Chris Byrd...what if ......

It's good to see the man getting some respect now that he's faded. He had great ability and a ton of heart to be willing to step into the ring with monsters like Tua and Ibeabuchi.

Him fighting at Lt Heavy at 37 years old only proves that he was fighting two-three wheight classes above his natural one, which represents over 30lbs and walking up the ring with a huge size disavantage every fight. That shows how great a fighter Cris actually is. Truth is, if you are not a natural 220lbs man you have no business fighting at Heavywheight. If he had his carreer at his natural wheight class he would have been much more atractive to the fans, his power would be a factor and he could have had epic battles with Roy, Tarver, Calzague and B-Hop, although there's still time for some of these.

I imagine he skipped the cruiserweight division for the same reason he is skipping it now. Boxers earn little money fighting as cruiserweights in comparison to the earnings of heayweights and light heavyweights. For some unexplainable reason casual boxing fans doesn't pay attention to boxers fighting at cruiserweight. This is just my opinion. yeah i know. kinda like super middleweight. but cruiser is perfect for byrd. light heavy's can match byrd's speed. heavy's are too strong for him. cruiser is just right. very few cruisers can match his speed and practically no cruiser can knock him out.

I imagine he skipped the cruiserweight division for the same reason he is skipping it now. Boxers earn little money fighting as cruiserweights in comparison to the earnings of heayweights and light heavyweights. For some unexplainable reason casual boxing fans doesn't pay attention to boxers fighting at cruiserweight. This is just my opinion. the cruiserweight division would've been perfect for chris. he had every skill in the world and he was tough and had a good chin but just has no pop to be a legitimate heavyweight. plus......at cruiser he wouldn't have whooped my boy tua! :-( byrd at cruiserweight would've been great. byrd , jirov , gomez , toney , hill , nelson......not a bad division back then.

He could have possibly had a great career at light heavyweight, he's fast, can take a very good punch and his power should be better there. Would've been a very interesting fight against Jones.

byrd at lightheavy would have an iron chin (its pretty damn good at hw too) and great speed. His skills are incredible and are extremely underated. At his best he was definetely in mayweather's type skill league. He can still make a great run at Lightheavy because he doesen't need his legs as he did at heavyweight. He can stand and fight anyone at Lightheavy but we'll have to see what he has in the tank oh yes....he has a very good chin...and at light heavyweight it would have been granite. and after watching that fight, i was very impressed with byrd....although he lost, but his defensive skills were just amazing... he is underrated on his skills, i totally agree. i knew he was skillful, but didnt knew he was that skillfull :P

what if he had made his career at light heavyweight instead of going to heavyweight almost at once. just watched his fight against ibeauchi, and wow, how can a 208 lb guy move like that. imagine how amazing would have been a fight between him and roy jones jr. at light heavyweight. do you think he would have been able to beat roy jones??? i think it would have been an awesome display of pure talent by both....a shame it didnt happen, but have to give credit to byrd on going straight to heavyweight although being a smaller guy, and having started at s. middleweight. :boxing: the cruiserweight division would've been perfect for chris. he had every skill in the world and he was tough and had a good chin but just has no pop to be a legitimate heavyweight. plus......at cruiser he wouldn't have whooped my boy tua! :-( byrd at cruiserweight would've been great. byrd , jirov , gomez , toney , hill , nelson......not a bad division back then.