How well would have Chris Byrd been at middleweight?

He would have been pretty average. His strength at heavy was that he was faster and more elusive than the bigger slower men. At a lower weight class he would not have that advantage, and he'd still be a fairly light hitter.

 

This. I don’t think Byrd would’ve been anything special at middleweight either. Also, the fact the no promoter was willing to invest in him at middleweight said a lot. Byrd would’ve been one of many fighters waiting by the phone for fights, so I don’t think he would’ve did that well at 160.

At heavyweight he was able to get fights easier and I think being rejected at 160 motivated Byrd to achieve what he did at heavyweight.

 

He was never a MW as a pro.

You mean if he’d have been a career LHW?

I think he could have had a very good career with his skills.

 

He could never have fought as a MW.

 

He could never have fought at MW.

It would have had to have been at LHW.

He wouldn’t have been average as he was a world class fighter.

 

Hmm, this is difficult imo. I don’t think he could have made MW, but he would have been a solid LHW. As the OP mentioned, Byrd would have to face the likes of Jones Jr., Tarver, Hopkins, Michalczewski, Toney etc. Not sure if Byrd would beat any of them.

All things considered, I think he carved out a pretty decent career at HW. Two-time HW world champ (never lineal though), beating a couple of solid names in the proces. I’m not sure he would have fared much better at LHW, in terms of titles won and the level of opposition he defeated.

 

He could never have been a MW.

He probably couldn’t have made SMW.

He’d have been a very good LHW with his skills.

Lots of great match ups.

He’d have been in the top 3-5 fighters in the division with Roy and Dariusz.

 

I definitely believe he would have been world champion at middleweight, super middleweight and Light heavyweight even Cruiserweight. I remember seeing him at the Olympics when he won the silver medal being outpointed narrowly by the Cuban. So skillful but I felt he was seriously disadvantaged size wise as a heavyweight.

 

He could never have been a pro MW.

 

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Go to 6:00 mark.
Byrd walk around today at 165 lbs.
Byrd in the amateurs fought at 154 lbs and that is during the same day weigh ins. So come fight night he would of been 160 lbs at most. He turned pro at 169 lbs, so I think I can safely assume he was fighting at his fight night weight. In other words if Byrd wanted to he could of turned pro at mw.

 

He was as an amateur won US title and Olympics Silver Medal and even fought at Light Middleweight prior to that. He made his pro debut at Middleweight had 3 fights there before moving to Heavyweight. Please get your facts rights before sounding so authoritative. The guy is injured today and has to manage his painbecause he fought at heavyweight against much bigger men. He basically had to eat all sorts of crap to fight at heavyweight. Even he admits looking back it was a mistake as he was always a middleweight who blew up. He was so skillful that I thought he could be a dominant Middleweight/Super Middleweight like Michael Nunn.

 

Byrd could of been something if he stayed in the lower divisions. I reckon he easily could of been a champion at smw

 

I have to admit I hate watching videos of retired fighters, a lot of it is just heartbreaking.

 

Bloody hell.

Where’ve you been hiding?

I’ve not seen you for ages.

Byrd was fighting at 165 in the ams.

He was already up at 200 pounds by his 5th pro fight.

He was never going to be able to weigh-in at 160 into his 20’s.

It would have killed him.