Ibekwe strikes Gold with spectacular KO
Simon Ibekwe…one punch has propelled heavyweight into the big time
IF one single shot can catapult a fighter into the big time, Simon Ibekwe detonated it.
Viewers may have tuned in to watch Tyson Fury against Mariusz Wach in Pattaya, Thailand, last month, but it was the 30-year-old Redditch heavyweight’s mighty right hand that became the talking point. As the ecstatic winner put it: “I’m the main event now! I was a secret, but everyone knows who I am now.”
Crash! It slammed against the jaw of Daniel Baer, who came to the ring with an impressive record of 15 wins – 14 inside distance, one draw and a single defeat.
Bang! The German was out cold before he hit the floor at just 28 seconds of the first round.
Wallop! That stunning display earned Ibekwe a deal with GoldStar Promotions which staged the Thai fight extravaganza. The seven-bout boxer who has plied his trade on small halls looks likely to have his next contest on the undercard of Fury long-awaited battle with Anthony Joshua, reportedly scheduled for New York in November.
That’s how much one punch can change a fighter’s fortunes for the better.
Tony Marshall, who trains Simon at his Darlaston gym, said: “I’m not knocking Tyson, but Simon stole the show.”
That hammer of a right hand would’ve stolen any show – it sent Baer to sleep instantly. “I love my boxing,” said Marshall, who has trained Ibekwe for five months, “but it’s not nice to see a knockout like that. Our first thought was, ‘is the lad OK’. Thankfully, he was.”
For Marshall and manager Scott Welch, the scheduled eight rounder was a calculated risk that paid spectacular dividends. “I got a call three weeks prior,” Marshall explained. “To be honest, I didn’t think it would come off because it was so far away.
“I’d watched a few videos of the lad and saw he was open to a right hand. So on the pads it was jab, touch, jab, touch before a backhand over the top. (In the fight), Simon missed with the first one, landed with the second and he was out before he hit the canvas.”
Romford contender Johnny Fisher is the opponent Marshall wants next, but he admits that’s unlikely to happen. Hopefully, some kind of title fight can be secured on the Fury-Joshua show.
“I don’t want baby steps for Simon,” he said, “but I don’t want to push him in at the deep end. I think he can go well above British level. If a European title fight was to come, why not? He’s not intimidated, he’s not fazed.
“In the gym, he’s unbelievable. I stop him in his tracks if he’s doing something wrong. We work on his jab every training session and that backhand. I tell him, ‘nice straight right hands’ and that’s what he’s done.
“He’s been sparring my (amateur) heavyweight Jack Williams – he’s 7ft, the tallest boxer in the country. They’ve gelled really well. Simon’s tremendous to train. Whatever I want him to do, he’ll do it. He never comes in and moans – whatever we put him through, he’ll do it.”
Ibekwe, a devout Christian, has had his prayers answered: the super-shows now beckon.