Chris Byrd's IBF reign vs. Deontay Wilder's WBC run. Which one was better?

Chris Byrd's IBF reign from 2002 to 2006:

* Beat Evander 'the real deal' Holyfield by unanimous decision to win the title. Holyfield was clearly past it but was coming from a win against Hasim Rahman and a prior controversial draw against John Ruiz which he arguably deserved to win.

* Beat Fres Oquendo to retain the title by unanimous decision. A very scrappy win.

* Drew Andrew Golota. Split decision draw in one of the best heavyweight fights of this century.

* Beat Jameel McCline by split decision. I thought Byrd fared better in this fight than against Oquendo.

* Beat DaVarryl Williamson by unanimous decision. Fringe contender.

* Lost to Wladimir Klitschko by a 7th round technical knockout. This would begin Klitschko's epic title run. Byrd's decline had clearly begun.

Deontay Wilder's WBC title run from 2015 to 2020:

* Beat Bermane Stiverne by unanimous decision. Stivene will go down as one of the weakest alphabet champions in history.

* Beat Eric Molina by 9th round KO. Fringe contender, in my opinion.

* Beat Johann Duhaupas by 11th round TKO. Fringe contender, in everybody's opinion.

* Beat Arthur Szpilka by 9th round KO. Fringe contender, again in my opinion.

* Beat Chris Arreola who retired in the eighth round. A boxer who can best be described as a B level fighter.

* Beat Gerald Washington by 5th round TKO. Yet another fringe contender.

* Beat Bermane Stiverne by 1st round KO. Washed up version of a very weak champion.

* Beat Luis Ortiz by tenth round TKO. Ortiz gave serious trouble to Wilder before the American found the bull's eye. Ortiz was Wilder's best challenger yet, and that speaks volumes about this title run.

* Drew Tyson Fury by a split decision. Good struggle in his first clash against an elite opponent where Wilder managed to score two knockouts but Fury took more rounds. Clearly, a very lucky decision for the American.

* Beat Dominic Breazeale by 1st round knockout. Yet another fringe cringe opponent.

* Beat Luis Ortiz by 7th round KO. A more declined version of Ortiz.

* Lost to Tyson Fury by a 7th round technical knockout. Beginning of the fall for Wilder.

The two greatest American heavyweights of the 21st century had a nearly identical end to their title runs - 7th round technical knockout defeats to giant sized elite out-fighters.

So, who among the two guys had a better title run? Wilder had more defenses, but the quality of his resume resembles items bought from a local Chinese flea market. However, he demolished most of his opponents in style. Byrd struggled more against the select few whom he fought, but his opponents would rank higher in terms of respect in boxing fan's minds.

Note: I have not included Byrd's WBO title run which saw him fight the Klitschko brothers. This post is only about his IBF title run.

 

If you read my assessment, I did give some credit to Ortiz. I would want to know what makes Ortiz 'a very good fighter'. What was Ortiz's best win before the Wilder fight? Or after it for that matter?

 

You made very good points until you came up with these five lines. While evaluating opponents, you simply fail to see the stages of the careers the boxers were in when they lost their fights. Yes, McCline lost to Szpilka and Arreola. But McCline was clearly washed up by this point. He was 42 and 39 years old respectively in those fights. It is the same with Williamson. He was fighting the last fight of his career (and I even called him a fringe contender because that is what he is). Can we hold these late career losses against fighters? Is it fair to point out Mike Tyson's losses against Danny Wiliams and Kevin McBride and say, look Tyson got destroyed by those guys. You could argue by other means that McCline and Williamson were not as good as Arreola and Szpilka but head-to-head is a bad way of advancing your points.

With regards to Fury, he is easily the greatest name on the list. But Fury clearly outpointed Wilder in that fight, it was a robbery draw. You could argue the same with the Golota-Byrd fight, but that brawl was closer than the one between Fury and Wilder. Of course, Golota isn't as good a fighter as Fury, so Wilder's job was harder, I am not disputing that.

One last thing with mandatories and rankings - those are subjective and biased outputs of corrupt sanctioning bodies which I usually take with a grain of salt. For example, WBA has Lenier Pero at #6 (he was #4 not very long ago). If Usyk fights Pero today, will the boxing world appreciate it?