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"chris byrd cant win"....article
www.eastsideboxing.com
16.04.06 - By Chris Acosta: There are certain requirements we expect from our heavyweight champions. We want them to be overwhelming forces of humanity. We like them to exude a commanding presence. And most of all, we want them to revel in all manner of bloodletting, concussion, and broken bones.
Chris Byrd isn’t the most imposing figure in the world. At 6’1” and around 210 pounds he’s about two decades behind the status quo in terms of size and he just doesn’t look the part of a heavyweight champion. In fact, he looks like the kind of mild-mannered guy who probably got picked on in elementary school. If you didn’t know he was a professional boxer, you wouldn’t think twice about cussing him out for cutting you off in traffic. He seldom scores a knockout and never has at the elite level. Byrd also lacks the kind of aggression you’d think a small heavyweight would need to exert to compensate for a lack of size.
Still, he’s managed to excel in a land of redwoods by way of sharp reflexes, intuitive defense and an underestimated toughness. As an amateur, Byrd competed in the 165 lb. weight class, so logically; the course of action should have been to look forward to a pro career in the light-heavyweight division. After all, it had been done before by guys named Evander Holyfield and Michael Spinks to great success. Even those two greats however, waited until a few years to make the jump in weight after establishing their legacies one and two weight divisions south, respectively.
Byrd, however, in what probably seemed like an act of outright delusion to those around him, went straight into the land of the big men with a serious lack of visceral weaponry. He didn’t have a “Spinks Jinx” to fall back on and he wasn’t a will-breaking gladiator in the vein of “The Real Deal.” But the current IBF Heavyweight king is an unusual man in the sense that his devout faith in God night at times border on the irrational. Faith after all, is about what you believe and not always what you see and for most of us Heathens seeing is the only criteria for believing. What we have seen thus far in Chris Byrd hasn’t made us believe…enough word play, I’m getting dizzy.
Despite much of the criticism he’s received however, Chris has only two losses on his record (39-2-1, 20KO’s total) and both of them were to men widely considered at the time as heir apparent to the throne; Ike Ibeabuchi and Wladimir Klitscko. Combined with wins over the likes of Vitali Klitschko, Jameel McCline, David Tua and Evander Holyfield, his credentials aren’t too shabby. Still though, his resume is riddled with asterisks: Vitali quit during their bout due to torn rotator cuff, Holyfield was obviously well past his prime, McCline was on the downslide and his draw with a shaky Andrew Golota and win against the average Fres Oquendo were debatable at best. Throw in his last effort, an atrociously boring decision against DeVarryl Williamson and the previously mentioned absence of a KO and suddenly, the earlier assessment becomes one big contradiction.
On April 22, in Hamburg, Germany, Byrd gets a chance to steer his reputation in a more positive direction by attempting to avenge the loss against Wlad Klitschko he suffered five and- a- half years ago. It’s a curious event for several reasons. The first bout was also held in Germany. It is Klitschko and not Byrd who is entering the fight with more questions about him. And it is Byrd who again enters as the defending titlist.
But this fight carries in it something the first contest did not: a sense of desperation for both parties. With neither having the luxuries of youth or cleaner slates behind them, a win is absolutely necessary to continue, at least with any real purpose. In Klitschko’s case, a loss permanently damages a reputation that is temporarily repaired after the decision win over Samuel Peter.
Byrd is just not stylistically suited to entertain and while purists appreciate him, he’s actually a burden to a division needing excitement. He’s also extricated himself from the clutches of Don King and let’s face it, for a guy with little pop in his gloves and limited killer instinct, a loss is sure to permanently ostracize him from any future promotional interest. All in all, this is worse then two guys risking undefeated records; this is risking their entire identity. There are no more second chances for a set of careers that have been disappointing in their own ways. But just maybe, this circuitous path both men have traveled, the elements of revenge, respect and validity, will give us something more than we expect.
I can’t say that this will match the brutal Sergei Liakhovich- Lamon Brewster affair from a few weeks ago, as both Byrd and Klitschko are more cautious in their approaches to the game. But I suspect it will be far more entertaining than Hasim Rahman’s go-through-the-motions win over James Toney. In terms of excitement, Klitschko is by most accounts, fun to watch. He is an honest to goodness knockout puncher with considerable boxing skill.
The Ukrainian can look a little stiff but unlike most fighters who are fluidly challenged, he’s quick to release and accurate too. And for a guy who supposedly fights scared, he was the first guy to stop Ray Mercer (who was 41 but still in good enough condition at the time to last the distance with most anybody), the only man to stop Monte Barrett and Jameel McCline, and is the only guy to legitimately drop Brewster. And I can’t discount his toughness. He kept getting up against Corrie Sanders, fought to flat-out exhaustion against Brewster and took some terrific shots against Peter without crumbling.
Byrd loves to peck away and counter but in his last couple of fights, he’s appeared to stand more flatfooted, with mixed results. He has shown flashes of fire as he did with Golota and McCline. In each of those two clashes, he abandoned his usual defensive shell because his opponents gave him no other alternative. And I can remember Byrd actually looking dazzling against Tua, delivering some machine gun combinations against the dangerous Samoan and at one point, nearly putting him on the canvas which Lennox Lewis never even
came close to doing.
The problem here is that of all the foes he’s faced as of late, Klitschko is all wrong for him. As much as Byrd has made about being more “up” for this fight than he has in years, it’s not going to change the outcome. Wlad knows how to use his size and his jab can reach Byrd from any posture. Klitschko may be the one guy outside of James Toney who Byrd can’t outbox. Byrd cannot attack because it is just not in his nature to do so. If he gets aggressive, he will risk running into punches and if he stays on the outside, he will play into a game that his rival would rather indulge in.
The ironic thing for Byrd (and cruelly unfair the more I think about it) is that beating Klitschko this time around won’t be seen as any more impressive than if he had done it the first time. So in theory, a win would actually be little more than a career stalemate since it is the opinion of many that Wladimir is not the same fighter after Sanders’ left hand introduced him to the sandman.
Still though, no matter what happens, Byrd won’t win the respect he should be given considering what he’s endured over the years; call it punishment for all the times he wasn’t up to the standard set by the champions of years past. For one night at least, he can erase one setback and that’s got to count for something. Just don’t count on it happening.
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