Back to school please. I said the first fight where he wasn't the same was the Luis Ortiz rematch, which was late 2019
The example that he used of Byrd losing to Shaun George is ridiculous. Yes, Wilder would always have been dangerous with his explosiveness, power and unpredictability. But as we know, he isn't great technically. So I think Byrd was being gracious. And although it would have been a dangerous match up, he definitely could have slipped his punches. If Byrd wasn't good enough to have beaten Wilder, then he'd never have had the career at HW that he had.
A left hander who can't punch? What's the best punch to throw against a left hander? A lead right hand? What was Wilder's best punch? Wilder stayed out of range. He looked for openings. He threw really fast rights with lethal power. Wilder would've caught Byrd coming in. Wilder by wipeout. He would've wiped Byrd out when they were young. And he would've wiped out Byrd when they were both 38, as Wilder was losing to Zhang and Byrd was getting torched by a light heavy journeyman. Awful matchup for Byrd.