Old interview with underrated heavyweight, Chris Byrd.

[paul750]

Interview with WBO Heavyweight Champion Chris Byrd at Madison Square Garden on the Night of the Lewis-Grant Fight
Saturday, April 29, 2000
HOWARD SIROTA: I am with Chris Byrd, the most underrated heavyweight in the world today. Chris, you're becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of the heavyweights.

CHRIS BYRD: I know it.

HOWARD SIROTA: You don't get any respect. They ask Lennox Lewis, "What about Chris Byrd?" and he laughs it off. What do you say?

CHRIS BYRD: He's saying he'll fight any heavyweight in the world. Any top heavyweight, and I feel I'm a top heavyweight. And I think he's still avoiding me in a certain way and avoiding questions about me. And I think he just don't wanna fight me. Because of my style.

HOWARD SIROTA: Now the only loss is the quick stoppage, to Ibeabuchi, and you were on your feet--

CHRIS BYRD: Yeah, I was--

HOWARD SIROTA: --at the end of the round. Do you feel if you had a one-minute rest period to get on your bicycle, you would've come back against Ibeabuchi?

CHRIS BYRD: Oh yeah. I been ready. I been ready, since I'm 15-0, I wanted to fight all the best heavyweights in the world. Now I have 32 fights, and I'm ready for any heavyweight in the world, and I've always been ready.

HOWARD SIROTA: Now, Lewis clearly is acting like he doesn't want any part of Chris Byrd. In the meantime, who are you gonna go after?

CHRIS BYRD: Um...whoever, next to fight. I'm WBO champ, Mike Tyson is number-one contender. He said no. We got Vladimir Klitschko, they're already saying no. Francois Botha after him, they're saying no. So, we gotta dig deep in WBO, and find a guy to fight. I mean I'm willing, everybody in the boxing business in the heavyweight division know I'm willing and able to fight any heavyweight at any time.

HOWARD SIROTA: What about Roy Jones Jr.?

CHRIS BYRD: See, me and Roy are friends, and they asked me to fight--would I fight Roy Jones? And I was like, "Yeah, I'm--we could meet at a weight." And now the ball's in Roy's court, and if he wanna do it, it'd be great. If not, you know, so be it.

HOWARD SIROTA: Well, they call you too small, they call you too fragile. They say you can't punch and you just keep on winning and winning. Good luck to you, Chris.

CHRIS BYRD: Thank you very much.

HOWARD SIROTA: Really, I mean it, I'm a big fan and you are the most underrated heavyweight--

CHRIS BYRD: Yeah--

HOWARD SIROTA: --in the world.

CHRIS BYRD: Everybody look at me, I try to look small so they can, so I can get a fight, so--

HOWARD SIROTA: Well, you know, thanks for your time.

CHRIS BYRD: Yep.

HOWARD SIROTA: Good luck.

CHRIS BYRD: Hey, well thanks for having me on, I appreciate it.

[Kayo]

Mike Tyson vs Chris Byrd...that would of been interesting....

[TheEvilSaint]

underrated... yeah sure....

[DiegoFuego]

You can't argue with his resume. He has wins over Tua, Holyfield, Oquendo, McCline, Williamson, and Vitali and he's only lost twice to guys who are considered huge punchers.

[TheEvilSaint]

You can't argue with his resume. He has wins over Tua, Holyfield, Oquendo, McCline, Williamson, and Vitali and he's only lost twice to guys who are considered huge punchers.

beating tua' not that hard.
beating holyfield has become a cliche.
oquendo is a bum.
mccline is a bum.
williamson is a bum.
byrd didnt make vitali quit.

so yeah, you can argue with his resume.

[The Wire]

He's not all that but then not many heavyweights are. I'd certainly not say he's underrated though. He's high up in 'The Ring' ratings and number one with boxrec and Boxing Monthly. The guy's overated if anything!!

[machotime]

underrated... yeah sure....

Just what i was thinking

[adeelr]

its very hard to say anything about chris byrd. Nobody wanted to fight him, that shows his superior boxing skills (forget power for now). He might not have been the best fighter, but he was certainly the best boxer among the past few heavyweight champions.

[paul750]

I'd certainly not say he's underrated though. He's high up in 'The Ring' ratings and number one with boxrec and Boxing Monthly. The guy's overated if anything!!

The fact that he's rated so highly by the boxing purests and boxing experts tells it's own story. The guy is underrated and disrespected by a lot of ignorant so called boxing fans.

[paul750]

beating tua' not that hard.
beating holyfield has become a cliche.
oquendo is a bum.
mccline is a bum.
williamson is a bum.
byrd didnt make vitali quit.

so yeah, you can argue with his resume.

Beating Tua appears to be hard enough, 3 former world champions, John Ruiz, Michael Moorer, and Hasim Rahman, along with decent fighters like Danell Nicholson and Fres Oquendo would say otherwise. Byrd beat Holyfield after Holyfield had beat Rahman.