Byrd: Fury The Top Man, Klitschko Couldn't Make Adjustments

 By Radio Rahim

Former heavyweight champion Chris Byrd is loving the wave of new talent in the heavyweight division.

After years of being stale, the heavyweight division is finally exploding with excitement from every corner. The ball got rolling last year when Deontay Wilder captured the WBC heavyweight title with a twelve round decision over Bermane Stiverne in January. The came to close with a huge upset, as Tyson Fury unseated division ruler Wladimir Klitschko to capture the IBO/IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles. Last month, Charles Martin captured the vacant IBF title and now faces rising superstar Anthony Joshua in April.

The trend of exciting heavyweight action will continue in the coming months. Wilder has to make a mandatory defense against Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin, and that may happen in May. Cuban slugger Luis Ortiz will face Tony Thompson in March, and the probably the most anticpated of the bunch if the contracted rematch between Fury and Klitschko.

During his successful career, Byrd had the pleasure of fighting both Klitschko brothers. He handed Vitali the first defeat of his career in 2000, and fought Wladimir twice. Byrd lost a decision to Wladimir in 2000 and suffered a knockout loss in their 2006 rematch.

Byrd now views Fury as the "top guy" because he beat the one fighter who everyone considered to be "the man" at heavyweight.

Breaking down his thoughts on last November's big upset, he feels Klitschko may have underestimated what Fury brought to the table. He also says Fury switched up his game, but Klitschko was unable to make any adjustments during the fight."

The thing is, in my opinion...adjustments [was Klitschko's big problem]. I'm not going to say anything about the corner, but you have to be ready for adjustments. When you watch a Tyson Fury fight, he is a flat footed guy coming straight forward. When he gets in a fight, he boxes you. Now [Klitschko is] fighting a guy who is 2 to 3 inches taller, moving and boxing. Now you're trying to come forward being a slugger now - which you're not used to. You have to be ready for everything.  You have to have Plan A to Z and have all of these adjustments ready. It kind of freaked [Klitschko] out [that Fury had a different style]," Byrd explained to BoxingScene.com.

"You have to be ready for everything, especially when you're the champion because everyone is coming to take your belt. But he's been so dominant for so long, that in camp he was probably like 'Steve Cunningham knocked this guy down, this is going to easy work.' Now you have a young, hungry guy who is 6'9 and moving, using the jab and confident - that is hard to beat."