Herbie Hide circa early 2000s

[Coco]

Akinwandee beat him in the ABA final, no heavy and super heavy in those days, Henry was far too big for the teenage Hide.

Aye, I had it on tape. He later turned down fighting for the European title because he didn't want to fight Akinwande. After beating the dead body of Michael Bentt he turned down a mega money fight with Bruno that would have made him famous for totally incoherent, laughable reasons. He clearly lacked confidence in himself and knew he couldn't beat either man.

He ducked Bruno to fight Bowe? And then Klitschow?

[Onamastus]

Aye, I had it on tape. He later turned down fighting for the European title because he didn't want to fight Akinwande. After beating the dead body of Michael Bentt he turned down a mega money fight with Bruno that would have made him famous for totally incoherent, laughable reasons. He clearly lacked confidence in himself and knew he couldn't beat either man.

He ducked Bruno to fight Bowe? And then Klitschow?

Both were mandatories and neither were on the horizon when he beat Bentt and Bruno was open to fight him.

[Gnome]

It seems bizarre in hindsight that Hide was favourite going into his fight with 25 (25)-0 Klitschko. It's a shame the cruiserweight division was so disregarded back then.

[polecateddy]

I suppose Hide was favoured because of Vitali's kickboxing background and the fact he was knocked out by a Pele Reid kick.

[Onamastus]

Here's the Vitali KO again. What on earth does VK land that has such a catastropic effect on Hide? Similar to the Bowe fight, although Big Daddy didn't even appear to land when Hide first went down against him in the third.

[margaret thatcher]

Glancing 1-2

[JC]

I remember watching that at the time and assuming Vitali was a massive puncher.

[Onamastus]

I remember watching that at the time and assuming Vitali was a massive puncher.

Me too

[margaret thatcher]

100 percent ko rate! One of the hardest of all time

[MasterG]

Herbie Hide was a decent boxer in terms of British and European standard. He was fast and could punch. He just wasnt big enough to give the true heavyweights a decent battle. He gave away 2 stone to Bowe in 1995, prior that winning the WBO by beating freak of nature Michael Bentt. Bentt didnt even like boxing and was quite lucky to beat Tommy Morrison. If Morrison had won Hide would never have become a world champion but we can always say those ifs and buts.

Hide couldnt cope giving 2 stone away to Bowe, that was a big difference really and it showed when Bowe punched him. Quite a frustrating night for hide really when there is no ammunition in your arsenal to beat the challenger.

On returning to the UK Hide took well over 12 months break and his return against travelling war horse Michael Murray was quite frustrating for him until he Murray retired after 6 rounds. Hide got lucky I suppose with the WBO, as back then all you needed to do to get a title fight with them was being British and be in the Hearn Stable. He easily beat vet Tony Tucker to regain the title and his 2 easily hand picked defences went according to plan until he met another 'proper' heavyweight who again was 2 stone heavier and could punch. Again Hide was blown away this time by Vitali Klitschko who was 24-0 at the time and was going to dominate for a long time, it seemed quite a long time actually if were not a fan of his style.

That was the end of the 90's for Hide and really his best part of his career. Nothing from then on sticks out in his career fighting 20 more times before packing it in in 2010. His last fight was in the prize fighter tournies not really fitting for an ex world heavyweight champion.

Here is the Bowe fight

[Coco]

He ducked Bruno to fight Bowe? And then Klitschow?

Both were mandatories and neither were on the horizon when he beat Bentt and Bruno was open to fight him.

Damn coward!
And the WBO were nazi's in terms of enforcing mandatories

[Onamastus]

Both were mandatories and neither were on the horizon when he beat Bentt and Bruno was open to fight him.

Damn coward!
And the WBO were nazi's in terms of enforcing mandatories

He shat his pants in both fights. Bully with sparring partners. Cowardly with Bowe and Klit.

Nothing particularly manly about agreeing to fight Vitali in 1999. He'd never fought anybody of note and was most famous for being Wladimir's brother. Boxing Monthly picked Hide to knock him out.