Chris Byrd, in answer to my email

Okay.

 

If you’ve met Byrd in person, you know he’s a heavyweight. He may weigh 210-215 for fights, but he’s very muscular and in shape at that weight. I have my doubts that he could get down to 175, and really see no benefit in him doing so.

Byrd’s best performances (Thunder, Tua, Golota, McCline, Holyfield) came against heavyweights who didn’t give much movement or jab, allowing Byrd to maximize his speed and countering advantage.

Byrd has struggled with guys who move and make him come out of his counterpunching role. Arthur Williams, Mo Harris, Oquendo, and Williamson are fighters who, even though they lost (some controversially), made Byrd look bad by moving and making him be the aggressor.

At age 37 Chris does not have the reflexes and speed he once had. If he gets in with the top guys at 175 this will be even more glaring than it has been recently at heavyweight. My feeling is that same analysis would apply to him at Cruiserweight, maybe even more so, as the crop of faster, mobile Cruisers also have more power than the Light Heavies, and thus would cause even more damage to Byrd.

If he is able to melt down to that weight, what you’ll have is carbon copy of an old Montell Griffin, a defensive fighter who has lost his speed and is unable to keep up with the top guys in the division.

My opinion is that Byrd should retire. If he does choose to fight on, it should be at heavyweight and only with careful matchmaking taking style into consideration.

He may still have a year or two left as a gatekeeper type who could get some wins and paydays, but his championship days are over at any weight.

 

He was not unbeaten, no one is unbeaten as an amateur. That's not the way it works. Calzaghe beat Byrd by referee stoppage and that's no pure KO and the question explicitly asks if he was Ko'ed.

 

i did not clarify my point.

i said calzaghe was british amatuer champ in 1991/1992/1993 and turned pro thereafter

and he was unbeaten at that time.

i meant he was unbeaten in any amatuer fight in 1991/1992/1993 until he turned pro.

the last fight he lost as an amatuer was in a welterweight fight in czechoslavakia in july 1990.

 

I disagree, and I'm normally critical of Byrd...he put up a valiant effort in the last bout.

 

He still barely landed a punch atsch

 

The thing about Byrd was that he would routinely step in against dudes he had no business fighting. People that outweighed him by an ENORMOUS amount. And considering Byrd was never someone that had knockout power, it's really inconceivable that he would step in with Wlad with anyone thinking that the outcome would be different than it was.

I'm a huge Byrd fan and am conflicted about his return. I DO think his problem @ Light heavy was he just dropped too much weight too fast. He looked like an addict at that weight, and it was obviously unhealthy.

If he bulks back up to cruiser...*shrugs* We'll see what happens.

 

He does seem to think a weight change is what he needs a bit too often.

I do think he went to too low of a weight division in his last fight. Maybe if he does find a naturally beneficial weight to fight at, he can do something to earn him some more decent paydays.

But I certianly don't see him challenging a top fighter at any weight class. But he still may have potential to beat a few decent opponents.

 

Byrd will be fighting at Cruiserweight now, as he realized that starving down to Light Heavyweight was an awful idea.

 

Why did he completely skip the Cruiserweight division anyway???? I think Wlad really beat the sense out of him.

 

Because he's friends with Steve Cunningham and talked about how he was looking at getting a title but didn't wanna fight his friend.

[url]LINK TO INTERVIEW[/url]

 

guess god forgot to make him win the fight

 

thanks to esb poster superheavyweight

chris byrd`s amatuer career highlighted.

the last fight of chris byrd`s amatuer career before he turned pro.


Christopher Cornelius BYRD
"Rapid Fire"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lugar de Nacimiento: Flint, Michigan, Estados Unidos.
Fecha de Nacimiento: 15 Agosto 1970.
Récord Amateur Reclamado: 275 victorias.

1989 U.S. National Champion.
1991 U.S. National Champion.
1992 U.S. National Champion.
1992 Olympic Finalist.

2000 WBO Heavyweight Champion.
2002-Present IBF Heavyweight Champion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris Byrd was the youngest of eight children growing up in Flint, Mich. He began boxing at age 5, training in his father’s Joe Byrd Boxing Academy. He is still trained by his father Joe Byrd Sr. and father and son train in Chris’s gym in his home in Las Vegas.

Byrd began competing in the ring at age 10, and compiled a staggering 275 wins in the amateur ranks. He was a three-time U.S. champion: 1989, 1991 and 1992. He was part of a 1991 U.S. team that became the first and only U.S. team to score a tie against the heralded Cuban national team.

His amateur career peaked with Byrd winning a silver medal in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, competing in the middleweight division at 165 pounds.

