Herbie Hide (born Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu ; 27 August 1971) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2010. He held the WBO heavyweight title twice between 1994 and 1999, as well as the British heavyweight title in 1993. Hide was known for his formidable punching power and good instinct in the ring.

Early life Hide was born in Amauzari, Nigeria, and moved to England as a youngster, basing himself near Norwich in Norfolk. He was educated at Glebe House School and Cawston College.

Amateur career Hide had a brief amateur career of 10 fights, which he finished with a record of 8 wins (7 KOs), 2 losses.Herbie Hide Amateur Record from BoxingRecords.

Highlights 1989 ABA Championships, heavyweight: 1/8: Defeated M. Brown on points 1/4: Defeated N. Smith RSC 1 1/2: Defeated Denzill Browne RSC 3 Finals: Lost to Henry Akinwande on points

Professional career

Herbie Hide fought for most of his professional boxing career as a heavyweight; but later in his career, decided to go down to the lighter cruiserweight division . He was known as The Dancing Destroyer, and had a successful career, rising to domestic success at a very young age for a heavyweight. Hide was twice the World Boxing Organization (WBO) world heavyweight champion.

Hide's professional 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 wins to 0 losses (24 from knockout (KO)), Hide challenged Michael Bentt for the WBO heavyweight title in March 1994 at Millwall Football Stadium, Millwall, London. The inexperienced Bentt had previously won the title by knocking out the heavily favoured Tommy Morrison in one round. The Hide vs Bentt fight made headlines after the two boxers scuffled and threw punches at a pre-fight meeting; whilst in the bout itself, Hide out-boxed and knocked out Bentt in 7 rounds. Bentt was subsequently hospitalised, and never fought again.

A year later, Hide defended his WBO heavyweight title against former undisputed champion Riddick Bowe. Hide used his speed to out-box 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 during the bout. Hide impressed with his courage, repeatedly picking himself off the canvas, before he was knocked out in the sixth round.

After his loss to Bowe, Hide fought twice in 1996, winning both by knockout (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 International Boxing Federation (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 in September 1998 against German Willi Fischer.

In June 1999, Hide faced the 6 ft 8in Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko at the London Arena, 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 moved down in weight to a more natural 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 World Boxing Council (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. This was despite Hide having fought just two weeks earlier, a victory against Lukasz Rusiewicz. Hide then fought in the Cruiserweight 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.

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.

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. 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.

Hide appeared at Norwich Crown Court, charged with rape, but was found not guilty on 20 July 2011 after 'the prosecution offered no evidence'.

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

On 29 November 2013, Hide was sentenced to 22 months in prison for conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was targeted by the so-called 'fake sheikh' also known as Mazher Mahmood, an undercover News of the World reporter. After an initial refusal, Hide 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.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes53Win49–4Wayne BrooksUD330 Apr 201052Win48–4Gabor HalaszTKO3 (4), 26 Jun 200951Win47–4Sandro SiproshviliUD86 Mar 200950Win46–4Lukasz RusiewiczUD618 Nov 200849Win45–4Aleksejs KosobokovsRTD3 (8), 4 Oct 200848Win44–4Nuri SeferiUD124 Jul 200847Win43–4Ehinomen Ehikhamenor1230 May 200846Win42–4Rüdiger MayTKO2 (12), 11 Mar 200845Win41–4Mikhail NasyrovTKO6 (12), 23 Dec 200744Win40–4Mircea TelecanTKO1 (8), 21 Sep 200743Win39–4Aleh DubiahaKO1 (8), 16 Jun 200742Win38–4Pavol PolakovicKO6 (8), 27 Apr 200741Win37–4Valeri SemiskurKO1 (6), 24 Mar 200740Win36–4Mitch HicksTKO1 (4), 23 Sep 200639Loss35–4Mindaugas Kulikauskas3 (8), 12 Mar 200438Win35–3Alexander VasilievTKO5 (10), 4 Oct 200337Win34–3Joseph ChinganguKO1 (8), 27 May 200336Win33–3Derek McCaffertyTKO7 (8), 16 Apr 200335Loss32–3Joseph ChinganguTKO2 (8)22 Sep 200134Win32–2Alexey OsokinTKO3 (8), 14 Jul 200133Loss31–2Vitali KlitschkoKO2 (12), 26 Jun 199932Win31–1Wilhelm FischerTKO2 (12), 26 Sep 199831Win30–1Damon ReedTKO1 (12), 18 Apr 199830Win29–1Tony TuckerTKO2 (12), 28 Jun 199729Win28–1Frankie SwindellKO1 (8)9 Nov 199628Win27–1Michael MurrayTKO6 (10)6 Jul 199627Loss26–1Riddick BoweKO6 (12), 11 Mar 199526Win26–0Michael BenttKO7 (12), 19 Mar 199425Win25–0Jeff LampkinTKO2 (12)4 Dec 199324Win24–0Mike DixonTKO9 (12)6 Nov 199323Win23–0Everett Martin1018 Sep 199322Win22–0Jerry HalsteadTKO4 (12)11 May 199321Win21–0Michael MurrayTKO5 (12)27 Feb 199320Win20–0Juan Antonio DiazTKO3 (10), 30 Jan 199319Win19–0James PritchardTKO2 (10)12 Dec 199218Win18–0Craig PetersenTKO6 (12)6 Oct 199217Win17–0Jean ChanetTKO8 (10)8 Sep 199216Win16–0Percell DavisKO1 (10)3 Mar 199215Win15–0Conroy NelsonTKO2 (12), 21 Jan 199214Win14–0Chris JacobsKO1 (10), 29 Oct 199113Win13–0Eddie GonzalesKO2 (10)15 Oct 199112Win12–0Tucker RichardsTKO3 (8), 3 Jul 199111Win11–0John WestgarthTKO4 (8)14 May 199110Win10–0David JulesTKO1 (8)9 Apr 19919Win9–0Lennie HowardTKO1 (10)29 Jan 19918Win8–0Steve LewsamTKO1 (6), 18 Nov 19907Win7–0Gus MendesKO2 (6)17 Oct 19906Win6–0Jonjo GreeneTKO1 (8)26 Sep 19905Win5–0Steve LewsamTKO4 (6), 5 Sep 19904Win4–0Alex PenarskiTKO3 (6), 27 Jun 19903Win3–0Steve OsborneTKO6 (6)19 Dec 19892Win2–0Gary McCrory1 (6)5 Nov 19891Win1–0Lee Williams2 (6)24 Oct 1989

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