Whats up with people overrating Chris Byrd?

He was a 70s sized HW fighting in the modern era and folks didn’t have an Usyk around back then to champion.

 

It is easier to overrate Chris Byrd than it is to understand how not all that good the rest of those guys were.

 

I would like to have seen Toney vs Byrd

 

I was not even aware people were rating him, let alone overrating him.

Agree that Lewis wasn't scared of Byrd. But it is slightly peculiar how Lewis never fought a world class southpaw.

Byrd was a good fighter. Very undersized. He was naturally much smaller than Holyfield or Usyk.

If Byrd had his cousin Lamon Brewsters left hook and build, he could have been great.

 

He was a lot smaller than that.

The guy was naturally 170-175 ish. Fairly tall but very skinny. He had to delibrately add 30 lbs to his frame.

He was not naturally as big as Frazier for example. Taller, sure, but not as naturally stocky and heavy.

He wasn't even close to being as big as natural 200 + guys like Ali, Norton, Foreman, Holmes, Bugner etc.

Byrd should have fought at 175, then moved up to cruiser, then maybe moved up to heavy. He wasn't the same size as the elite 70's guys unless you are referring to Quarry or Patterson.

 

Because he was a courageous, quality southpaw who had defeated Vitali, outpointed Tua and beat an old but decent Holyfield.
He was also on even terms with Ibeabuchi before the stoppage.
I agree that his reign was not great and was marred with very close calls, but to come from middleweights and battling with giants (he was going toe-to-toe against Golota !) is quite remarkable.

 

It starts at pretending he was beating Vitali and ends at pretending that he was ducked rather than sheltered on the Don King circuit.

 

People were scared of the numbers a Byrd fight would put up. That was the reality of the situation. He couldn't sell snow to an Eskimo.

 

In any sane world, he is an ATG. He started as a super middle, jumped almost immediately to heavy, and owns wins over Vitali, Holy and Tua.

Jones is almost the same size and is canonized for winning multiple divisions, one fight at heavy. Byrd's achievement is easily and obviously better. And with Byrd, there is no evidence of PEDs use.

 

Byrd beat David Tua, who many around these parts reckon to be unbeatable in fantasy matchups against practically any version of any heavyweight all-time.

In that regard, Byrd is probably underrated here.

 

Byrd was a very skilled fighter no doubt. The thing is he was undersized had little punching power and was not a marketable fighter. Basically, he was boring and couldn't put butts in seats.