When did Byrd last make 168? Spinks walked around in the 190s in his light-heavy days, weighed 200lb+ for Holmes and 210lb for Tyson. That's quite a gap between him and Calzaghe. These days the Calzaghe-sized fighters are squeezing down into the lower divisions, not challenging the heavyweight champ.
When Calzaghe moved to 175, he barely s****ed by the one live fighter he fought and that guy was over 40 years old. Ffs, Hopkins dropped him on his ass in the first round. How many people has Hopkins dropped in the first round? Calzaghe wont make it past 3 rounds against Louis. in fact Calzaghe wouldn't even get past Kovalev
Spinks had the frame for a heavy and used to train down to light-heavy. Did Conn, or Calzaghe for that matter, ever weigh close to 200lb? Byrd boiled down to 175 for one fight (why do you think he even tried?), looked awful and got KO'd. Last time he weighed that low was in his third pro fight. Which super-middleweights are currently in the heavyweight division?
Speaking of Italian pressure fighters, didn't Louis kayo Pat Valentino in around 1950? That may have only been an exhibition bout however.
I'm sure Loudon once stated that Calzaghe's walking around weight was 14 stone, which I believe is 196lbs. So it's not beyond the realms of possibility that when he fought at Light Heavy he was in the 180's by fight time. Not that it matters a fvck, Joe Louis still KO's him early.
Conn isn't as good or as big as Calzaghe, his HW resume is poor and his LHW resume isn't great. So not an insult as you suggest, just a stylistic question mark. Louis should prevail as Calzage is hittable
There is a big difference between a fighter who is bulking up to a weight, and a fighter who is naturally that weight, Louis was a natural heavy (albeit a bit small by today's dinosaur heavy standards). He was also one of the most accurate punchers and best finishers in heavyweight history. An all time great fighter, and a top 5 heavyweight. One of the first guys you can watch that basically looks like a modern fighter. If RJJ and B-Hop can drop JC, Louis would too, and unlike those two, that would be the round that it ended in, whether he got up the first time or not. That is not an insult to Calzaghe, it just isn't a realistic matchup.
Well, Byrd did it for one fight, didn't look good and got KO'd, then moved back to heavy again. It hardly proves that someone who spent much of his career weighing 200lb+ was a natural 168/175lber. Likewise with Adamek. He weighed 175 at the weigh-in. He'd have been in the 180s come fight night.
He just made weight, but it clearly wasn't a competitive weight for him. It's a pretty flimsy basis with which to be building up Byrd, a career 200lber+, as a light-heavy/super-middle.