Is Vitali Klitschko Out Of Chris Byrd's Reach?

[ProBox1]

If he was just a few inches taller and a little heavier with just a little more punch, he could beat the fighter who is considered the man to beat in the division. Conversely, if the fighter considered the man to beat wasn't so much bigger he wouldn't be the man to beat. I'm talking about a potential match between IBF heavyweight champ Chris Byrd and WBC champ Vitali Klitschko.

As of November 10th USA Today Ranks the top-ten heavyweights as follows, 1-Vitali Klitschko 2-Chris Byrd 3-James Toney 4-John Ruiz 5-Hasim Rahman 6-Andrew Golota 7-Jameel McCline 8-Lamon Brewster 9-Fres Oquendo 10-Monte Barrett. As of this writing, if forced to make the case for the top heavyweight fighter in boxing, it would have to be either Vitali Klitschko or Chris Byrd, with John Ruiz a solid third. In head to head bouts versus the top-ten Byrd is 3-0-1, Ruiz is 3-0, and Klitschko is 0-1. However, based off his last three fights against Corrie Sanders, Kirk Johnson, and Lennox Lewis, Klitschko has to be among the top two. And based off the fact that he holds a win over Klitschko and the rest of his body of work, Byrd ranks as his equal at the least. Which isn't the same as saying he could beat him. [details]

[dpfinley]

Definitely one of the most interesting match-ups out there in the heavyweight division. Of course size favors VK heavily, and since Byrd isn't extremely heavy-handed, he would have to completely dominate with speed, agility, solid defense early on, and heavy offense in the mid-later rounds.

I would rather see this fight than anything involving John Ruiz, unless he gets destroyed, which hopefully Rahman will take care of if that happens.

[Neuraxis]

I think that the rematch will be even more one sided than their first meeting and Vitali will win. Vitali has improved greatly since he fought Byrd, while the opposite seems to be true about Byrd.

[Atwa_66]

No question, Vitali will win, But Vitali won't knock out Byrd.

[xoalvinox]

Fight will never happened due to the vested interest the promoters have on each fighter.
Byrd really surprised me in the McCline fight. He stood toe-to-toe with the big guy at many points in the fight. Thumbs up to him.

[foremanfan]

I don't see Don King allowing his champs to fight any guy that is not under contract to him if his guy is unlikely to win. Alos I figure until King gets a real marketable champion he wont be to interested in having on eundisputed champion because it will mean less heavyweight title fights.