byrd didn't "reign" he held a belt only and had some solid wins but was never the man. also the division is not better now (we have the klits and not too much else right now though povetkin's a solid hw and maybe arreola, dimentrenko, and a couple of others are even worth mentioning). we'll see about the athletecism of those fightes coming from Europe but likely byrd woud still do okay because his strength was footspeed and elusiveness and he was pretty quick and elusive in his heyday even for those "athletic euros". chambers on the other hand doesn't have the same advantage as byrd. chambers is a better puncher than byrd but he relies on his handspeed and counter punching and is there to be hit a lot more than byrd and that'll get a small guy in trouble.
I like Chambers tons, but he should go for it at Cruiser. At his best I see an almost slickness of Chris Byrd but with more commitment to his punches. Only when he's properly focused and trained though.
I still like Dimitrenko to win. Might struggle early with Chambers speed. I'm not ready to take a wild leap of faith that Chambers is going to throw more punches, and more power punches instead of jab-jab-jab, just because he's weighed in less. The best indicator is always past performance, and I believe it is a mental issue with Chambers.
No american in history? lol.....Joe Louis would have gotten Wlad Klitschko out of there in six, he would have more problems with V. Klitschko but the man (Louis) went undfeated for 12 years(the first walcott withstanding) he would have found a way to win.