byrd: flying the flag for america

By Mike Lewis, telegraph.co.uk
(Filed: 16/04/2006)

Chris Byrd unashamedly wept the night he unexpectedly dethroned giant Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko to capture the World Boxing Organisation heavyweight title on a bizarre night in Berlin back in April 2000.

Despite conceding six inches and around 2½st, the slippery southpaw was clawing back the points deficit and taking the fight to the champion when his giant opponent failed to come out for the 10th round, citing a shoulder injury.

Six years on, American fight fans have every right to feel lachrymose about the state of the heavyweight division. When Byrd, the International Boxing Federation champion, squares up to old rival Wladimir Klitschko in Mannheim, Germany, on Saturday, spectators will be treated to an increasingly rare sight: an American heavyweight who holds a fragment of the world crown.

For Byrd, 35, is an endangered species: an American with sufficient skills and armoury to tread the world stage. In recent months the balance of power in boxing's blue riband division has shifted inexorably towards the east and this trend shows no signs of reversal.

As far as America is concerned, Byrd and Hasim Rahman, the World Boxing Council title-holder, are the last two men standing: Russia's Nikolai Valuev and Sergei Lyakhovich, of Belarus, hold the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organisation belts respectively while the likes of Russia's Alexander Povetkin and Uzbekistan's Ruslan Chagaev lurk in the wings.

And Rahman, recently held to a draw by veteran James Toney, looks on borrowed time. His next defence will probably be against Kazakhstan's Oleg Maskaev.

Klitschko and Byrd know each other well. Six months after relieving Vitali Klitschko of the WBO crown, Byrd was floored twice on the way to losing to an inspired Wladimir. The American, who vowed afterwards never to set foot in a German ring again, has had a change of heart. "I'm five years wiser," he explained when the rematch was first announced, "He's just five years older."

Klitschko's stock has yo-yoed crazily since the pair last met. Once proclaimed as the most talented of the two brothers, his career has never fully recovered from a shocking second-round stoppage against veteran South African Corrie Sanders in 2003.

A year later the 6ft 7in Ukrainian's fragile chin and suspect stamina were again exposed when Lamon Brewster came back from the point of defeat to stop him in five.

At 30, Klitschko may be among the youngest of the current heavyweight pack but he has been recycled more often than one of Don King's hoary one-liners.

At 6ft, Byrd is small for a modern heavyweight but the slick southpaw who won an Olympic silver medal at middleweight at Barcelona in 1992 can make any opponent look poor and his awkward style persuaded Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis to avoid him. Byrd is definitely slowing, however, and looked positively mediocre on his last outing against DaVarryl Williamson in October. The winner of Saturday's fight will not be hailed as the universally-recognised champion the division craves, but Klitschko seemingly has the tools and desire to hammer one more nail into the American heavyweight coffin.