Herbie Hide
Encyclopedia
Herbie Hide is a British
boxer
of Nigerian heritage from Norwich
currently fighting in the cruiserweight class. Hide is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBO
title twice including a reign of nearly two years from 1997-1999.
, Nigeria
but moved to England
as a boy. He was educated at Glebe House School & Nursery
prep school and Cawston College
.
, 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 Craig Petersen, Mike Dixon, Jeff Lampkin
, James Pritchard
, Jean Chanet, Jerry Halstead
and Everett Martin
At 25-0 (24 kos), Hide challenged Michael Bentt
for the WBO heavyweight title in March 1994 at Millwall Football Stadium, Millwall, London. Bentt had won the title by knocking out the heavily favoured Tommy Morrison
in one round. Hide outboxed and knocked out Bentt in 7 rounds.
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.
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 6ft 8in Ukrainian
giant 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. This was despite Hide having fought just two weeks earlier, a victory against Lukasz Rusiewicz. 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.
Despite having only boxed three world ranked heavyweights in his long career (Bentt, Bowe and Klitschko) and being knocked out by two of them, as well as knocked out by journeyman Joe Chingangu, Hide claimed in his autobiography that he would have beaten all time greats Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.
Hide has also been arrested a number of times. In December 2003, Hide was involved in a violent incident in a Norwich night club. Hide was approached by police officers in a nearby parking lot. However, he ran off, discarding a knife with a ten-inch blade. This resulted in his subsequent arrest and conviction for "possession of a bladed article." He was fined £750 for this offence.
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 15 May 2003 and driving a Bentley
with no insurance and no MoT
on 18 June of the same year. Hide had denied all the 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.. In September 2008, Hide was warned by Norwich magistrates that he faced 75 days in jail if the outstanding £3,767 of 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. Because of these claims, Hide had to pay £35,000 libel damages after Warren took the matter to court.
Hide appeared at Norwich crown court on 1 April 2011, charged with rape. Hide, who entered no plea, was remanded in custody to appear at Norwich Crown Court on Friday, 15 April 2011. The alleged rape took place between November 1, 2010 and November 7, 2010. He was later found innocent.
Hide is a supporter of Norwich City F.C.
and has been officially greeted at Carrow Road
.
In June 2004, Hide was Britain's official representative at the Commonwealth Hide and seek championships. He was sponsored by the Daily Star due to his name tie-in. After being found 2nd (Hide was only partially covered by a small Rose bush) the paper scorned his lack of effort. Reports that Hide was intoxicated when found during the game have been denied by the fighter.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
of Nigerian heritage from Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
currently fighting in the cruiserweight class. Hide is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBO
World Boxing Organization
The World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. The organization is recognized as one of the four major world championship groups by the IBHOF alongside the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Council and the...
title twice including a reign of nearly two years from 1997-1999.
Early life
Hide was born in OwerriOwerri
Owerri is the capital of Imo State in Nigeria, set in the heart of the Igboland. Owerri consists of three Local Govern Areas including Owerri Municipal, Owerri North and Owerri West, it has an estimated population of about 400,000 as of 2006...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
but moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
as a boy. He was educated at Glebe House School & Nursery
Glebe House School & Nursery
Glebe House School & Nursery is an independent coeducational day and weekly boarding school for children from the age of six months to 13 years , located in the Victorian seaside town of Hunstanton, Norfolk, England.- About Glebe House :Glebe House School began life in 1874 under the name of St...
prep school and Cawston College
Cawston College
Cawston College was a public school in the English county of Norfolk in Great Britain.-History:Cawston College, one of the Woodard Schools, opened in 1964 at the former manor house of Cawston, Norfolk, with Mr. John Asquith as Headmaster...
.
Pro career
Hide has fought for most of his career at heavyweightHeavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
, 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 Craig Petersen, Mike Dixon, Jeff Lampkin
Jeff Lampkin
Jeff Lampkin is a former American professional boxer. During his 11-year professional career, Lampkin won the USBA cruiserweight title and IBF cruiserweight belt.- Amateur career :...
, James Pritchard
James Pritchard (boxer)
James Pritchard, , was a heavyweight professional boxer who won the USBA heavyweight title and challenged for the IBF world title.-Amateur:...
, Jean Chanet, Jerry Halstead
Jerry Halstead
Jerry "Wimpy" Halstead was a professional boxer in the heavyweight division from 1985 until 1997. Along the way Halstead fought such prominent pugilists as Greg Page, Tony Tubbs, Buster Douglas, Pierre Coetzer, Tommy Morrison, Ray Mercer, Alex Stewart, Herbie Hide, Brian Nielsen, Jeremy Williams,...
and Everett Martin
Everett Martin
Everett Wayne Martin , also known as Bigfoot Martin is a former professional boxer. He is a journeyman heavyweight best known for his performances against more notable contenders.-Pro Boxing Career:...
At 25-0 (24 kos), Hide challenged Michael Bentt
Michael Bentt
Michael A. Bentt is a film and television actor and retired heavyweight boxer. Of Jamaican lineage, he was born in East Dulwich, London, but raised in the Cambria Heights section of Queens in New York City...
for the WBO heavyweight title in March 1994 at Millwall Football Stadium, Millwall, London. Bentt had won the title by knocking out the heavily favoured Tommy Morrison
Tommy Morrison
Tommy David Morrison is an American heavyweight boxer and a former World Boxing Organization champion. He lost only three out of a total of 52 professional fights. Morrison's nickname, "The Duke," is based on disputed claims that he is a grandnephew of Hollywood star John Wayne...
in one round. Hide outboxed and knocked out Bentt in 7 rounds.
