How would the fight of played out if vitali fought the final 3 rounds. Although vitali was clearly ahead on the judges cards (I had it 87-84 to vitali) the punch stats are quite telling. Klitschko landed 132 of 502 total punches (26%) and 115 of 326 power shots (35%). Byrd connected on 124 of 284 total punches (44%) and 82 of 163 power shots (50%). very underated win for Byrd, defensively excellent and offensively accurate
Damn, man, I honestly did not remember it as being that close punch-stat wise. Yeah, I think Byrd is an ATG. His record shames many acknowledged "greats," but everyone puts asterixs by the wins. Well, I am a fan.
The people who put a Byrd decision on the poll, can they explain me how, when Klitschko quit the fight due to injury at the round 9, the scorecards were - Klitschko had won 8 of 9 rounds on one judge's scorecard, and 7 of 9 on the two others, which means, the only way Byrd would have won on the scorecards its to score multiple knockdowns, which ain`t happening even in the fantasy world, some people love to live. I get from where some people comes, they have never sport, forget about step into the ring, and they don`t know injuries, and how even a minor injury can effect your performance greatly, not to mention hard threatening injuries. At the top level of every sport, not just boxing, the level is close and just a little bit can make a huge difference. They decided to retreat, because he was injured, he was diagnosed with torn rotator cuff later, which is a very bad and nasty injury. One shoulder injury and after that you are not the same. I have shoulder injury on both arms, and while they are minor, they still give me discomfort in both martial arts, and when i lift. The career is in your hands and you have to take tough decision, but stay healthy should always be a priority. He wanted rematch in many occasion, which Byrd runs out of it. He was trying not to face Wladimir again as well, because he knew that this time he wouldn`t see the end of the 12, and this is what happen. Byrd was a solid fighter, but he just got lucky on the fight night with Vitali, this is it, no less, no more.
Vitali was far ahead on the cards. He was complaining of what the HBO interpreter said was an injured arm in round 3 and beating a very good Byrd with a torn shoulder. The match was halted when Vitali's arm went numb, and he feared permeant damage if he continued. Had this fight been for higher stakes, later in his career, he probably finishes the match. Or if Vitali knew how the western press would react, he would probably have continued. Byrd was lucky and couldn't believe he won it. Punch stats when one guy has just one working arm mean little.
Vitz should have pulled a jean Pascal & put the **** back in. LIKE A BOSS George Groves & several others continued to fight. Vitz gets no pass If it gets too bad take a knee & point to your shoulder. Vitz made the whole situation anti climatic & made it look like he was a quitter. I always loved the doctor's note excuse "well you know the doctor said Vitz would be forced to retire if he continued vs bryd" **** off with that
If Vitali wanted the rematch he would have exercised his rematch clause. Wlad would trigger the rematch clause instead since Vitali wanted no part of it. What you typed makes absolutely no sense. Byrd had never fought Wlad when he beat Vitali. He was under contract by Universum and was told what brother he would face next which would be Wlad. Vitali resumed training shorty after the loss and was back in the ring that same year against Timmo Hoffman. The injury was obviously not has bad as his fanatics make it out to be. Vitali would have rematched Byrd if he thought the loss was 100% down to injury. The fact he avoided the rematch says Byrd played a part in the loss. He never even mentioned Byrd specifically in he post fight interview and never sought out the rematch despite having a rematch clause. Those are the facts.
Wasn't really a good version of Byrd through was it?. He had a week to prepare for the fight and had no video footage of Vitali to study. He winged it round by round , adapting as he went and won. Vitali wasn't able to adapt and lost. Simple as that. Byrd figured Vitali out and would have had a full camp for the rematch. Thats why Vitali opted out.
fighting with one hand , vitali may struggle to defend, Byrd incredibly accurate, could drop vitali if he repeated the punch him on the chin
injuring your arm and fighting with one hand for 6 rounds make you throw more punches than your opponent?
Byrd was a really light hitter. Vitali should have jabbed his way to a win. However, Vitali was injury prone and maybe they thought the shoulder thing would finish his career. Who knows.