Herbie Hide

Herbie Hide
Statistics
Real name	Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu
Nickname(s)	The Dancing Destroyer
Rated at	Heavyweight Cruiserweight
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Reach	75 in (191 cm)
Nationality	British
Born	27 August 1971 Amauzari, Nigeria
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	53
Wins	49
Wins by KO	43
Losses	4

Herbie Hide (born Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu; 27 August 1971) is a British former professional boxer who held the WBO heavyweight title twice. He is best known for his victories over Michael Bentt and Tony Tucker.

Early life

Hide was born in Amauzari, Nigeria, and moved to England as a boy. He was educated at Glebe House School and Cawston College.^[1]

Pro career

Hide has fought for most of his career at heavyweight, but later in his career decided to take a step down to cruiserweight. He is known as The Dancing Destroyer and has had a successful career, rising to domestic success at a very young age for a heavyweight. Hide has twice won the lesser regarded (at the time) WBO heavyweight title.

His career began in 1989 with a second round win and he racked up a total of 25 successive wins, all but one inside the distance. His level of opposition was respectable and included fighters such as Jeff Lampkin and James Pritchard.

At 25-0 (24 kos), Hide challenged Michael Bentt for the WBO heavyweight title in March 1994 at Millwall Football Stadium, Millwall, London. The inexperienced Bentt had won the title by knocking out the heavily favoured Tommy Morrison in one round. The fight made headlines after the two boxers scuffled and threw punches at a pre-fight meeting, whilst in the bout itself, Hide outboxed and knocked out Bentt in 7 rounds (who was then hospitalised and never fought again).

A year later, Hide defended his title against former undisputed champion Riddick Bowe. Hide used his speed to outbox Bowe early on and managed to hurt Bowe several times during the contest, however Bowe's size and class eventually told, and Hide was floored six times. Hide impressed with his courage, repeatedly picking himself off the canvas, before he was knocked out in the sixth round.^[2]

After his loss to Bowe, Hide fought twice in 1996, winning both by KO against Michael Murray and Frankie Swindell before earning another shot at the now-vacant WBO title in June 1997 against 38-year-old one-time IBF title holder Tony Tucker, despite Tucker losing three of his previous five fights. Hide knocked out the overweight Tucker in two rounds. Hide defended his WBO title twice in 1998 with quick stoppages of late replacement cruiserweight clubfighter Damon Reed, and German Willi Fischer.

In June 1999 Hide faced the 6 ft 8in Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko, only the second world ranked fighter he had actually faced after Riddick Bowe. Hide, favoured to win at the time, was knocked out in two rounds.

Hide never featured as a main contender at heavyweight again, his only mildly notable wins coming against Joseph Chingangu (who also knocked Hide out in one of Hide's many comebacks) and Alexander Vasiliev.

In 2006, Hide stepped down a weight division to a more natural weight division at cruiserweight. Since then he has won fourteen successive fights, most of which took place in Germany. Hide defeated Mikhail Nasyrov in December 2007 to win the WBC International cruiserweight title.

In November 2008, when Johnathon Banks dropped out of a WBO cruiserweight title clash at London's ExCel Arena with just four days notice, Hide was announced as a potential opponent for former champion Enzo Maccarinelli, for the vacant title.^[3] This was despite Hide having fought just two weeks earlier, a victory against Lukasz Rusiewicz.^[3] Hide then fought in the Crusierweight Prizefighter tournament. In the tournament, he defeated Welshman Wayne Brooks by unanimous decision, but was badly cut on the right eye in the process. He pulled out of the tournament to avoid losing his high WBC ranking due to the cut.^[4]

Professional boxing record

Personal life

In December 2003, Hide was "attacked by a group of men" in a Norwich night club. This resulted in his subsequent arrest and conviction for "possession of an offensive weapon, a 10-inch kitchen knife," for which he was fined £750.^[6]

In September 2008, Hide was warned by Norwich magistrates that he faced 75 days in jail if £3,767 of outstanding motoring fines were not paid by 30 November 2008.^[7] During a television interview in July 2008, Hide claimed that promoter Frank Warren "had dishonestly and corruptly bribed Johnny Nelson to retire and give up his WBO cruiserweight title." When Warren sued for libel, Hide failed to respond and a default judgment of £35,000 was entered against him.^[8]

Hide appeared at Norwich Crown Court, charged with rape, but was found not guilty on 20 July 2011 after "the prosecution offered no evidence."^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

On 18 March 2012, a man in his 20s was fatally stabbed at Hide's home. A suspect has been arrested for murder in connection with the incident. Police said they believed Hide was not home at the time of the killing.^[10][14]

On 29 November 2013 Hide was sentenced to 22 months in prison for selling cocaine.^[15] He was targeted by the so-called "fake sheikh" also known as Mazher Mahmood, an undercover News of the World reporter. The reporter ingratiated himself into Hide's company and began hassling him for cocaine, despite the fact that there had never been any suggestion that Hide had been concerned with the supply of drugs. After an initial refusal, Herbie Hide eventually relented, and agreed to contact a drug dealer of his acquaintance to procure the drug. When he delivered the drug to the undercover reporter he was arrested and charged.

See also

• List of current WBC international champions
• List of heavyweight boxing champions

References

1. "Cawston College History".
2. Gerald Eskenazi, "BOXING; Bowe Stops Battered Hide in 6th to Win W.B.O. Title", New York Times, 12 Mar 1995, retrieved 30 Nov 2008
3. "Maccarinelli stops Ellis in two". BBC News. 6 December 2008.
4. "Evander Holyfield vows to be king of the world again at 47". Daily Mail (London). 11 April 2010.
5. "BoxRec - Herbie Hide".
6. John Rawling, "Hide fined for having 10-inch kitchen knife", The Guardian, 7 Jan 2004, retrieved 30 Nov 2008
7. "Boxer Herbie Hide facing jail", The Mirror, 9 Sep 2008, retrieved 30 November 2008
8. "Frank Warren wins Herbie Hide libel damages". Press Gazette. 27 July 2009.
9. "Boxer calls for law change after being cleared of rape". The Daily Telegraph (London). 21 July 2011.
10. "Profile: The life and times of Herbie Hide - Crime". Eastern Daily Press. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
11. "Norwich boxer Herbie Hide cleared of rape - News - Eastern Daily Press". Edp24.co.uk. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
12. "BBC News - Herbie Hide appears in Norwich court charged with rape". Bbc.co.uk. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
13. "Norwich boxer Herbie Hide in court on rape charge - News - Eastern Daily Press". Edp24.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
14. BBC News report Retrieved 20 March 2012
15. "Herbie Hide jailed for conspiracy to supply cocaine". BBC News. Retrieved 30 November 2013.

Further reading

• Hide, Herbie (2009). Nothing But Trouble: My Story. ISBN 978-1-84454-706-7.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Herbie Hide from BoxRec