Best Wladimir Klitschko fights

He has wins over Vitali, Tua and Holyfield, all done as the smaller, less physically powerful man. I'd say it bears it out very well.

 

Not really. You've mentioned here a mere handful of nice-looking names, which do not tell the story of what is, in the main, an appreciably undermined ledger.

Your statement was: "

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For a start, as far as the '90s is concerned, Byrd wasn’t really on the radar and lost his first significant test at the end of that decade, in drastic fashion, to the raw Ibeabuchi. Just as well he wasn't heading into the thick of the '90s, where more cultivated behemoths would have most likely curtailed his heavyweight ambitions in short order.


As it stood, Vitali gifted Byrd a strap in 2000. Wlad pummeled him over 12, that same year, as any half-decent Super Heavyweight should have.

A win over Tua got him back into title contention, but Tua was hardly a SHW giant and not exactly a master of ring generalship, either. As clever as Byrd’s strategy was to use Tua’s offense against him, it’s not really deserving of the mantel you have bestowed upon him, in my opinion.

An aged Holyfield (40) is his next best win. Holyfield had won only 2 from his last 6 bouts in the last four years and went on to lose his next 2, after Byrd. Holyfield would never win another meaningful contest. It doesn’t even rank as a ‘passing of the torch’; more an opportunistic mugging of an old man, with a great name.

Byrd’s ensuing decision wins over Oquendo and McCline, alongside the Draw with Golota are all highly questionable. Together, with his borefest against Williamson, they are hardly the stuff of spectacular technical displays.

The awkwardness of a predominantly negative style does not necessarily equate to technical mastery, in my view. As for him being a "nightmare", I'd agree that he was one - for the audience (and, given some of the scoring of his bouts, one for the judges, too).


Byrd dines out on having been the smaller guy, competing against the bigger guys - and, fair play to him for that. It is this for which he does deserve some recognition. But, there’s only so far this circumstance can underpin his reputation, as a heavyweight. The ledger he does have was pretty much charmed in its compilation and, even then, it is far from being stellar.

Not bad, with all things considered; just not a career that need engender hyperbole.