Herbie Hide

Infobox Boxer


name=Herbie Hide
realname=Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu
nickname=The Dancing Destroyer
weight=Cruiserweight
nationality=Flagicon|UK United Kingdom
birth_date=Birth date and age|1971|8|27|df=y
birth_place=Owerri, Nigeria
death_date|=
death_place|=
style=Orthodox
total=48
wins=44
KO=41
losses=4
draws=0
no contests=0|

Herbie Hide (born Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu on 27 August 1971) is a British boxer fighting out of Norwich.

Early life

He was born in Lagos, Nigeria on the 27 August 1971 and moved to England as boy. He was educated at Cawston College,

Pro career

Hide has fought for most of his career at heavyweight, but has recently decided to take a step down to cruiserweight. He is known as "The Dancing Destroyer".To date he has had a successful career rising to domestic success at a very young age for a heavyweight. He is a former two-time WBO world heavyweight champion and current WBC International cruiserweight champion.

Hide's career began in 1989 with a 2nd round win and he racked up a total of 26 successive wins, all but 1 inside the distance, before coming up against Riddick Bowe in 1995. Bowe's heavier physique and punching power was evident, flooring Hide on several occasions. Yet Hide impressed with his courage, repeatedly picking himself off the canvas, before the 6th round knockout.

At 6'2" and around 200-210lbs Hide was always considered rather small for a heavyweight. [http://www.hennessysports.com/Article.asp?art=184] [http://www.saddoboxing.com/3953-exclusive-boxing-interview-herbie-hide.html] Despite this his speed and punching power has twice taken him to the WBO World Title. To date 41 of his 44 wins have come by way of stoppage, including 14 first round knock outs and 9 more in the second round. Often regarded as more of a natural cruiserweight than heavyweight he has recently stepped down a weight division.

Since stepping down to his more natural weight division at cruiserweight, Hide has won eight successive fights four of which were first round knockouts. Hide defeated Mikhail Nasyrov on the 23rd December 2007 to win the WBC International Cruiserweight title and has since made two successful defences taking his record to 44 wins with 41 knockouts and four defeats.

Hide is currently ranked number 4 in the WBO and WBC ratings.

Outside of the ring

In 1999, Hide was declared bankrupt by a British court after failing to pay various bills. However, eyebrows were raised when, around that same time, Hide informed a reporter that he had left £8000 next to a lamp in his training camp and that, when he returned, the money was on fire. British court officers were understandably puzzled and demanded to know where the money had come from. (It is not known what Hide's response was.)

Hide has also been arrested on multiple occasions.In December 2003, after being attacked by six men and hit over the head with a bar stool in a Norwich night club, Hide was approached by police officers in a nearby parking lot. Upon being approached, he suddenly set off running, discarding a knife with ten-inch blade as he did so. This resulted in his subsequent arrest and conviction for "possession of a bladed article." He was fined nearly £1000 for this offense.

In September 2004, Hide was again arrested for repeated failures to attend court hearings concerning assorted driving-related offenses. He had been charged with driving a Fiat Punto with no insurance on May 15, 2003 and driving a Bentley with no insurance and no MoT on June 18 of the same year. Hide had denied all of those charges. He was scheduled to attend the ensuing court hearing in January 2004, but failed to do so. The hearing was then rescheduled at least three times in the following two months, but Hide failed to surface on those dates as well. In March 2004, he was convicted of all the charges. Hide's solicitor Ian Fisher told the court that he had no idea why his client had not appeared.

He has run into troubles more recently in his homeland Nigeria [http://nigeriasports.com/1725] .

In terms of non-boxing interests, Hide is a supporter of Norwich City F.C. and has been officially greeted at Carrow Road on many occasions.

ee also

* List of heavyweight boxing champions

External links

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