Chris Byrd Moving Down ... to Light Heavy!
The decision to move to heavyweight has obviously been a wise one from a financial perspective but - at 37 - Byrd's reflexes aren't what they used to be and he's been getting hit with a lot of punches he used to slip. TKO losses to Wladimir Klitschko (2006) and Alexander Povetkin (2007) indicated that Byrd was done as an elite heavyweight so - if he wanted to continue his career - it was time to move down to a more natural weight class where the fighters might be quicker but at least they don't hit as hard.
Byrd's initial plan was to move down to cruiserweight (200 pound limit) but apparently the weight came off so easily that he decided to keep going. At this point, there's no telling whether or not Byrd has enough left in the tank to be a factor at 175 ... or whether dropping all that weight will impact him negatively in other ways. Remember, Roy Jones Jr. looked great moving up to heavyweight but has never been the same since dropping the weight to get back to 175 ... and Roy only went up to heavyweight for one fight.
The light heavyweight division is populated with big names, such as Jones, Joe Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Tarver, Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson. Given Byrd's experience and defensive skills it's not unrealistic to think he would be competitive against any of these fighters.
Byrd's return to 175 is slated for May 16 when he faces Shaun George (16-2-2) in Las Vegas. The fight will be televised by ESPN2 so check it out ... if for no other reason than to see what Byrd looks like 35 pounds lighter than we're used to seeing him.
Comments
wow…this might be interesting…dropping weight may bring back some of those reflexes…as a haevy i gave him some respect because he was a lil guy fighting giants ..now he’ll be on tre even terms…i can see him winning a title or too…maybe finally he and roy will clash they have called each other out at times…and chris defensive skills out does B-Hops so him against Calzahge would be interesting..or fighting Tarver hmmmm the possiblities
I think Byrd can own this division, he should be stronger than the rest in the division. He may be able to produce some KO’s in the lighter weight, that would be a change. I do hope the best for the man, he seemed like a very good guy. He was a small man who fought in a hw class filled with super hw giants.
Chris Byrd is one of the real good guys of boxing but too bad for him, he was born 60 years too late. He was a legit heavy weight of 1950 and 60, when the heavyweights were mostly 200 or less and not much over 6 ft (except for some “freaky” guys 6 ft 4 and 250. Now, 6 ft 4 or more and 250 or more is not unusual. But Chris is old at 37 and has gotten beat up good his last fights. It would be great to see him win, but terrible to see him get hurt.
man it was sad to see chris as a shell of his former self…his reflexes are shot he got hit with so many clean shots and dropped in the 1st then twice in round 9 when he stood up and said that’s enough stop the fight a tear welled up in my eye….the guard is really changing…the heroes of old are now losing their edge their dominance…so to this i say what was was good but what wil be better?