ENTER THE ‘SPIDER’
Matt Bozeat on Ibraheem ‘Spider’ Sulaimaan as he advances through the national championships
MOMENTS after Campbell Hatton’s latest win, thousands were asking: “Who’s ‘Spider’?” Grime star Jaykae took to Instagram to tell his 317,000 followers that ‘Spider’ had beaten Hatton before – and would beat him again. ‘Spider’ is Ibraheem ‘Spider’ Sulaimaan, a 20-year-old from Eastside ABC, who beat Hatton in the final of the East Midlands Box Cup in 2018.
“There were three rings,” said Spider, “and everyone stopped to watch us because it was Campbell Hatton.”
“I beat him well,” he continued. “He came charging at me in the first round and I slipped, blocked and smacked him.
“I outboxed him in the second and almost stopped him in the last. “I won unanimously.” Last weekend, Sulaimaan added the Midlands Elite title to a CV that shows three national titles.
In the final, he outpointed Hamzah Ahmed (Walsall Fearless) at the Queensberry Hub in Stoke.
That was the third time Ahmed has been unable to fathom out Spider.
Sulaimaan, the sort who keeps his opponents guessing what he’s going to do next, twice beat him in the NABGC championships.
Ahmed looked to up the pace after a cut over his right eye survived the doctor’s inspection in the second, but mostly he found Spider either out of range or too quick with his reflexes to catch cleanly.
Boxing mostly as a southpaw, Sulaimaan countered with whipping body shots, straight singles and combinations.
Seven days earlier, Sulaimaan had outpointed Triumph banger Jamie Edwards in his 50th bout and coach Paul ‘Soggy’ Counihan believes Spider can go all the way to the title.
“On his day, nobody will touch Spider,” said Soggy.
“There are bound to be good lads coming out of London and the North West, but I don’t think we will have anything to worry about until the semi-finals.”
Spider spelled out what makes him so hard to beat. “I’ve got good angles and I smack hard,” he said. “I can punch going forwards and backwards.”
Sulaimaan has nine brothers and two sisters – and five of his brothers also train at the Eastside gym!
“We were always scrapping,” said Spider, given his nickname because he wore Spiderman gloves on his first visit to the gym. “But it’s all love really. We have a close bond.” In the Midlands championships at 69kgs, Tyrell Cummins, a former Development semi-finalist back after three years out, outpointed Worcester City’s Patrick Morgan. The bout was stopped towards the end of the second with Morgan cut and Cummins, a quick-fisted southpaw from Box Smart Elite, was ahead on all the scorecards.
At 75kgs Amir Abubaker (Christ The King) was too strong for Mohammed Martin (Hi Tech) and up at 91&kgs, Simon Ibekwe (Studio) moved and pot shotted his way to victory over Tamunoboma Brown (Pat Bensons). In the Development championship, Othman Said (South Wye), beaten in the Class A welterweight final in 2019, was crowned Midlands champion after two wins in the space of 24 hours. He outpointed Takenda Mjanja (Hi-tech) at 75kgs on Saturday and the following day he beat Kieron Gelder (RG Boxing).