Vitali-Byrd: Serious Question

There were rumors going into the bout that he had a bad shoulder. Anyone watching Vitali's previous bouts could see the lack of effectiveness very early in the first round. The amazing thing with Vitali is that early in his career he was strictly a big left hook guy that rarely threw big right hands. After the rotator cuff surgery he went and did something you just don't see other fighters do effectively; adjust his style. He threw jabs far more frequently and that nasty left hook is long gone. But he just went to the right hand instead and has had a long ride at the top for a decade since. How many guys do that?

 

I suppose considering the sanders fight where he came from behind to pummel sanders and his desire to continue against lewis despite losing the last two rounds as well as half his face. Compound this with him going straight into the peter fight and I think he's done enough to convince me he had heart.

The theory about byrd causing it with defence i'm not sold on yet. I'd have to analyse the first 3 rounds.

 

Sanders and Lewis were both past it, especially with Sanders 40 inch waist, it's easy to be Billy Big Balls against past it fighters and even then I hear talk of him being pulled out by his corner before the doctor pulled the plug against Lewis. Sam Peter was dire, lets not forget Audley Harrison beat him

As for Byrd -he's made 3-4 fighters tear their rotator cuffs - no coincidence there

 

Byrd made Vitali punch his own shoulder out. Not much luck in it.
Talent is the reason.

 

Why didn't you ask the same about Ali Liston #1 ?
or better , Ali-Liston #2 ?

 

Is this true? Do you know their names?

 

As mentioned he hurt it in rd 3 but was fine until the later rds...maybe its a coincidence that thats when Byrd starting pouring on the pressure and landing thudding, consitent punches, but maybe not.

 

How do you know how much Vitali knows or doesn't know about rotator cuff injuries ?

Have you made him sit an exam or something ?

 

Golota was 1, Holyfield claimed to tear his in the first round, but Holyfield usually has an excuse but he didnt jab after

 

Don't believe the excuses. If he had any injuries, they were caused by Byrd hitting him at will and Vitali hitting air all night.

If it had been only an injured arm, then he would have resisted 9 minutes and won the fight by unanimous (gift) decision.

I had Byrd winning by 2 points after 9 rounds, but the German mafia judges had Vitali ahead by a good margin.

 

Ancient Shot Holyfield doesn't need an "excuse" for losing in 2002, he was 40 years old & a shot fighter. The '99 Old Holyfield (Lewis II) would've beaten Byrd. Anyway, Holyfield stopping using his jab helps back up his injury claim. Old wartorn fighters injure more easily anyway.

 

After reading this I watched the fight, in the past I've bought Vitali's excuse and I bought he was winning easily. What utter bull****, from the 5th round onwards Byrd was backing him up, outlanding him, landing the better punches and amazingly hurting him, it was a a really good performance from Byrd and I think he has a case to be a point up after the 9rounds

I'm also not sure Vitali is telling the truth about the injury either. For 1 he kept throwing both the jab and right, if it was really torn badly he probably isn't throwing it that much, most fighters stop throwing it - Chavez/Holyfield for 2 but Vitali was throwing 100s of jabs and even left hooks - I can't hook when my shoulder is bad, the jab I can throw. Another thing is the translater said Vitali was talking about his left hand in the corner, not his left shoulder. We also know he has told blatant lies about losing fights in the past, Pele Reid for 1 and the Maskeev for another. And then his brother fights Byrd, giving Byrd only 2 weeks notice in the rematch - but why did his brother avenge his loss and not Vitali who had a fight scheduled only a few weeks later, I'm sure Byrd would welcome the extra preperation if Vitali wasn't ready for that date. It's also a big coincidence Vitali's shoulder started hurting more after Byrd really started beating the crap out of him

I'm not saying he needs an excuse, but yes I think his shoulder was gone, it looked allot worse than Vitali's shoulder too

 

Honest opinion? I don't think Vitali liked the way the fight was going. Chris was landing incisive, hard shots and making him miss.

I have hurt my shoulder on my jabbing arm in the past and throwing punches with it at all was difficult, his output with that arm didn't look to go down at all. Different severity perhaps, but the output is puzzling.

I have revaluated Vitali recently and think he gets overrated h2h. He was hurt against Sanders and eating left hands like candy, luckily Corrie has a serious aversion to training and gassed after aboout the second round. Lewis landed a lot on Vitali, granted it was a pretty even fight, but Lewis didn't look at the races and the fact that he was so easy to find has implications.

Haye could actually be a stylistic problem for him, more so if he was half as aggressive in the ring as he talks.

 

Might rewatch the vitali-byrd fight. I saw it once and witnessed a domination without knowing the injury.

Knowing what I know i'll rewatch it, eventually and get back to the thread, eventually.