Palmarés Amateur de Chris Byrd:
Fecha Lugar Oponente Resultado Categoría Evento

1988
febrero 1988 Colorado Springs, USA Todd FOSTER (USA) L-3 63.5 kg Campeonato Nacional AAU de los Estados Unidos
20 junio 1984 Fort Worth, USA Todd FOSTER (USA) L-3 63.5 kg Eliminatoria Olímpica de los Estados Unidos

1989
febrero 1989 Colorado Springs, USA Paul VADEN (USA) W-3 - Medalla de Oro 71 kg Campeonato Nacional de los Estados Unidos
10 junio 1989 Atlantic City, USA Dimitriy KORSUN (URS) L-3 (0-3) 71 kg USA vs. Unión Soviética
3 noviembre 1989 Spokane, USA Israel AKOPKOHIAN (URS) L-3 (0-3) 71 kg USA vs. Unión Soviética

1990
marzo 1990 Colorado Springs, USA Paul VADEN (USA) L-3 (2-3) 71 kg Campeonato Nacional de los EEUU
29 abril 1990 Moscú, URS Aleksandr LEBZIAK (URS) W 71 kg Unión Soviética vs USA
mayo 1990 Halifax, CAN J. BURNS (CAN) W-3 67 kg USA vs Canadá
julio 1990 Seattle, USA Torsten SCHMITZ (RDA) L-3 (2-3) 71 kg Juegos de Buena Voluntad
diciembre 1990 Cincinatti, USA Alexander DAVIDENKO (URS) L-3 (0-3) 75 kg USA vs Unión Soviética

1991
febrero 1991 Marquette, USA Tomasz BOROWSKI (POL) W-3 (3-0) 71 kg USA vs. Polonia
abril 1991 Biloxi, USA Chris JOHNSON (CAN) L-3 (1-2) 75 kg USA vs. Canadá
abril 1991 Spokane, USA Akaki KAKAURIDZE (TUR) L-3 (0-5) 75 kg USA vs. Turquía
1991 USA (USA) W - Medalla de Oro 75 kg Campeonato Nacional de los Estados Unidos
julio 1991 Nápoles, ITA Tomasso RUSSO (ITA) L-3 75 kg Italia vs USA
agosto 1991 Fort Bragg, USA Ramón GARBEY (CUB) W-3 (2-1) 75 kg USA vs Cuba
agosto 1991 Inglewood, USA Mike DEMOSS (USA) W-3 (21-15) 75 kg Festival Olímpico
noviembre 1991 Sydney, AUS Ramón GARBEY (CUB) L-3 (6-20) 75 kg Campeonato Mundial de Mayores
diciembre 1991 San José, USA Dimitri VILONOV (URS) W-3 (5-0) 75 kg USA vs Unión Soviética

1992
marzo 1992 Colorado Springs, USA Eric WRIGHT (USA) W-3 (76-13) - Medalla de Oro 75 kg Campeonato AAU de los Estados Unidos
abril 1992 Tampa, USA Sven OTTKE (ALE) L-3 (1-2) 75 kg Match Internacional de Retadores
mayo 1992 Ottawa, CAN ****** CRAWFORD (AUS) W-3 (38-8) 75 kg Copa Canada
mayo 1992 Ottawa, CAN Joe LARYEA (GHA) W-3 (38-1) 75 kg Copa Canada
mayo 1992 Ottawa, CAN Igor ANASHKIN (RUS) RSCH-2 - Medalla de Oro 75 kg Copa Canada
junio 1992 Worchester, USA Derrick JAMES (USA) W-3 75 kg Box-offs Olímpicos
junio 1992 Worchester, USA William JOPPY (USA) W-3 75 kg Box-offs Olímpicos
junio 1992 Worchester, USA Mike DEMOSS (USA) W-3 (41-17) 75 kg Box-offs Olímpicos
julio 1992 Barcelona, ESP Mark EDWARDS (ING) W-3 (21-3) 75 kg Juegos Olímpicos
julio 1992 Barcelona, ESP Aleksandr LEBZIAK (RUS) W-3 (16-7) 75 kg Juegos Olímpicos
julio 1992 Barcelona, ESP Ahmed DINE (ALG) W-3 (21-2) 75 kg Juegos Olímpicos
julio 1992 Barcelona, ESP Chris JOHNSON (CAN) W-3 (17-3) 75 kg Juegos Olímpicos
julio 1992 Barcelona, ESP Ariel HERNÁNDEZ (CUB) L-3 (7-12) - Medalla de Plata 75 kg Juegos Olímpicos
diciembre 1992 ITA Joe CALZAGHE (GAL) L RSC-3 75 kg Italia vs USA

REGRESO A PÁGINA DE INICIO

Nota: Éste palmarés está incompleto y puede ser inexacto.

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(Ultima actualización: Abr-24-2007)

 

damn looks like Byrd lost quite a few fights