52-year-old unbeaten heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi back in action on Christmas Eve Nigeria boxrec wiki prison what did he do why go to las vegas escort crash sentence release lagos how to watch

52-year-old unbeaten heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi back in action on Christmas Eve

Published On Wednesday, December 24, 2025By Tim Rickson
Related Tags: Ike Ibeabuchi, Kabiru Towolawi

52-year-old Ike Ibeabuchi in action tonight in Nigeria

At the advanced age of 52-years-old, undefeated heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi (21-0, 16 KOs) is competing in his 22nd bout on Christmas Eve, 2025.

The Nigerian won earlier this year, in August, in what was his first fight of the century. Before serving a 20-year prison sentence, Ibeabuchi had knocked out 26-0 Chris Byrd in America in 1999.

Tonight in Lagos, Nigeria, he fights Kabiru Towolawi (26-16, 22 KOs) over 12 rounds at heavyweight. Nicknamed 'KB Godson', Towolawi is 45 from Lagos, and has only won five from his last 15 fights. He is a former WBU world cruiserweight champion, who only debuted in 2016, fighting 42 times within nine years.

Former heavyweight star Ike Ibeabuchi wins return bout after 26-year boxing hiatus

Ibeabuchi competed from 1994-1999, defeating the likes of David Tua and Chris Byrd, reaching the top 10 in the world. He was imprisoned in Las Vegas in July 1999 and only released in 2020.

Ibeabuchi was always troubled outside of the ring. Shortly after his win over Tua, Ike abducted his girlfriend's 15-year-old son and drove into a concrete pillar on an Interstate in Austin, Texas, in an attempted suicide. The young boy suffered numerous injuries from the crash and Ibeabuchi was sentenced to 120 days in jail.

After this, he tried to clean up his act and adopted the nickname, 'The President', which became an altar ego for him. Sadly, it wasn't enough and he was soon in trouble with the law again. In July 1999, he attacked a 21-year-old escort he had ordered to his Las Vegas hotel room. He was arrested after more sexual assault allegations came to light and he received up to 20 years for his multiple crimes.

While incarcerated, Ibeabuchi earned three college degrees in General Studies, Business, and Management. He was released in September 2020.

DID YOU KNOW? Ike Ibeabuchi was all set to join the army until he watched Buster Douglas KO Mike Tyson in 1990. Inspired by the underdog story, he started up amateur boxing and soon won the Texas Golden Gloves in 1994 after emigrating to the U.S.