By Rick Reeno
Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas - Former heavyweight champion Chris Byrd faced many of the best and most recognizable heavyweight names in the last twenty years - including Wladimir Klitschko (twice), Vitali Klitschko David Tua, Ike Ibeabuchi, Evander Holyfield, Alexander Povetkin and many, many others.
Now working as a trainer, Byrd sits back and examines the current heavyweight landscape.
The United States finally has a world champion, with Olympic bronze medal winner Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33KOs) capturing the WBC championship with a twelve round decision over Bermane Stiverne in January. Wilder returned last month in his home state of Alabama, where he retained his title with a tougher than expected knockout of Eric Molina.
Prior to facing Stiverne, Wilder blew away an army of overmatched opponents within four rounds or less.
Because of his less than stellar resume, Byrd believes the unbeaten puncher needs some stiffer tests in order to prove his true worth as a division leader.
"Deontay Wilder, I think he's still a work in progress. When he boxes, and we look at him, we know he's tall, has good height and reach - and he has a good right hand, he can punch. When you don't fight mid-level to high opposition, how do to really gage how good a person is. I mean, he wins the title from Bermane Stiverne - and I take nothing away from him, he was a world champion - but his toughest fight was Chris Arreola going into it," Byrd told BoxingScene.com.
"It still remains to be seen [what Wilder can do], because there are some guys out there who can challenge him - and then we'll see what he's got. He's not like a big guy either. He's under 230 and with the height he's a thin guy. We're in the era of big guys and I take nothing away from him, he's a champ and he's earned it but now I want to see that depth and that grit when push comes to shove in a fight because we haven't seen that yet."
