If it were Chris Byrd facing the same men as Young back in the 70s ? And meeting them in the same time scale as Jimmy? How's Chris do in his title shot against Ali ,against Norton for the vacant belt and Foreman in his last fight for years? Any upsets here ?
As a defensive boxer, Byrd was second rate compared to Jimmy Young. He threw more punches, to be sure, but he didn't commit to defense like Jimmy did. Byrd's chin and powers of recovery were inferior to Young's. Ali, Norton and especially Foreman would have all beaten Byrd...and probably within the distance. Byrd would have never made it out of that 7th round with Foreman, had it been him in there with GF instead of Young. On the other hand, Jimmy would have beaten all of the guys who beat Chris Byrd. He wouldn't have needed for Vitali to have had an injury to have beaten him. Young would have had Wlad confused throughout the night, would have totally outclassed Tua and would have had Ike committing either a murder, **** or a suicide after frustrating him all night.
I liked Byrd, I thought of him as a flashier, maybe quicker Jimmy Young, although, a poor mans version of the master. I would give him the best shot out of those guys Ali, I think he would beat Ali.I think he would have been more active, more consistant than Jimmy was, not that I thought young lost to fatso. Shavers, Lyle, Foreman, IDK, dangerous waters for Byrde.
Both were highly skilled boxers. I rate their skills highly. However, Jimmy was naturally bigger man of the two, and is seems like he sat on his punches more and hit harder than Chris Byrd. He also had better chin (Byrd's chin is pretty good too considering he's a former SMW). Hence, I'd pick Foreman, Ali and Norton to beat Byrd.
I've got him losing to Ali in a close decision. Foreman struggles with him in his last fight for years but does just enough to get a decision over him. I see Kenny finding him really hard to work at for portion s of the fight but Byrd ends up with a disputed loss. I see Byrd beating shavers ,Ellis,Bugner,Mathis but having points losses against Quarry and Lyle .
