KO byrd with all of those clean shots he landed on Byrd but a Light Heavy Weight that is not considered a puncher KO Byrd????? Is it Povektins power that is very weak or was it the weight loss on Byrd's part:huh
Losing muscle effects your core, not to mention balance.. he's also likely to have been dehydrated and lost a lot of bulk in and around the neck which would have been "shock" protection previously.
Byrd could see his punches coming so he would twist his head just a little bit and reduce the impact....also when you see the punches coming you can anticipate. Byrd wasnt ready for Georges speed so he got caught with some vicious shots that he didnt even expect.
It's a combination of this and weight loss I reckon, I never used to believe that it could affect you so negatively but there is a small amount of emperical evidence that may suggest otherwise: Roy Jones loses 18lbs+ and then suddenly looks crap and gets KOed twice Tarver loses 26lbs+ and then looks slow and crap Byrd loses 37lbs+ and then looks terrible and gets KOed are there any other examples? Or even any that suggest the opposite?
I can only think of one and it's marginal: Fabrice Tiozzo dropped from 200 pounds down to 175 and won a world title from Silvio Branco, defended it once against an old Dariusz Michalczewski. I think the above poster was right, the weight drain effected Byrd's balance and ability to take a punch. He was completely and totally shot at 175. Povetkin landed wicked shots, but Byrd's base and chin was still solid in that fight, despite the erosion of his skills.
exactly , weight loss drains your body as a whole, you lose massive strength.. its quite astonishing..
This whole thing by Byrd was a perfect storm. The facts that: 1. He had been beaten to shopworn in his previus fights 2. Lost strengh, speed, coordination, stamina by moving down 3. He could not react and roll with the punches being thrown, he was even leaining into some of them. IMO because of this he was actually being hit harder last night than in most of his other fights, even though his opponent lacks power.
It's pretty obvious Povetkin punches harder than George, really. I think that answers the question of why he got KTFO last night.
Put the Byrd of last night in the ring with Povetkin, and Alex would've murdered him. His wife would've finally been quiet when AP knocked one of Chris's teeth into her screaming mouth and she choked on it. The age had something to do with it of course, but you cannot drop that much weight and still be as good as before. Your body is too used to dealing with the extra mass and having it there. As one poster aptly put it last night, it's like a Jenga block, before and after. In Byrd's case, so many pieces of the puzzle were missing, there was no chance of him being even a shadow of himself. I hope he didn't get any serious damage and I'm glad nothing majorly wrong happened.
