I think Povetkin is a bit overrated

Fighting a 45-3-1 fighter that happens to be a southpaw and had been fighting top quality opposition is a good win for a fighter in their 14th pro fight. Byrd’s run - was a win over Paul Marinnuci a journeyman six months earlier. Coming off a loss by KO to the best fighter in the World Wlad. A win over hard punching contender Davyrl Williamson, a win over contender Jameel McCline and a draw over contender Andrew Golota. That was Byrd’s previous 5 fights. That’s someone still active and competitive against good fighters.
I see absolutely only positives on taking that fight and winning in a dominant matter for a so early in a career.
After the loss to Povetkin, Byrd acknowledged that he was struggling to beat the best in the division and decided (foolishly) to drop over 37 pounds and rejoin the light heavyweight division. There was a lot of chatter of him fighting Roy Jones they both talked about. He wanted to be part of the Calzaghe, Tarver, Jones scene. Probably his best chance at that point for another big prize. But he looked skeletal when he entered the ring and got knocked out quickly. That ended his career.

 

Duhaupas was no zombie Wilder struggled badly with him. Fighters take fights on short notice all the time. Duhaupas wasn’t the first and won’t be the last.

 

Fighters don’t take fights on 24 hours notice when not even in the gym and without even having their basic equipment like shoes. This was a freaking joke. No commission in the world except for Russia would have allowed a guy who just failed a drug test in the past 48 hours to go ahead and fight, much less against someone who hadn’t even trained and didn’t know he was fighting until the day before.

If you think this is a legit result, I don’t know what to tell you.

“Wow, what a great KO!!! My steroid baby sure knocked out that guy in borrowed shoes who didn’t even know he was fighting yesterday. What a man!”

Duhaupas took a horrific beating from Wilder. He won one round on two cards and was shut out in the other round. Yet as a walking corpse he lasted six against juiceman.

(And I apologize for getting my facts wrong — Duhaupas did not have a full day’s notice … it was LESS than 24 hours notice that he was fighting.)

 

Five bouts in three and a half years, going 3-1-1, including a journeyman, a brutal knockout loss (which was an absolute drubbing), two stinkfests and a dodgy draw. Byrd fought only once in 2006, once in 2005, twice in 2004 and only once in 2003. This is not the schedule of a particularly active fighter.

It looks more like the schedule of a boxer who is winding down his career and that was the case with Byrd.

Since 2002, his performances had begun to fall - I think his prime was probably around 1998 - 2002. Indeed, he should have lost his IBF strap in 2003, when Oquendo clearly beat him but Byrd got the nod. Nevertheless, he went on to get a draw against Golota in another unconvincing result, scraped by fringe contender McCline, and bored everyone to tears against Williamson in one of the least inspiring performances on record.

As mentioned, Byrd had been on a downward slope for some years prior to meeting Wlad again. And, I suspect, most people would acknowledge he was done by then.

I don't see it as a negative for Povetkin and it was a good name to have on his record at that stage. One would hope that he learned a few things, as well. But it wasn't especially positive either, i.e., it wasn't a stand out performance; more a routine workout for him.

Everything that had made Byrd a survivor in the division had long since left him. Povetkin was fighting scraps; the leftovers from that 45-3-1 career that Byrd had behind him. Byrd didn't present a significant challenge, in my opinion.

The general messaging after his second hammering from Wlad, as far as I can recall, is that Byrd should hang'em up. He wasn't going to make any more serious money and, from an audience's perspective, Byrd was about as popular as a fart in a space suit!

Since he was not viewed as an attraction and was unlikely to make any real money going forward - on top of being pretty much as shot fighter - retiring was the sensible option.

 

My initial post said it was a good win for Povetkin relative to that stage of his career. Nothing changes my initial feelings. Byrd was still active enough and still fighting quality boxers in the division. No shame on Byrd for being drubbed by Wlad.
Many fighters early in their career are fighting non name opponents or fighters that are truly shot, that are in the middle of epic losing streaks. I’m sure this is true of Wilder, I can only imagine what his opponents records were at that stage of his career for a fellow Olympian, or even George Foremans. It was a confident step up fight very early in Povetkin’s career and he did well.

 

Did you watch the fight against Shaun George?

 

Yes Byrd looked awful the weight drain ruined him. Straight right after straight right he was wobbled had no legs. 37 pounds to drop was way too much.

 

And Perez looked great after dropping forty pounds. I guess it works both ways with Povetkin.

 

Yes

Some guys look awful - De La Hoya, Jones in his first fight with Tarver generally harder to shed the weight older. Perez was a little younger.

 

Fair enough - but my point has centered on the fact that Povetkin was expected to win. At one point he was 7-to-1 on to win.

So, in terms of how assertive a match-up it was and whether he did well or not, it's relative to the size of the challenge.

It wasn't a challenge.

 

Byrd hadn’t looked good in years. That’s the difference.

Jones logged one of his best wins in the Tarver fight.

 

Yeah, we’re talking about best contenders at heavyweight ever. The Byrd fight is totally irrelevant in that context.

 

I stated that the Byrd win, was a good win relative to the point of Povetkin’s career. Relative is the key word. It was Povetkin’s 14th pro fight. I never have tried to pass Byrd off as prime. I do think shot is too strong of a word, he was still fighting decent heavies and only Wlad had stopped him. If you want to say he looked awful in the George fight (which he did) because he was shot that’s fine, I attribute it, much more to the excessive weight loss down to light heavyweight.

 

Hi Saint.
Most definitely not, I meant every word, I never do sarcasm in the forum, the lowest form of wit, you are a very good poster and more importantly retain your humility, rare with some posters, if I was from across the pond, I would indeed have a happy thanksgiving.
Kind regards Mike.