Kingsley Ibeh overcame setbacks early in his professional career to become a legitimate prospect in the heavyweight division.
Ibeh knocked out Jack May in the opening round late Saturday night at the Emerald Wueen Casino in Tacoma, Washington.
The knockout victory does not come as a surprise to promoter Azat Torosyan, who believes Ibeh has a future in the division.
“With Kingsley Ibeh, you have a real sleeper in the heavyweight division,” Torosyan told The Ring on Monday afternoon. “And while people sleep on him, he lets people sleep.”
From the opening bell both Ibeh and May were on the attack. Ibeh found an opening, threw a counter left hook to the head and landed, dropping May to the canvas against the ropes. May was counted out at 59 seconds.
Other than a no-contest against Mario Heredia on September 7, Ibeh has won his last four bouts.
Ibeh should be familiar to boxing fans, having fought four times on Top Rank cards in 2020 and 2021 at the famous ‘Bubble’, which was the MGM Convention Center in Las Vegas, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 30-year-old Ibeh, who is originally from Nigeria and now lives in Phoenix, Arizona, has excelled over the past few years and has won nine straight since a knockout loss to contender Jared Anderson in February 2021. Ibeh also has a draw against Guido Vianello, which occurred more than four months before the loss to Anderson.
Aside from the loss to Anderson, Ibeh’s other loss came in his second pro fight in October 2019, losing by split decision to Waldo Cortes Acosta. Ibeh would avenge the loss in a rematch by knocking out Cortes in June 2020.
Ibeh is the younger cousin of heavyweight contender Ike Ibeabuchi.
With the win, Ibeh improved to 14-2-1 (12 knockouts). May, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Chino Hills, falls to 10-1 (9 KOs). In his previous fight on August 29, May stopped John Shipman in the opening round.
The 43-year-old faced just three opponents with winning records before the loss to Ibeh.
In the co-feature, super middleweights Juan Barajas and Antonio Louis Hernandez (7-19-4, 4 KOs) of Kansas City, Missouri fought to a majority decision draw. One judge scored the bout 58-56 for Hernandez, while the other two judges scored the bout 57-57.
Barajas, who lives in Victorville, California and was fighting for the first time since a draw in November 2020, goes to 11-0-2, 7 KOs.
Cruiserweight Marquice Weston of Tacoma improved to 16-3-2, 9 KOs, stopping John Shipman (5-8, 2 KOs) in the opening round.
Lightweight Samvel Gandilyan of Medvedovskaya, Russia stopped Oakland’s Ezra Rabin (1-8, 1 KO) in the fourth round. Gandilyan improved to 5-0-1, 3 KOs.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at (email protected)
