Despite being a man who is impossible to miss, Kingsley Ibeh believes he’s being avoided.

Ibeh, a 15-2-1 (13 KOs) southpaw from Nigeria, stands 6ft 4ins and weighs in at 285lbs. A former professional and college football player who is currently on a 10-fight winning streak, Ibeh believes the top heavyweights are deliberately staying out of his path.

“I think they’re scared of me,” Ibeh said. “I got a lot more calls when I was underrated and expected to lose. Now, nobody wants to take a chance to fight me. I want that challenge. I want my seat at the table, if not at the head of the table, because becoming world champion has been my goal since I started boxing.”

Ibeh has proper inspiration: His cousin is former Nigerian heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi, whose story drove Ibeh to throw himself into boxing after his uncle told him about Ibeabuchi. Yet Ibeh is also intent on authoring his own moments in the sport.

“I need an opportunity to make a statement,” he said. “It would be exciting for me to fight [Jarrell] ‘Big Baby’ Miller, and I’ve been trying to get a rematch with Guido Vianello because I believe I won that fight [a four-round draw in 2020]. For some reason, the rematch was shut down. I’d smash Richard Torrez in five rounds. [Oleksandr] Usyk is No. 1, of course, because he’s the world champion. We got a call to fight Fabio Wardley, but it didn’t happen. I’m a big fan of Joseph Parker and I’d like to get him in the ring.”

All those drills, snaps and hits on the football field, Ibeh said, have helped equip him for the ring.

“Football is tough and it has helped me in boxing,” he said. “Linemen get smacked every play in football – especially the impact by blockers – and getting hit excites me in boxing. I move well in the ring and that’s because of the footwork I learned playing football. I still do football drills in the ring, exploding from my hips.”

Ibeh’s media and brand manager, Maca, thinks his fighter’s time will come sooner rather than later.

“The sentiment we’ve gotten is that they’re scared to fight this big southpaw unless we make it more enticing,” Maca said. “Kingsley will climb the ratings, and he won’t be avoided too much longer. Everything has changed in boxing since COVID, especially on social media, because the focus is no longer on just a few fighters, and fans love to watch heavyweights. Today, boxing is more about entertainment. We are finding the right pieces and building his brand. We’re going to make him a star.”