did chris byrd make a mistake by fighting at heavyweight?

If you had actually been paying attention you'd know that Herbie Hide is probably more deserving of a title shot than most cruiserweights out there right now. He's won 13 straight fights and has beaten a couple decent fighters along the way. Obviously not top guys but not horrible either. He's done enough and if anything, it should have been him fighting for the WBC title that the Italian Fragomeni got the chance to fight for. Fragomeni got his shot based on his loss to David Haye. Hide's wins over Hino, May, Seferi, and the undefeated Russian trump a loss any day of the week even if it was to David Haye.

 

As for the topic itself, Chris Byrd did the right thing by fighting at heavyweight. The main thing was whether or not he had the chin to be able to do it and he did. Without the ability to take a punch he woudn't have been able to fight there. You're gonna get hit at some point regardless of how slippery you are. His gameplan was to be elusive and make his bigger opponents miss and if he were to get hit here and there he could handle it. At a lesser weight against a guy his size he may not have been as effective believe it or not. Byrd's MO was to use his uncanny ability to slip punches and capitalize on the openings left behind by big (and often clumsy) heavyweights. Byrd was naturally less effective when it was he who had to go on the offensive.

 

:good

 

No, he had a great career and made serious money, the kind of money you dont get at the lower weights.

 

:happy

 

Can't be a mistake when he made it far and became champion.

Guys he beat:

-Holyfield(Shot, no doubt but still a decent win. Didn't Holyfield beat the fraud Valuev recently and get robbed?, that's 5 years after Byrd beat him. Byrd also beat him before Toney did yet Toney gets a lot of credit for it and Byrd doesn't get any for some reason)
-Tua
-TOS
-Oquendo
-V.Klitschko(He was badly losing in one-sided fashion, no doubt. We all know the story there)
-Purrity(Purrity went on to beat Wladimir two fights later the same year)

Two time world champion too. First world title he held was the Vitali "win".

 

did i spell jackazz wrong again for fark sakez !!!!!

sorry bout that jackazz

anyho yeah your writing is a bit too sofistilcated for me and i admit that your my mental superiour but that still does not change the fact that your a jackazz

im just saying that chris byrd had a hard time cutting weight as he got older

itz like saying that ali would have had more success at light heavy weight jackazz

 

Until he started to deteriorate, he was an excellent--and even avoided --heavyweight, despite his size.

 

I do not think fighting at HW was mistake, at least in terms of money and achievements. He won with Vitali (I was rooting for Byrd, with each round having less and less hope), he made Tua look worse than anyone (LL included) and he had a couple of decent wins (like against still somewhat competitice Holy). In the later part of his career he got some questionable decisions (Oquendo, Golota), but otherwise he was decent beltholder IMO.

If something was mistake here, it was definitely the rematch with Wlad. The first fight was as one-sided as one may imagine, and with his style he had no chance anyway.

I do not think he would make a lot of good fights in lower weights. Cruiserweight was weak division during most of Byrd's career, and with his ability to make everyone look bad he would be avoided by most of top opponents anyway.

 

nope, it was not a mistake to go and become two-time heavyweight champion (and being one of only two men to hold a win over Vitali Klitschko)

 

Boom Boom Hide is on a thirteen fight win streak and some of those wins have been against pretty good opposition.

 

heck Byrd had a good career made more money at Heavyweight than he would have in a lower weight division he had a decent title reign but he did get a few gifts by the judges but what Don King fighter has not?

I would hardly call his Heavyweight career a mistake the guy was damn successful for his size.

 

I don't believe Byrd's "legacy" as a HW is secure. Ten years from now people are going to be saying "Chris Byrd who"?

However I do believe if Byrd fought at his natural weight of 168-175 he certainly would have gone down in the books as one of the best to ever compete at the SMW or LHW divisions.

 

Good point. Byrd certainly would have made much more money and probably cemented his legacy if he fought at 168-175 with the talented opposition in those divisions. Byrd certainly would be more competitive and entertaining at SMW/LHW, IMO.