building that night. The two presidents went in different directions, on either side of the bars. And, despite their advanced years, Donald and Ike aren’t leaving anytime soon.
“President of Pandemonium: The Mad World of Ike Ibeabuchi” by Luke G. Williams is published by Hamilcar and available through Amazon.