A similar thread was done a while back with a different title, but I can't recall much about it. Byrd in my opinion was a very good fighter, but probably not a great one. He did however have a rather respectable career. An amateur career consisting of 275 wins and an Olympic silver medal. A pro record of 40-4-1-21. Held the IBF title for two years and Five defenses. Briefly held the WBO title. Scored wins over Vitali Klitschko, David Tua, Jameel Mccline, DaVarryl Williamson, and an aging Holyfield. Was only stopped by big punchers, two of which came past his prime. I would say that Byrd was a pretty good fighter myself. I suppose his problem was that he was a rather small and light hitting fighter who competed in an era of giants. He also overstayed his welcome a bit. The second fight with Wlad probably should have been his last outing. What do you think?
Have to figure the guy began as a middleweight. He never had any qualms with stepping into the ring with the biggest and best of his generation, and he's a legitimate nice guy outside of the ring. His biggest wins are detracted on a lot, for some reason. Tua was too one dimensional! Holyfield was old! Vitali hurt himself! Meh.
Was never impressed with him to be honest. He was a "pure boxer" but I thought he wasn't particularly convincing in many of his wins. He slapped a bit, landed messy punches, and had some close calls go his way. I think he should have been given a shot at Lennox Lewis though. A fight with Roy Jones would have been interesting too.
Top 50 at heavyweight for me. Byrd wasn't very big or strong, but he took a good punch, had good skills, and had good speed / defense.
The best defensive heavyweight of all time (better than Jimmy Young), good chin (cept against Ike), and very fast hands. He fashioned a great career for himself despite the fact that many people detested his style. I agree with the above, he has to be at the bottom of the top 50 heavyweight list, and deserves credit for taking on all comers when he was always undersized and out-strengthed.
Byrd will be remembered as a very good but not great heavyweight champion. I personally think he was excellent in his prime and he deserves the full respect of the boxing fraternity. In my book, Byrd was definitely superior to many, many heavyweight champions and title claimants in history. Only the best heavyweights in history could have handled a prime Chris Byrd.
How was it not good against Ike? He was pretty damned coherent after one of the heaviest shots of the 90's, and I feel that the fight was stopped prematurely.
