Chris Byrd: Who’s Next?
By Henry Stewart: It’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 long months since we last heard from former two-time heavyweight champion Chris Byrd (39-3-1, 20 KO’s), yet it’s true. After being brutally destroyed in a one-sided, 7-round destruction by Wladimir Klitschko in April 2006, Chris Byrd has seemingly disappeared, almost as if he is hiding his head in the sand like an Ostrich, perhaps ashamed. However, there’s no shame in losing his title to Wladimir, for he is considered the best fighter in the heavyweight division. Anyway could see going into this fight that Byrd was going to have a tough time because of his lack of size and power.
Suffice it to say, he did the best job possible given the circumstances. Really, though, instead of focusing on the negative of the loss, what Byrd should be doing is looking for other more beatable opponents, ones that he isn’t so badly outgunned like with Wladimir. Based on his behavior, though, it appears that Byrd has given up on himself and isn’t moving forward to get back on the winning track.
Keep in mind, before losing to Wladmir Klitschko, Byrd had been close to unbeatable for 5 years, dating back to his last loss, which was to Wladimir Klitschko, back in October 2000. Following that loss, Byrd won his next six bouts, only interrupted by a controversial draw with Andrew Golota in April 2004. The draw didn’t hurt Byrd, however, as he was able to retain his IBF heavyweight title belt and continue on for another three defenses. In any case, Byrd proved a lot during these years, showing the boxing world that an undersized heavyweight could not only win the title, but could also hold onto it for a considerable amount of time. More importantly, an argument could be made that Byrd would still be champion if he fought the other three, lesser talented heavyweights, Nikolay Valuev, Serguei Liakhovich or Hasim Rahman. None of the said champions are what you would consider fast or particularly nimble, thus putting them at a handicap against the defensive-minded Byrd, who would likely have boxed circles around each of them. Byrd is a rare type of heavyweight, a boxer that can both run and throw punches. Against the large, lumbering heavyweight champions of this era, Byrd is more than a match for them.
At this point, however, Byrd, now 36-years old, will have to work his way back up to title contention. There’s no way that any of the champions are about to fight someone as crafty as him unless they are forced to by way of him being their mandatory challenger.
That said, Byrd needs to focus on trying to arrange a fight with the top heavyweight contenders, such as Calvin Brock, Ruslan Chagaev, Serguei Liakhovich, Lamon Brewster, Oliver McCall, Ray Austin, Sultan Ibragimov, Anthony Thompson, Hasim Rahman, Larry Donald, Samuel Peter or Alexander Dimitrenko. Other than these fighters, there’s no one else Byrd should be planning on fighting, if he’s indeed serious about his comeback. These fighters are essentially the cream of the crop of the heavyweight division, and if Byrd can pick off two or three of these guys, he can quickly move up for another title shot.
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Posted December 17th, 2006 l 92 Views
