Chris Byrd - Could He Have Beaten Wilder?

byrd prob shuts wilder out

 

this

yes, each round would be lopsided as hell

 

He didn’t even shut out Jameel McCline.

 

thought it was prime vs prime.

 

That was his prime. Don’t be absurd.

 

Football hooligan Szpilka boxed Wilder silly for 9 rounds. Byrd could do it for 12.

 

Myth. Szpilka was 6-2 down on the judges scorecards (which is what Wilder's team focus on, not fan opinions) and wasn't doing any real damage. Wilder sparked Szpilka without much volume or urgency.

 

97 to 01 02 He def lost a step from the tua fight to the holy and oquendo fight. Nobody is a bigger byrd fan then me on ths whole site.

 

Those haymon scorecards were a joke. Anyone who watched that fight knew Szpilka was well ahead.

 

"However, the Fury 1 fight reflects very poorly on him."

Wilder knocked Fury down twice in different rounds and made the fight competitive enough to get an A-side draw. That was far, far better than ATG Wlad, who was limited to the fewest punches ever landed by champion against a contender over 12 rounds in boxing history and didn't score a KD. Not to mention the likes of Whyte and Chisora, who gave Joshua, Povetkin, Vitali and Usyk good fights but couldn't lay a glove on Fury and either get KO'd or quit. And with a pro-Wilder referee, he wins by KO in the 12th and the complaints wouldn't have been taken seriously. Wilder's draw is one of the best results/performances by an active heavyweight.

"That he was badly diminished is evidenced by their 2 x subsequent fights."

He may have been diminished due to his lifestyle or inadequate preparation (although that's impossible to quantify and Fury took the fight, so he believed he was ready for Wilder) but the two subsequent fights aren't good evidence of Fury being diminished because Fury adopted totally different tactics in fights 2 and 3. He did so because he thought trying to box with the distance in mind was riskier all things considered than walking towards the fire. It's entirely possible that with the same tactics from fight 1 in fights 2 or 3, he would have done worse than in fight 1. Especially given that Wilder had experienced 12 rounds with a backfoot Fury and would have had a better idea how to approach that style in future fights.

 

Wilder's strategy was tailored around the American judges by his team. If Wilder had been the B-side he would have been considerably more aggressive if he/his team felt he was at risk of falling behind. He was more aggressive against Fury 1 and clutched 2 KD's in the last 4 rounds. If they had fought 10 times, Wilder wouldn't have been outpointed once over the distance by Szpilka (not that Szpilka could fight Wilder again after having his jaw shattered like that).

"Anyone who watched that fight knew Szpilka was well ahead"

Boxrec have Wilder up 5-3, the majority of the cards on Eyeonthering have Wilder up. The idea that Szpilka was "well ahead" after 8 rounds is a very fringe position.

 

No . Wilder had that magic eraser, he only needed to be perfect for two seconds while Chris Byrd has to be perfect all fight.

 

Byrd could certainly win this one.

 

If past prime Golota can keep landing on Byrd so can Wilder

Eye On The Ring gives the fight a controversy rating of 78%. Most scorecards going to Andy

One contributor noted - Bryd bent over at the waist and touched the canvas at least 4 times in the first 11 rounds, if a punch is landed and the glove touches the mat that's a knockdown. I feel at least round 9 should've been considered a KD, because Bryd hunched over and touched the canvas after a big shot to the body.

 

Wilder by KO: I think Wilder catches him eventually with the 1-2 combo. I just do not think Byrd would be able to avoid that for the whole fight. Wilder would be down on points whenever that happens.