Why is Byrd given next to zero credit for a win over a undefeated, prime Vitali Klitschko, where as I rarely if ever see Jake LaMotta's win over Marcel Cerdan discredited because of the exact same injury? Funny how they both retired one round apart too.
Well, as far as the injury and making comparisons, it all depends on your source. As far as the Cerdan/LaMotta fight, some sources say that Cerdan was knocked down and dislocated his shoulder in the first round. Some say that the two fighters fell to the ground and Cerdan injured his shoulder. Just about every source I've read concerning the fight cite the fact that Cerdan had an injured shoulder and fought most of the fight one-handed to make it a tough match, so to me at least this detracts from LaMotta's victory. Many also suggest that Cerdan would have beaten LaMotta in a rematch were it not for his unfortunate and untimely airplane crash. I happen to agree - I think Cerdan was a superior boxer to LaMotta in near every aspect. I'll submit that most casual boxing fans aren't knowledgable enough about the fight or Cerdan's pedigree to speak to it one way or the other, so there isn't much contention about the result. With regards to Vitali Klitschko and Chris Byrd, where sources point to Klitschko's injury coming in the second round, it's been my experience that opinions fall into one of two categories - those who claim that Klitschko was ahead on the cards and was handling Byrd easily but had to retire because of the pain so Byrd should not be credited with a 'real' victory; and those that point to the end result and call Klitschko a quitter, before citing Danny Williams' one-armed knockout of Mark Potter. This makes it more of an emotional choice than the Cerdan/LaMotta fight as many feel Klitschko should simply have continued for the remaining 3 rounds since he was so far ahead and stood practically no chance of being knocked out against the light-hitting Byrd. I am of the opinion that Byrd is seemingly given less credit due to the recency of the fight and the large number of Vitali Klitschko supporters who oppose giving Byrd credit for the win due to his being behind on the cards at the time of the stoppage. 40 years from now it will probably be viewed in much the same light as the LaMotta/Cerdan fight - a TKO win for Byrd with a footnote concerning Klitschko's shoulder injury.
What do Roberto Duran, Jose Napoles, Jack Johnson, Sugar Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, Mike Tyson, Joe Gans, Bob Foster, Sam Langford, Marcel Cerdan, Willie Pep, Kosta Tszyu, Alexis Arguello Ezzard Chalres, Jake Lamotta, Archie Moore, and Vitlai Klitschko have in common? Still pondering? Ok, just read below: They all quit. At least in Vitali's case it was vs a class fighter and a major injury. Honestly, boxing has maybe a 100 champions who " retired " on their stool.
Probably because Byrd was getting his ass whipped at the time. He was brave though, hanging in as long as he did.
From what I understand (I've seen clips of the fight unless I'm mistaken) LaMotta was giving Cerdan an ass-whooping prior to the stoppage, whereas Byrd was getting his ass whooped prior to Vitali getting injured.
