Herbie Hide former 2 x WBO heavyweight World champion SIGNED 5 1/2" x 8" promotional photo.

Condition excellent

Price: £25

Herbie Hide - Knockout Highlights

Herbie Hide (born Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu on 27 August 1971 in Owerri, Nigeria) is 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.

Early Life
Hide was born in Owerri, Nigeria but moved to England as a boy. He was educated at Glebe House School & Nursery prep school and Cawston College.

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. He is a former two-time World Boxing Organization (WBO) world heavyweight champion and current World Boxing Council (WBC) International cruiserweight champion.

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 before coming up against Michael Bentt for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Heavyweight Title in 1994. Bentt had won the title by knocking out the heavily favoured Tommy Morrison. Hide outboxed and KO'd Bentt in 7 rounds. A year later Hide defended his title against Riddick Bowe. Hide outboxed and hurt Bowe a number of times in the early rounds, however Bowe's heavier and larger physique and punching power eventually told, and Hide was floored several times. Hide though 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 World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Heavyweight Title in June 1997 against former World Champion Tony Tucker from the USA. Hide impressively KO'd the durable Tucker (who had never previously been knocked out) in just two rounds. Hide defended his World Title twice in 1998 with impressive early KO's of two previously unbeaten fighters in Damon Reed of the USA and German Willi Fischer. However in June 1999, Hide faced the 6 ft 8" Ukranian giant Vitali Klitschko and was KO'd in two rounds.

Hide never featured as a main contender at heavyweight again, his only mildly notable wins coming against John Chingangu and Alexander Vasiliev.

At 6' 1½" and around 200-210 lbs Hide was always considered rather small for a heavyweight. Despite this his speed and punching power had twice taken him to the WBO World Title. Often regarded as more of a natural cruiserweight than heavyweight he has now stepped down a weight division to a more natural weight division at cruiserweight. Since then Hide has won twelve successive fights, four of which were first round knockouts. He defeated Mikhail Nasyrov on 23 December 2007 to win the WBC International Cruiserweight title and has since made three successful defences against Ruediger May, Ehinomen Ehikhamenor and Nuri Seferi, as well as four other wins over east European journeymen fighters.

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.

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, 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. 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 faces 75 days in jail if the outstanding £3,767 of motoring fines were not paid by 30 November 2008.

Hide is a supporter of Norwich City F.C. and has been officially greeted at Carrow Road.