Chris Byrd's resume is underrated

Exactly

 

Agreed.

If anything, Byrd gets overrated (this thread being a mild example); mainly on account of him having been a small guy competing with the big guys. However, there’s only so far you can dine out on that ticket, in my view.

 

Byrd was nothing much more than a spoiler. He beat an absolutely ancient Holyfield who was injured to boot. Holyfield was stopped in his next fight by fat James Toney and the fight after that he was so bad he was permanently banned in New York to protect him. Nevermind that Byrds fights against McCline, Golota, and Oquenda all could have easily gone the other way (with the Golota fight an outright robbery IMO). The Vitali fight was a joke. He basically lost every round before Vitali quit and then when he got his ass kicked by Wlad the first time around he went around telling everyone he was poisoned. No I dont think his resume is underrated. In fact you could argue Ruiz has a better resume and Ruiz was garbage too.

 

He had his moments .. granted no world killer but still fought a lot of tough guys ..

 

Disagree .. he was a blown up super middle that fought and more than held his own against heavyweights and super heavyweights .. He beat Holyfield just six months after Holyfield beat Rachman , the Toney loss came tens months of inactivity and age later... yeah I know Holyfield was injured. He was injured every time he lost and half the times he won. Maybe some of the fights you mentioned were close but the man was giving up a ton of natural size. He was also magnificent against Tua as well .. not saying the guy was an all time great heavyweight but he was a top five heavyweight for many years against a division of giants and more than held his own as did Ruiz .. neither was exciting but both had very good careers.

 

it is not.

- Holyfield was 40 and Toney beat him more impressively
- Vitali: good win but still somewhat diminished by the shoulder injury
- Tua: very good win
- Golota: only a draw
-Wlad: got beaten up twice
Mcline/Oquendo: Wins were close and controversial

 

Byrd took him on 10 days notice then he injured vitali ...then he made him quit

 

You did say he was great.
Toney was also a top 5 heavyweight for 4 years.Was he a great heavyweight?

 

I agree that he often gets sold short, but I would stop short of comparing him to Lewis.

 

He didn't injure Vitali ,neither did he make him quit ,he decided to do so of his own volition.
Others have continued with the same injury ,eg Buddy McGirt.
Byrd was in training to fight Laywence Clay bey ,its not like he wasn't fit.
In fact he was 10lbs lighter than he had been in his previous fight, and 3 lbs lighter than he would be for his next one.

 

It's a fight he would have lost except for the injury .