'Rapid fire' could slip and counter-punch with GREAT effectiveness ( Put byrd in any era and he would be effective) The man was a defensive whizz!! One of only a very few SOUTHPAW heavyweight champions...byrd was known as the HW 'no one wanted to face'! Slick as they come...
A smallish heavyweight by modern standards but boy o boy...what a boxer!!
I am a huge byrd fan (the guy only lost to the very best in his prime). He was ranked in the ring mag top five for 5 years (2 of those at #1). A fighter admired by his contemporaries and the boxing purists. He did not run his mouth...lived clean and was a gentleman in & out of the ring.
Byrd also had an iron chin. He could take a good shot and still be standing. His resume is underrated as well, as he fought the following:
Ike Ibeabuchi: Who knocked an over confident Byrd out in five rounds. Ike had the potential to be an ATG though..
Jose Ribalta: Who had fought Mike Tyson, Tim Witherspoon, Bruce Seldon, Donovan Ruddock, Leon Spinks, Tony Tubbs, and Frank Bruno; Byrd stopped him in the fourth round
Vitali Klitschko: Who Byrd won via TKO when Vitali had injured himself and couldn't go on (probably due to straining to reach him,byrd was a defensive wizard) probably the biggest 'win' of Byrd's career when you see how dominant Vitali has been since coming back.
Wladimir Klitschko: Who beat Byrd twice, first fight, twelve round decision, second fight 7th round TKO stoppage
David Tua: (Who was a stone lighter than in his lewis fight) Byrd made tua miss for 12 rounds in an absolute masterclass (tua had previously stopped michael moorer, ruiz, rahman, maskaev etc)
Evander Holyfield: (2 years after the lewis fights, holy had just stopped hasim rahman in an WBA eliminator to fight lewis for a third time!) Byrd easily outpointed him over 12 rounds.
Andrew Golota: Whom Byrd fought to a draw (one of my all time favorite heavyweight fights) He actually hurt golota in this fight too (u gotta watch this fight folks)!
Jameel McCline: Whom Byrd took to a split decision (mcline was 28-3-3 at the time) People forget that mcline was actually a big threat back then! He had dominated (and floored) shannon briggs, beat up big lance whitaker and blew michael grant away in 1 round!
Jimmy Thunder: Thunder was a former gold medallist and IBO champion (byrd stopped him in the 9th round) thunder holds wins over trevor berbick, tony tubbs and tim witherspoon and he also lost a very close SD to john ruiz.
Ross Purrity: A very tough journeyman who had KO'd a young Wladimir Klitschko, Joe Hipp, and fought to a draw with Tommy Morrison; Byrd beat him via ten round decision
Davarryl williamson: Who had just defeated oliver mcall. Byrd won a comfortable UD.
Also throw in mames like hard hitting bert cooper who put both holyfield and michael moorer on the seat of there pants (and had them out on there feet in fact!). Phil jackson (who had only lost to lennox and donovan ruddock at the time) Byrd schooled him! etc etc.
Byrd was the holder of the WBO and IBF World Heavyweight Title belts he made 5 defenses of the latter title.
41 wins-5 losses (most of those coming towards the latter part of his career) I feel he was one of the best American heavyweight of the 2000's, by far.
Byrd's biggest and best win was against Tua, IMO. Against Golota he was spending too much time on the ropes and even though Golota missed a large margin of punches he was still the aggressor. I had Golota winning, though the fight was close. Golota is a big guy, much bigger than Byrd, so I can understand how Byrd felt pressured to back up on the ropes and corners.
As far as punching power. I never felt that Byrd hurt Golota. The two times Golota seemed hurt was due to being unbalanced. He didn't really hurt Tua either and Tua seemed more to struggle with fatigue rather than Byrd's power.
Bryd gets overlooked unfortunatly, but he had superb boxing skills thats for sure, imagine if he was a few inches bigger, whoooooo he'd be a nightmare for anyone, past or present.
I remember watching Byrds debut fight i may be wrong it was at the blue horizion and at mw i thought this kid will hold the mw belts for ten years boy was i wrong.It was probably struggling to make the weight that cost byrd the olympic gold! He was destined to fight at the bigger weights..
Byrd vs toney around 03/4 would have been interesting! I really think lewis should have given chris a shot too...he earned one! It was a natural fight to make around the early 00's a bit like povetkin vs wlad is now.
yea man he had some harsh times but thats all on jimmy,he is a humble man and humblemen do humble things,he knows he has a bed and a warm meal whenever he comes through,love that dude like he is my brother.all the best to u both.
Byrd was more like acquired taste in boxing. A thing of beauty with his defense standing in front of his opponent. Not everybody liked his style because HW usually means KOes.
He was a tough guy too, even when losing against Vitali or getting knocked down by Wlad he kept getting up and trying to win the fight.
