Thoughts on Chris Byrd vs David Tua

-I don't like the analogy. Even than, weight drained Bowe showed better stamina than say a fit looking Bruno so he's hardly the gold standard of bad conditioning.

-I'm not sure of that. Byrd isn't exactly Oleg or Izon, by this stage he could protect himself and survive a full fight. Tua was tired because Byrd was constantly turning him and making him swing at air for most of the fight. Byrd doesn't just outbox fighters, he intentionally stays in range and makes them miss. If that been Oleg or Izon in there instead of Byrd, they would have still got dropped late by Tua.

 

also chris has a good chin.tua isn't cracking that chin easy like oleg's or izon's.

 

If Tua hit Byrd he would have hurt him badly. Watch Bowe Gonzalez and watch Bowe Golota and tell me that Bowe fought with the same stamina. Bowe was not in shape against Golota in either fight. He was in great fighting shape against Gonzalez even though his weight was higher and it showed in the fight. The last fight he took seriously was Gonzalez.

 

-Tua hit Byrd with his left hook in the first round, about as clean as his usual knockouts. Byrd could roll with a punch very well if he saw it coming.

-Well, Bowe wasn't in the best shape against Gonzalez either, but that wasn't the point.

 

Yes he was, it would be Bowes last serious camp. These two guys hated each other from the amatuer days.


As far as Tua, he hit a lot of guys solid early, but it was late where he won most of his fights, and he had nothing left late.

 

-Holyfiled I was the best shape I've seen Bowe in at that level.

-Tua has lots of early finishes too. Obed, Tubbs, Wilson, Moorer, and Ruiz. I have to revisit this one, but I actually recall Tua actually finishing strong as Byrd when into cruise control in the last round.

 

Tua never fought Tubbs oh maybe Nate Tubbs? his cousin. The guys more in Byrds class he all finished late. Ruiz was a bit green at the time.

 

Nate Tubbs...fresh off the Sanders win I think...Oquendo and Rahman were Tua's best late KOs. I think Oquendo got caught showboating or something stupid. Tua is a mixture, he could finish you early if you let him and he could stay in his shell all night, letting you outbox him, until he found his opening.

 

I didn't know Nate was his cousin. Interesting.

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I loved the fight. Who wouldn't when you pick the 7-1 dog?

Man, did the Tua backers jump off the bandwagon or what after this fight? They didn't even think it was a competitive fight and the Tuaman pretty much dropped in value to penny stock status after this.

I didn't think for 1 minute Tua was going to land clean on that upper body movement of Byrd's. And he'd get turned and peppered just like he had in other fights. But this guy was not going to fight stupidly and he'd go the distance easily. And I sure didn't think Tua would be comfortable against a southpaw. Tua needs guys that stand in front of him and have that easy to hit style. Byrd was the polar opposite. I like the way the Byrdman read everything Tua was going to do in there & his homework really shined. Pre-fight preperations and their ring IQ's are as far apart as their punching power was.

But lots of folks by into punching power outweighing every other advantage added up and it makes for terrific betting lines from time to time.

I also loved the folks picking Evander to have his way with Byrd also, although the odds weren't as wide as Tua.

 

Byrd is a ridiculously under appreciated talent ... to be a blown up 168 pounder and complete and excel to the degree he did at heavyweight was a terrific achievement ... he was a very talented fighter with a huge heart ... the Tua fight was classic Byrd .. he defeated a far larger, stronger man who was extremely talented and dangerous in his own right .. Byrd could have stayed at light heavyweight or cruiser and been an all time great .. he chose to go for the big guys in an age of giants and did damn well ... today he is written off by many who simply do not have a clue as to how talented and brave he was .. How would Joe Calzaghe or Bernard Hopkins done against the same David Tua ?

 

Wow..old bump.

Good discussion between me and Lefthook as usual.

 

To be honest... and I'm not trying to be cocky, but the fight went almost exactly as I thought it would. Byrd was a very good fighter until he fought W. Klitschko for the 2nd time.

 

There are/were quite a few good fighters that didn't look their opponent in the eye before the fight.

 

Theres a bit of irony here as Byrd tried to do exactly what Tua did by focusing on his body getting ripped and moving down to cruiser. He was easily defeated and looked horrible.

Bottom line, train regularly, keep your weight in check on your offtime and allow your weight and body to come down naturally during the course of training camp. When you're in camp you shouldnt be focused on losing weight, you should be focused on boxing and being sharp. The weight will come down through the course.

All these fighters who focus on cutting weight and drying themselves out really hurt their ring performance. Bowe against Golota and Holyfield 3, Tyson Douglas, Tua Byrd, Botha Lewis, etc.