12 rounds, modern rules. Basically the conditions that would have actually been decided upon if Jones had stayed at heavy and tried to make the fight. Who takes this?
A tough one. Byrd was far more successful in the weight class, but Jones is all wrong for him. Jones surpasses Byrd in the one area that he depends on his advantage in, namely speed. You also have to question whether Byrd has the power to capitalize on Jones's chin issues. I might be leaning towards Jones, but they both made their choices at the end of the day. Jones retreated back to light heavyweight to get blasted by Tarver, and Byrd made his bones at heavyweight.
Byrd via UD or Late Stoppage. Byrd is bigger, taller, has a longer reach, stronger, just as slick, nearly as fast (Roy doesn't have a huge advantage) & is difficult to hit. He also has underrated power & offense. He had enough power to keep big, strong HW's like Jimmy Thunder, Ike, Vitali, Golota & McCline at bay. He kept Holyfield at bay & made him hesitant to commit (who else has done that to Holyfield). So there's no reason to think he can't hurt or knock out Jones. While Byrd was a small HW, he'd dwarf Jones who was about 5'11 & would likely come in under 200lbs. The styles clash will be interesting to see. It could be a dull fight or a surprisingly entertaining one. One area I know I'll get entertainment from is both of them showboating - Jones with the exaggerated gestures and dancing, & Byrd with the funny faces he made.
You're right about the first half, but wrong on the 2nd. Jones was not all wrong for Byrd. He's smaller, not as big, not as strong, has a shorter reach & can't hurt Byrd. Jones doesn't have a huge speed advantage here. It won't be a huge factor IMO. He'll also have a hard time tagging Byrd as he's extremely elusive. The answer is yes. He hurt & kept big HW's at bay all the time - including both Klitschko's.