Very under-rated HW
Jimmy Thunder: Thunder was a former gold medallist and IBO champion (byrd stopped him in the 9th round) thunder holds wins over trevor berbick, tony tubbs and tim witherspoon and he also lost a very close SD to john ruiz.
Much do respect for Byrd,Thunder is the homie though we have even shared an apartment a few times good dude.one of my close friendsIs he ok now? I heard he met harsh times?
Good fighter back in the day.
http://static.stuff.co.nz/1269078057/687/3481687.jpg
Best wishes to him.
He's rated right. He was a good HW, not as good as the other Top HW's on other era's by a long shot, but he was a solid/good HW in his era.He was better than i.e michael moorer from the 90's!
And id certainly pick him over the vast majority of lennox's oponents!
Tua? beat him? holy? schooled him? golota? draw! mcall? outboxed by orlin norriss ffs and easily beaten by byrd victim davaryl williamson! briggs? haha mcline anyone?? (how did briggs fair vs a slick southpaw ibragimov? not very well!) grant?? lol morrison and ruddock would be no more than 50/50 over byrd! biggs? lol bruno? byrd would humiliate him! vitali? beat him! old tyson? byrd would frustrate the hell out of him!
-slick
-southpaw
-great defense
-immense heart
-champion mentality
-solid chin
-fast
-good stamina
-was never intimidated
byrd was better than just good.
chris byrd killed david tua's career.
it was a title eliminator.
tua actually came in motivated and in shape.
if tua hadn't run into byrd he would have gotten a title shot against aging holyfield.Byrd could also go to war!!
Just watch the last round of the golota fight its ****in awesome!!
Golota was in serious form that night... I'v watched it a few times and i think golota just nicked it, but a draw is not unfair, it could have gone either way! neither man deserved to lose imo. Great display of boxing on both parts...
I ONCE READ A QUOTE ABOUT GOLOTA...IT WAS ALONG THE LINES OF: "IF YOU HAD NO PUNCH THEN GOLOTA WOULD BEAT YOU"!
HE WAS A VERY TALENTED FIGHTER, HE JUST DIDN'T HAVE THAT CHAMPION MENTALITY OR A GREAT CHIN!
"Andrew Golota was two-times uncrowned world champion"
-said Mike Tyson
Golota never got the credit he deserved... he really was a an excellent fighter and a good boxer he out boxed a prime riddick bowe twice!
in a little over 2 years..... from 1999-2001
chris byrd fought BOTH klitschkos , ike ibeabuchi and david tua.
all of those guys in or close to their primes.
impressive.
His fight with David Tua was a true masterpiece. Tua was 13 pound lighter than against Lewis. Byrd thoroughly outboxed him... that takes balls, big balls.
Deceptively good. That basically sums up what Chris Byrd is all about. I watched him fight Holyfield a while back, and he had the aging ex-champ completely befuddled. Toward the end of the match Holyfield resorted to a Tyson-like headhunting tactic trying to land one crushing shot.
Facing prime versions of Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko 2x, Ike Ibeaubuchi, David Tua, a still dangerous holy, an aging but capable Golota (very hard fight if you can't hurt him) etc Also fighting prospects like 6' 4/5" 240/50lb guys like mcline and williamson (who hold wins over briggs, mcall and grant between them) that's very good opposition!!
He was also in the ring top3 for five consecutive years (2001-2006) and was actually the #1 heavyweight for some time until Wlad beat him again. Not too shabby.
I've been watching Chris Byrd since about 1997 and this guy is absolutely amazing. His pure boxing and defensive skills are right up there with the best of all-time. He makes people look terrible and has fun doing it. No wonder everyone ducks him. Lennox was even quoted as saying, "I'm not touching Chris Byrd."
i remember foreman (on hbo at the time) was very critical of byrd.
because he said byrd just pitty-pats.
to me..... byrd was taking a .22 up against guys packing .44 magnums.
takes a lot of balls to do that.
he wasn't much of a runner either.
he fought most of his opponents close range. defensive or not , that's ballsy.Great role model.
very underrated.
The guy had the balls to go to germany to fight both klitschkos (before it was the big money it is now)
schooled a fit , motivated 233 lb. David tua too.
Think about it. Chris byrd is what 6 foot and 210 lbs. At best?
The guy took on both klitschkos , jameel mccline , andrew golota..... Those are some big boys.Holy did not know what to do with him!
Watch this fight too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQlneo7GSe8&feature=relmfu
One of my all time favorite heavyweight fights. This fight proved 2 important things:
1. All the talk about Chris Byrd being a feather-fisted puncher and a boring fighter went out the window, first in the Tua fight, then in this fight.(He's not Tyson by any means, but hes equally not the heavyweight version of Paulie Malignaggi and his paper plate punch) Byrd proved in this fight that he CAN hurt the big boys.
2. Golota proved that, despite his past, he was still a highly skilled, talented guy.
Listen to the commentators drooling over byrds skills!