Chris Byrd ... Underrated?

[JAB5239]

Great post and great logic. I 100% agree. I am confident that if Vitali rematched Byrd, Byrd would have beaten him 9-3 or 10-2. Byrd was clearly figuring him out in the 2nd half of the fight. TBH, Vitali was and always will be tailor made for Rapid Fire.
Chris Byrd really did made Vitali look amateur at times in that fight. Especially in the fifth round and sixth. Man, Vitali swung against the ropes like 9 times in a row at one point and Byrd just shoulder rolled them all and came back with a beautiful counter. It's sad that Byrd lacks true power, if Byrd had good power, Vitali would have been stopped.

I also 100% agree with you about how the Kbros are not dumb and they just match the brothers up well. I think Vitali fought Sanders too ? Instead of Wlad? Even though Sanders dominated Wladimir?

Too bad Vitali didn't want the rematch. Chris Byrd was a true champion and was one of VK'S biggest nightmare.

Sorry man but there is no way Byrd beats Vits like that. He could be competitive, I could even entertain an argument for a close win (though I wouldn't bet on it), but there is no way he dominates him by those kind of scores.

[FightScorer]

Sorry man but there is no way Byrd beats Vits like that. He could be competitive, I could even entertain an argument for a close win (though I wouldn't bet on it), but there is no way he dominates him by those kind of scores.

Fair enough. You do make some good points from all your posts on this and other sites. But I also got to point out that I'm not being harsh on Vitali, the post fight interview was confusing like Hell.

Now I will admit it could be the translator's fault, but I watched it again and the fact that Vitali himself said
"I can't fight southpaws, I realize this by round 3'

"I don't know if I was winning,I think I might not get enough points if continue'

and the way he fumbled over the injury excuse all lead me to believe his quitting honestly had more to do with will/heart than actual pain. But once again he is a professional prize fighter, so I will respect him because I don't know what he was actually going through.

I watched that fight 3 times and twice recently, it honestly seem like Vitali was using both arms perfectly fine and he was just getting more and more frustrated due to him missing. / Shrug

[JAB5239]

Fair enough. You do make some good points from all your posts on this and other sites. But I also got to point out that I'm not being harsh on Vitali, the post fight interview was confusing like Hell.

Now I will admit it could be the translator's fault, but I watched it again and the fact that Vitali himself said
"I can't fight southpaws, I realize this by round 3'

"I don't know if I was winning,I think I might not get enough points if continue'

and the way he fumbled over the injury excuse all lead me to believe his quitting honestly had more to do with will/heart than actual pain. But once again he is a professional prize fighter, so I will respect him because I don't know what he was actually going through.

I watched that fight 3 times and twice recently, it honestly seem like Vitali was using both arms perfectly fine and he was just getting more and more frustrated due to him missing. / Shrug

Nothing I care to argue about with this. In my opinion there is no valid reason Vits didn't chase that rematch.

[Anthony342]

The fact is there was no mention of any injury by Vits corner until the 7th or 8th round (I'd have to watch the fight again to be 100% accurate), this means Byrd was in fact competitive. And there is never anything pointless in avenging a close fight you quit in and had your own fans cheering for the other guy. Like I said, I wouldn't even have picked Byrd in a rematch, but that doesn't means Vits shouldn't have gone after it. Both were ranked at or near the top of the heavyweight division for the next two or three years. Just because your brother beat him doesn't give you an exemption.

How would Jose Napoles have looked if he didn't rematch and beat Billy Backus? There are plenty of other examples as well. I'm not saying Vittles is a bad fighter, I'm only saying great fighters take pride in showing they're the better man. Now you can find examples of other greats who didn't rematch, but they also beat better fighters than Vits has in his career. Besides Lennox, Byrd is the next best fighter on Vitaly's resume. If he was confident he should have been chomping at the bit to get Byrd back in the ring.

