By Cliff Rold
It’s one of the most intriguing happenings in Boxing.
37-year old Chris Byrd (40-4-1, 21 KO), a former IBF heavyweight titlist with a resume reading as a who’s who of that division, with wins over Vitali Klitschko, David Tua and Evander Holyfield, steps into the ring this Friday night as a Light Heavyweight. Given his age, it’s either a disaster in the making…
…or the most inspired career decision since George Foreman slapped his name on a grill.
The downside for Byrd, returning to an area of the scale he hasn’t seen since his first two professional bouts in 1993, is that the speed at 175 threatens to overwhelm him, his reflexes used to more lumbering challenges. The upside could be an exclamation point on an already respectable career that punches his ticket to the Hall of Fame.
It’s a fascinating risk worth taking.
Byrd has long been notable for his willingness to fight the big boys while at serious physical disadvantage. Without a Heavyweight punch, he’s had to make do with masterful technique, a solid chin and a bucket of guts. A 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist at Middleweight, Byrd was always a what-if commodity. He was a good Heavyweight, but what if he had stayed lower on the scale? Could he have been one of the greats?
The success he had against the big boys may already supply the answer. In the 1950s and 60s, Floyd Patterson made a similar rise from his Amateur Middleweight run to two tenures as World Heavyweight champion and did so with a markedly less steep mountain to scale in terms of size. Patterson made his way to the Hall, but with less historical esteem than he might have had he ruled with an iron fist at 175 lbs. instead of as a transition point into the Ali era.
Byrd isn’t jumping in with both feet; clearly he knows the risk he’s running. His body is being asked a high price, shedding massive amounts of weight (he weighed between 210-215 for most of his recent affairs) after years of taking the sort of heavy shots that slow reflexes and multiply wear. It’s why he’ll make his first Light Heavyweight start against limited journeyman Shaun George (16-2-2, 7 KO). Any signs of struggle, of lost snap or too many taken shots, will be bad ones. If he looks spectacular though?
Then, and immediately then, the landscape of an already exciting division experiences a seismic shift. We are only a few weeks removed from the showdown between Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins, and Byrd’s public platform at Heavyweight makes him at least the draw that both of those men were. Given the story in what he’s doing, he could be bigger than he’s ever been.
With Calzaghe now holding the Ring’s belt, alphabelt titlists like Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver, and the lingering Roy Jones Jr., a Byrd that looks good suddenly could become a Byrd people want to see with the best in class.
Imagine Boxing a year from now if Byrd can make this work and gets the right fights. Imagine Byrd with opportunities to face a Glen Johnson and perhaps even Calzaghe. Imagine Byrd with wins in those showdowns. It would rewrite his entire story with a twist in the final chapter, Boxing’s version of the Sixth Sense.
Sure, there are a lot of ifs, ands, buts, and contracts that would have to fall into place. That shouldn’t limit asking what is possible. Boxing has always been a sport that is at its best when strong narrative belies the action in the ring. Byrd’s acting like he has a tale to tell.
I’m all ears.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
