Yeah, Ruiz then went on to fight and lose to Jones :good Byrd had just fought a guy who was 18-9, probably on best damn sports show or some **** like that. Why would he be any better of an opponent for Lewis :huh
I bet Lewis watched film of Byrd's fights with the Klitschkos to see how Byrd did against big, skilled heavies and **** himself with fear :rofl
It would have been Wlad-Byrd all over again and (as history would later show) Byrd can make a fight a real snoozefest.
I don't disagree with any of that. In another post I said Byrd deserved the shot as much as anybody. My point was that a Lewis/Byrd fight was not something that was being demanded by the fans, media, networks, etc.
Lewis had just had his biggest payday and most high-profile fight to date. He thought Byrd would make for a boring fight, a low-paying fight, and one the public would not warm to since they'd never warmed to anything Byrd had done unfortunately. Manny Steward also shared this belief. Rough for Byrd, but on the other hand he got to fight the very style-friendly Holyfield instead and got himself a 3-year run with the belt. So it worked out okay for him in the end, as opposed to another Wladimir-style painful night.
We all knew the Tyson fight was nothing more than an exhibition. Tyson was training in Hawaii smoking pot and carrying on crazy interviews. The true fans wanted to see how Lewis would stack up against someone who offered an orthodox style. Personally I was tired of watching him fight stiffs that froze like deer in headlights, ie, Briggs, Grant, Akinwande, Golota, Botha, and potentially the dangerous Kirk Johnson.
In simple terms Lewis would of beat the snot out of Byrd, i mean come on what has byrd ever done to make you think he would stand any chance of beating any version of lewis ? atsch As for ruiz i dont think his jab and hug would of worked against the lewis uppercut. :yep :yep :yep :good Just ask vitali :hey :blurp
Calling yourself a true fan's a stretch, especially if you're implying you're in any way a Lewis fan. The angle on the Johnson fight was orginally to have it in Canada, as both fighters had Canadian roots, but of course you already knew that. :roll:
Considering Byrd poor showing against Golota and Oquendo, and Lewis size alone, it would be an extremely dangerous fight for Byrd in the first place. Byrd always had problems with big opponents who were technical enough to use their size advantage (fortunately he didn't fight a lot of them). He was destroyed by Wlad twice, badly outpointed by Vitali (untill he luckily quit), and he should've been also decisioned by old, one-handed Golota. Even old and fat Lewis would be able to keep him on jab for few rounds and lean on him during the rest of the fight in order to win ugly UD - something like 116:112.
For what reason? Money maybe, similar to the Tyson fight? Or maybe similar to how Bowe chose Dokes and Ferguson rather than fighting Lewis back in 92? Was the dangerous Kirk Johnson a more qualified opponent to Byrd, or Ruiz?
The obvious answer is the reality which is that Lewis said his mission was complete after the Tyson fight. He only wanted to achieve undisputed title then retire. The only reason he didnt retire after the Holyfield fight was because evryone still said Tyson would beat him and he was waiting for Tyson since that fight in 99. The only reason he didnt retire after Tyson was because he was contracted to give him a rematch which Tyson asked for. With Tyson then changing his mind and wanting more tune ups before the rematch he requested the Lewis was waiting, meanwhile Vitali was in court trying to enforce his claim as the next challenger as was Byrd. Lewis was mision complete and only really hanging on for the contracted payday of the rematch. Don King paid him not to fight, he set up a tournament to find what he said would be an undisputed challenger to "The emporeor of boxing" as he called Lewis. Holyfield vs. Byrd, Ruiz vs. Jones, the winners were meant to fight to unify the 2 titles then fight the emporeor. Lewis was pictured at the press conference with Byrd and Ruiz and Holyfield and worked on the promotion. Itwas called hard road to glory series. Lewis even did the commentary on kingvision for the Byrd fight.
Finish your story It is an exhilerating tale of Birds and Empororers and Kings, Holy Fields...oh yeah and the great warrior John Ruiz :thumbsup