This man has the trickiest style and the most efficient defense out of all the heavyweight champions. It's almost like he has a sixth sense in sensing the trajectory and destination of his opponent's punches as soon as they throw the punch and he ducks and slips the punches with amazing skill. Plus he's got chin and heart to go along with it, no wonder he was only knocked out once during his prime while constantly fighting with his back on the ropes and that was by the heavy handed 244 pound monster Ike Ibeabuchi. After that he tightened up his defense and beat Tua with his footwork rather than the rope-a-dope tactic he utilized before fighting Ibeabuchi. I'm a fan of David Tua but I'm also a fan of Chris Byrd who is a DEFENSIVE ATG at the Heavyweight ranks and I have no shame in admitting that David Tua was soundly beaten by Chris Byrd's superior footwork and outside boxing but if Byrd had never fought Ibeabuchi and hadn't got decapitated on the ropes, he would've got killed by Tua while utilizing his trademark rope-a-dope tactic as he would've never learned the painful lesson from his match with Ibeabuchi. Also I've heard of how he schooled Evander Holyfield with a defensive exhibition and made Vitali Klitschko punch his shoulder out, I gotta watch those fights when I get some time.
He was a very tricky fighter to be sure, and also one of the nicest guys in the game. Unfortunately his affiliation with King meant that he had 9 or 10 months of inactivity between every fight, which is never a good thing, but especially bad for a fighter who gets by on timing and reflexes. The ill effects of the inactivity were already popping up by the Oquendo fight. Would have loved to see him mix it up with Rahman, Toney, Brewster, and Golata (rematch). None of them would have been classics, but they would have made a very dull era marginally less dull.
He used to get shat on for being "boring", despite the fact that his defence was largely based on engaging bigger, stronger heavyweights in the pocket and making them miss. He was actually a pretty fun fighter to watch in that regard.
He was great! I love a defense guy, that's not boring to me, that's an art. Whats boring is watching two sluggers just stand there and bomb. Duh!
Watching him a lot lately: This content is protected Very slick, elusive & crafty operator.. not really seen his like since at HW.. peak Haye was twitchy & quick & had nice head movement etc but was a bit too reckless, Fury & Usyk are skilled & maybe come close too but for pure defensive mastery Byrd has to be one of the best HWs in years.. still doesn't really get the props he deserve.. pretty special fighter really.. The Golota & McCline fights are brilliant fights. Highly recommend them.
