Could a prime Chris Byrd beat Alexander Povetkin

Tua was long past his best when he fought Barrett. Prime Tua would’ve crushed Barrett.

I’m not saying Tua and Povetkin aren’t close. You can make a case for either. In no way is Povetkin ‘on another level’ tho. Based on what?

 

1) Barrett was older than Tua so I never side with the "he was past his best" when the other guy is probably in a worse position. We can start at Povetkin's amateur career: 2) 125-7 and all losses avenged with an Olympic Gold Medal at Super Heavy. Meaning he has beated a lot of different styles. 3) Povetkin was never outboxed except when he started fighting AJ & Wlad which are big guys. All other guys he outboxed. Tua rarely outboxed someone and he would just blitz some of these lower tier contenders and that would work because he had an amazing chin, a hard punch and great stamina. We've seen this story before. Ike outboxed him (AP is roughly the same size as Ike, but with a lot more experience).

 

Chambers pretty much schooled him for the first fight of their half, before He run out of gas. Povetkin grinded out a fair - and good - win there, but it wasn't by boxing.

 

Yes.He could.Too slick for Povetkin.

 

Tua was head and shoulders above Pov so just stop with the BS.
Too many people are stuck on what Pov COULD have been instead of what he actually was.

 

How so? I'd bet AP has more top 10 contender wins than Tua. AP also fought for the HW title 2x while Tua only fought for it once.

 

Byrd was 35 and had taken no bad losses. Povetkin beat him in or near his prime. If Pov hadn't beat him so badly, nobody would be saying he was out of his prime.

 

Byrd was 37 and got washed in his next fight

 

My bad, he was 37, somehow I misremembered. Still, he didn't have any bad losses up until that point. He lost his title two fights before. I'm not saying he was in his prime, but there was nothing up to that point to suggest he was done for.

 

His best wins are old Byrd, Chagaev, a shot Rahman, Perez, Chambers and Dillian Whyte.

Tuas best wins are green Maskaev, Ruiz, an old Moorer, Rahman, Oquendo, and Nate Tubbs.

Povetkin is assumed to operate at a higher level because of superior pedigree and skill, but h2h i actually think Tua knocks him out

 

Maskaev & Rahman are made for Tua. Both have weak chins. Like I said earlier, AP is basically the same size as Ike, but with many more fights and better fundamentals with a decent chin. Tua's fighting an uphill battle.

 

Not as good of a chin as Ike, not as physically strong, Ike also knocked a prime Byrd out. Takam gave Povetkin a hard nights work in the pocket, I think Tuas power eventually prevails there