Exactly, if you want to be considered one of the best and an ATG, you should want to fight the best and when they're at their best in their prime, or at least still competitive. I mean, sure Leonard fought Hagler, but waited at least 3-5 years longer than he should have and I've often heard that Mayweather waited too long to finally give Cotto and Mosley fights. Gerry Cooney isn't that highly regarded either because even though he might have a big name or two on his resume, he beat those guys when they were past their prime or shot. If you don't fight the best at their best, you're just cherry picking or, at the least, ducking. Not that the Klitschkos have always done that, but a strong argument can be made in this case for that (Vitali-Byrd, Wlad-Sanders).

[ArtThouFurious?]

Outside of Wlad & barring Lennox Lewis, i would say that he is the 2nd best Heavyweight of the 2000's "era".

Hands down a better boxer than Vitali, as he proved in their H2H affair. And has a much better resume than Vitali to boot.

[Capaedia]

Exactly, if you want to be considered one of the best and an ATG, you should want to fight the best and when they're at their best in their prime, or at least still competitive. I mean, sure Leonard fought Hagler, but waited at least 3-5 years longer than he should have and I've often heard that Mayweather waited too long to finally give Cotto and Mosley fights. Gerry Cooney isn't that highly regarded either because even though he might have a big name or two on his resume, he beat those guys when they were past their prime or shot. If you don't fight the best at their best, you're just cherry picking or, at the least, ducking. Not that the Klitschkos have always done that, but a strong argument can be made in this case for that (Vitali-Byrd, Wlad-Sanders).

Mosley was the one that wouldn't fight Floyd until he became 'Money' Mayweather. Then it was time to cash out. Just a bit of nitpicking.

[Scott9945]

Outside of Wlad & barring Lennox Lewis, i would say that he is the 2nd best Heavyweight of the 2000's "era".

Hands down a better boxer than Vitali, as he proved in their H2H affair. And has a much better resume than Vitali to boot.

How exactly did Byrd prove to be a better boxer? By being behind on all the scorecards?

It's kinda funny how everyone is saying Vitali ducked Byrd, but giving Lewis a free pass. At least Vitali actually fought Byrd. Lennox refused to fight him as a mandatory and dropped his IBF title to avoid him. Why aren't all the supposed Chris Byrd fans indignant about that?

[JAB5239]

How exactly did Byrd prove to be a better boxer? By being behind on all the scorecards?

It's kinda funny how everyone is saying Vitali ducked Byrd, but giving Lewis a free pass. At least Vitali actually fought Byrd. Lennox refused to fight him as a mandatory and dropped his IBF title to avoid him. Why aren't all the supposed Chris Byrd fans indignant about that?

Didn't he fight Vitaly instead?

[Scott9945]

Didn't he fight Vitaly instead?

It was a fluke that he fought Vitali since he was a late sub for Kirk Johnson. Lewis didn't see any value in a Byrd fight, and didn't want to do business with Don King. But he did drop the IBF title to avoid his mandatory.

[ArtThouFurious?]

How exactly did Byrd prove to be a better boxer?

Via RTD9

By being behind on all the scorecards?

Ahhhh. The ol' scorecard copout. Pretty much lets me know you either haven't watched the fight or have feint memories of it. As if the scorecards of corrupt and/or incompetent judges are going to erase the concrete visual evidence we have CAPTURED ON FILM of Vitali getting outboxed, dissected both physically & mentally and eventually STOPPED by Chris Byrd.

It's kinda funny how everyone is saying Vitali ducked Byrd, but giving Lewis a free pass. At least Vitali actually fought Byrd. Lennox refused to fight him as a mandatory and dropped his IBF title to avoid him. Why aren't all the supposed Chris Byrd fans indignant about that?

Chris Byrd is nobody to "duck". Byrd offers little to nothing to Lewis or anybody else's resume or legacy. Unless you have an UNAVENGED and disgraceful loss to him of course.