A year later, Hide defended his title against former undisputed champion Riddick Bowe
Riddick Bowe
Riddick Lamont Bowe is a retired American boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion and a former undisputed heavyweight champion...
. 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.
After his loss to Bowe, Hide fought twice in 1996, winning both by KO against Michael Murray
Michael Murray
Michael Murray or Mike Murray may refer to:* Michael Murray , health psychologist at Keele University, England* Michael Murray , American-born organist...
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
Tony Tucker
Tony Craig Tucker is a retired professional heavyweight boxer. Tucker fought professionally from 1980 to 1998. Nicknamed "TNT," he won a gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games, and was briefly a world heavyweight champion as a professional.-Amateur career:Tucker had a notable amateur career,...
, 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 6ft 8in Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
giant Vitali Klitschko
Vitali Klitschko
Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Klychko is a Ukrainian professional heavyweight boxer and the current WBC heavyweight champion. He is a leader of the political party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Congress of the Council of Europe. He previously...
, 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
Alexander Vasiliev
Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev was considered the foremost authority on Byzantine history and culture in the mid-20th century. His History of the Byzantine Empire Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev (1867-1953) was considered the foremost authority on Byzantine history and culture in the mid-20th...
.
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
Johnathon Banks
Johnathon Maurice Banks is a professional boxer. Prior to turning pro, Banks was a three time National Amateur Champion at 178 lbs.Banks started playing the piano in middle school, but boxing soon took over and dominated that desire...
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
Enzo Maccarinelli
Enzo Maccarinelli is a Welsh professional boxer who fights in the light heavyweight division. He is a former World Boxing Organization cruiserweight title holder and also held the European title at that weight limit...
, for the vacant title. This was despite Hide having fought just two weeks earlier, a victory against Lukasz Rusiewicz. 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.
Despite having only boxed three world ranked heavyweights in his long career (Bentt, Bowe and Klitschko) and being knocked out by two of them, as well as knocked out by journeyman Joe Chingangu, Hide claimed in his autobiography that he would have beaten all time greats Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.
Personal life
In 1999, Hide was declared bankrupt by a British court after failing to pay various bills. However, around that same time, Hide informed a reporter that he had left £8,000 next to a lamp in his training camp and that, when he returned, the money was on fire. Court officers were understandably puzzled and demanded to know where the money had come from.Hide has also been arrested a number of times. In December 2003, Hide was involved in a violent incident in a Norwich night club. Hide was approached by police officers in a nearby parking lot. However, he ran off, discarding a knife with a ten-inch blade. This resulted in his subsequent arrest and conviction for "possession of a bladed article." He was fined £750 for this offence.
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
Fiat Punto
The Fiat Punto is a supermini produced by the Italian manufacturer, Fiat, since 1993.-1st generation :Internally codenamed Project 176, the Punto was announced in September 1993 and launched in late 1993 as a replacement for the ageing Fiat Uno. The Fiat Punto was voted European Car of the Year...
with no insurance on 15 May 2003 and driving a Bentley
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
with no insurance and no MoT
Mot
In Ugaritic Mot 'Death' is personified as a god of death. The word is cognate with forms meaning 'death' in other Semitic and Afro-Asiatic languages: with Arabic موت mawt; with Hebrew מות ; with Maltese mewt; with Syriac mautā; with Ge'ez mot; with Canaanite, Egyptian Aramaic, Nabataean, and...
on 18 June of the same year. Hide had denied all the 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.. In September 2008, Hide was warned by Norwich magistrates that he faced 75 days in jail if the outstanding £3,767 of motoring fines were not paid by 30 November 2008. During a television interview in July 2008, Hide claimed that promoter Frank Warren
Frank Warren (promoter)
Frank Darren Warren is an English boxing manager and promoter.-Early life and early career:The son of a bookmaker, Warren trained as a solicitor's clerk with J Tickle & Co on Southampton Row in London....
had dishonestly and corruptly bribed Johnny Nelson
Johnny Nelson
Ivanson Ranny "Johnny" Nelson is a former professional boxer from Sheffield, England. He was the WBO cruiserweight champion for over six years, having successfully defended the title 13 times. Nelson also held the European and British cruiserweight titles...
to retire and give up his WBO cruiserweight title. Because of these claims, Hide had to pay £35,000 libel damages after Warren took the matter to court.
Hide appeared at Norwich crown court on 1 April 2011, charged with rape. Hide, who entered no plea, was remanded in custody to appear at Norwich Crown Court on Friday, 15 April 2011. The alleged rape took place between November 1, 2010 and November 7, 2010. He was later found innocent.
Hide is a supporter of Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
and has been officially greeted at Carrow Road
Carrow Road
Carrow Road is a football stadium in Norwich, England, and is the home of Norwich City Football Club. The stadium is located toward the easterly end of the city, not far from Norwich railway station and the River Wensum....
.
In June 2004, Hide was Britain's official representative at the Commonwealth Hide and seek championships. He was sponsored by the Daily Star due to his name tie-in. After being found 2nd (Hide was only partially covered by a small Rose bush) the paper scorned his lack of effort. Reports that Hide was intoxicated when found during the game have been denied by the fighter.
See also
- List of current WBC international champions
- List of heavyweight boxing champions