THE last time Ike Ibeabuchi appeared in a boxing ring was on March 20, 1999, when he faced fellow unbeaten contender Chris Byrd at the Emerald Hotel and Casino in Tacoma, Washington.
Ibeabuchi’s five-round destruction of Byrd that night would enter boxing legend. But the fact that the unbalanced boxer could even fight that night was a miracle. In this excerpt from his book President of Pandemonium: The Mad World of Ike Ibeabuchi, Luke G. Williams recreates the chaos that surrounded the Ibeabuchi- Byrd bout and captures the recollections of those who were there –including Chris Byrd, Bill Benton, and Eric Bottjer.