Chris Byrd

By Scott Gilfoid: In a move that’s likely destined for failure, former IBF/WBO heavyweight champion of the world Chris Byrd (40-5-1, 21 KOs) is apparently going to continue on with his boxing career despite his recent three losses in his last four fights. According to the The Flint Journal, Byrd, now a ripe 38 years-old, has said that he wants to be the third person in history to go from heavyweight to light heavyweight and win a championship belt. There’s no problem with Byrd having a goal; In fact, it’s admirable, except for the fact that he was recently trounced in his last fight by light heavyweight Shaun George on May 16th, who methodically gave Byrd a systematic beat down in every round before knocking him out in the 9th round.

Although in fairness to Byrd, he did injure his left shoulder and couldn’t continue fighting because of that. However, Byrd injured the shoulder after being badly hurt for the second time in the fight and knocked down. When Byrd fell, he landed on his left shoulder, causing a serious injury.

read more

By Jim Dower: After watching former WBO/IBF heavyweight champion Chris Byrd (40-5-1, 21 KOs) easily get dismantled in the 9th round by the weak-punching light heavyweight Shaun George in their recent May 16th bout, I wondered whether Byrd, now 37, should consider retiring from boxing. This was for him his second consecutive loss, and more importantly, his 3rd loss in his last four bouts. Before that, Byrd has lost his IBF heavyweight title, taking a severe beating at the hands of 6’7″ heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko in a 7th round TKO loss to the Ukrainian in April 2006.

That fight, and perhaps a couple of other bouts in Byrd’s career, like his first fight with Wladimir, a 12-round unanimous decision loss, and Byrd’s 5th round TKO loss to Ike Ibeabuchi in March 1999, were fights in which he took a lot of punishing head shots. Though Byrd was able to fight on after that, it may have finally caught up to him in his fights with both George and Alexander Povetkin.

So far, Byrd, who sustained an injury to his left shoulder in his fight with George, hasn’t come out and said that his future plans are in terms of whether he’ll be retiring or not. However, his wife, Tracy, has said that she’d be happy if he retires from the sport rather than continue on. Byrd, though, has remained quiet on the subject.

read more

By Jason Kim: Making his first attempt at light heavyweight, a badly weight drained-looking Chris Byrd (40-5-1, 21 KOs) was absolutely decimated by light heavyweight Shaun George (17-2-2, 8 KOs), getting stopped in the 9th round on Friday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Byrd, 37, was knocked down twice in the fight, once in the 1st and another time in the 9th, before referee Jay Nady moved in and halted the fight after Byrd fell into the ropes after taking a flurry of punches from the 29 year-old George.

Not a particularly hard puncher, George looked like a KO artist as be beat Byrd from pillar to post for all nine rounds of the fight, hitting him with lead right hands whenever he wanted to. Byrd’s wife, Tracy, later said that he had injured his left shoulder while falling down after the 1st knockdown in the first round, which effected his ability to punch. That maybe, because Byrd, usually an active fighter, looked like he was in a trance all fight long, rarely throwing punchers other than jabs and taking countless right hands from George.

read more

By Aaron Klein: Former WBO/IBF heavyweight champion Chris Byrd (40-5-1, 21 KOs) experienced one of his most humiliating losses in his career tonight when he was stopped by light heavyweight Shaun George (17-2-2, 8 KOs) in the 9th round of a scheduled 10-round bout at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Byrd, coming off of a 11th round TKO in his last fight against Alexander Povetkin in October 2007, made what in hindsight appears to be a hasty move by losing close to 50 lbs and moving down to the light heavyweight division. Though he said he felt fine, Byrd looked anything but fine against George tonight, appearing badly weak in the legs and gaunt in appearance.

read more

By Jason Kim: In a move almost destined for failure, former IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Chris Byrd (40-4-1, 21 KOs) will be making his first appearance as a light heavyweight this Friday night when he fights the tough Shaun George (16-2, 7 KOs) at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout will be shown live on ESPN2, so it’s not like the 37 year-old Byrd will be able to hide a poor performance from the general public in his initial effort in the division. Byrd, who was stopped in the 11th round by Alexander Povetkin in his last bout fought on October 27, 2007, will be coming into Friday’s bout a full 50 lbs lighter than he did in his fight with Povetkin.

Byrd, a natural light heavyweight, has been forced to keep his weight well above that while campaigning as a heavyweight for almost his entire 15-year professional boxing career. Never a particularly big heavyweight, usually weighing in between 200 to 215 lbs, Byrd will be coming in a lot less than that against George on Friday. According to Byrd, he feel faster and stronger at this weight than he did as a heavyweight, which isn’t hard to believe because he wasn’t exactly muscular-looking in appearance as a heavyweight. Until late in his career, when he suddenly began focusing on building muscle and shedding fat, Byrd was always somewhat fat looking. The strange thing about it, though, is that when Byrd took off all the fat, he seemed to be a much less effective fighter than he was earlier in his career.

read more

By Dan Ambrose: Not satisfied with a splendid career at heavyweight, one in which he won two heavyweight titles over the likes of Vitali Klitschko and the great Evander Holyfield, a much skinnier Chris Byrd (40-4-1, 21 KOs) looks to resurrect his career as a light heavyweight. Byrd, 37, who holds wins over such excellent fighters like David Tua, Jameel McCline, Fres Oquendo, DaVarryl Williamson and the aforementioned Vitali Klitschko, isn’t satisfied now that his heavyweight career appears to be on the downside and wants to continue fighting in the 175 lb light heavyweight division.

For most heavyweights, this would be all but impossible for them to accomplish, for I scarcely need to remind you readers that it would involve for a heavyweight to take off 25 lbs, at the least, to get down to the 175 lb weight limit for the light heavyweights. Most heavyweights weigh much more than 200, which makes this all but impossible for them to even consider without starving themselves drastically in order to accomplish this feet. Byrd, however, a natural light heavyweight, walks around at 175-180 pounds in between his heavyweight fights, so this wasn’t a problem at all for him.

read more