Chris Byrd: A Rare Overachiver
Unfortunately Chris Byrd never earned the monster pay day. Sure, he had a fair amount of decent money fights, but due to his style being closer to Pernell Whitaker's than Joe Frazier's, he never was a draw in the heavyweight division. A heavyweight must be a genuine life-taker to become a fan favorite and draw at the box office. Muhammad Ali is the only heavyweight Super-star who wasn't a knockout artist. Boxing fans clamor to see a knockout scored by a supposed great heavyweight much more so than seeing him win with skill, speed and brains.
In January of 1993, Chris Byrd weighed 169 for his pro-debut. A year and a half later, the former 1992 Super-middleweight Silver medalist weighed 200 for his fourth pro fight. From 1994 through 2007, Byrd campaigned as a heavyweight, despite his light heavyweight body and bone structure. It was a calculated gamble, but he made the most it and had more ring success than he did financial success. Chris benefited fighting during an era of heavyweights that were much bigger than they were skilled. He realized that bigger in boxing is only an advantage when the bigger fighter can deliver his size and power. Which Byrd was very good at nullifying. The loose and relaxed Byrd undressed and exposed practically every heavyweight he confronted. He won a piece of the heavyweight title and defended it successfully. He gave former champ Vitali Klitschko his first defeat, and schooled David Tua, who may be the best single punch hitter since the 1970s version of George Foreman.
While still close to being at his best, he was only outclassed by two fighters, Wladimir Klitschko, currently the top fighter in the division, and Ike Ibeabuchi, who had the potential to be one of the best heavyweights to come along since Larry Holmes. The problem he had with Klitschko and Ibeabuchi is they were both very big and very skilled. Definitely too much for a full fledged light heavyweight, or probable Cruiserweight to handle.
Finally, after 13 years of sharing a ring with big heavyweights and being an overachiver, his body started to breakdown, resulting in him slowing down and getting hit more. In his last bout (10-27-07) as a heavyweight, he was stopped by Alexander Povetkin in the 11th round. The version of Byrd who fought between 1999 and 2003, would've won nine of 12-rounds versus the 13 fight Povetkin. After the loss to Povetkin, Chris thought he had enough left to drop down to the weight he maybe should've competed at earlier in his career. For the seven months between Povetkin and his last fight versus Shaun George, Byrd re sculpted his body and weighed in at 174 pounds, five more than he did for his debut 15 years earlier. The drop in weight led to Byrd getting injured, along with his confidence being shook. When he climbed into the ring to fight Shaun George, his body was shredded and cut. To some, he may have looked good, but to most respected boxing observers, he was really just an empty package, wrapped in pretty paper and a colorful bow. Chris was dropped in the first round, and it was evident from that point on, that he left his legs and punch in the training room. He found that his body paid the price fighting dinosaurs, and had nothing left, especially after he depleted it so much over the last seven months getting down to the light heavyweight limit. Byrd absorbed a terrible beating and took more punishment than I'd ever want to see him or any fighter take. He also had a few minor complications afterward, but has recovered and is fine now.
His wife and manager, Tracy, said she'll implore him not to fight again. I hope her influence makes the difference and she can save Chris from himself. Something that won't be easy, because Chris is a very tough and determined guy. Luckily, he's just as smart as he is tough. So I hope that he never laces them up again, and starts a new career passing along his experience and knowledge to those who could benefit from it. His options are open, and he can do almost anything he wants. I hope that's the direction he goes.
In closing, Chris and Tracy Byrd are very easy to cheer for. They happen to be two of the best people I've ever met, not just in boxing, but during my entire life. Those who know boxing respect Chris Byrd as a man and as a fighter, and we all know just how special and unique he was to accomplish everything he did in compiling a pro-record of 40-5-1.
Labels: Chris Byrd, Frank Lotierzo, Shaun George, Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko
posted by Frank Lotierzo @ 5:57 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Byrd seems like an admirable guy in every way. There was certain a lot to admire about him as a fighter. It’s hard to guess in which division he might have best flourished during his prime. I tend to think he may have been most effective at cruiserweight. He’d still have been on the smallish side, but would have held up against the biggest punchers in the division. And he would have still had noticeable advantages in speed over everyone else in the division. Additionally, the little bit of pop he had on his punches would’ve paid bigger dividends at the lighter weight. Because he’s already severely compromised physically, and because his method of dropping down to light heavyweight is so clearly the product of bodybuilding technology, there’s no chance at all to prove himself there. His career is over. I hope that he’ll stop fighting. I heard a recent interview with him in which he sounded clear-witted. One hopes that he leaves the game immediately, and that he will have quit early enough to have kept himself from long term damage.
The knockdowns in the recent fight were awful--the kind of stiff-legged marionette slam-downs that say his body's shot, even if his mind is clear. And I hope his mind is clear, and, like Charles and Frank, I hope he quits. I've always admired him, and I thought that at his best he did a fine job of winning rounds against stronger men without running from them, which I always find impressive. I may be the only human on earth who thought he was getting robbed by the judges vs. Vitali Klitschko when Klitschko quit. That was a great win, by the way, in part because Byrd had to come out of his defensive shell and break form to take it to the taller man, which he was doing when Klitschko decided he was done for the night. Once, late at night after covering a card of fights at Foxwoods, I found myself walking across a semi-deserted casino next to a TV color man, and I asked him what his problem with Chris Byrd was. He railed on about this and that, but what it came down to was, basically, he doesn't kill the other guy and so it's no fun to watch him. And that's from a guy who's supposed to provide the expert commentary on the finer points.
A lot of people apparently were shocked by how badly Byrd was beaten up in this fight. Here was a guy who had beaten Holyfield, Tua, and Klitschko, and had held his own as one of the top two or three heavyweights in his prime. Now a decent light heavyweight, but not a champion or top ten fighter, was manhandling him.
The likable and articulate Chris Byrd should retire from boxing and focus either on being a trainer and/or commentator. He loves being around the sport and was known to attend many live fights just to be there. He would be perfect to replace single-handedly the entire HBO crew.
One thing, though. I don’t know if it was exactly bodybuilding technology which he used to rebuild (and screw up) his body. He trained at the Xtreme Couture gym of mma fighter Randy Couture, and actually became part of that team.
Bodybuilding training is just for the participant to look good, for show, and has almost no correlation to developing the skills needed for either boxing or mma. Obviously, however, whatever he did, and took, backfired. There still is nothing like the old-fashioned training of the past.
No Carlo, you're not the only guy who thought he was getting robbed versus Vitali Klitschko. I too thought thought the same thing. And was shocked at how the fight had been scored. Then again I wasn't.
Before the fight, Frank and I discussed at some length Byrd's newly constructed high-tech body and agreed that Chris was in inescapably deep trouble. What's more, based on some of his pre-fight comments, it seemed clear that Chris knew it too.
One thing to appreciate about boxing is how it reveals basic truths, no matter how harsh, in the fullness of time. Byrd's heavyweight career was an extended tightrope act in which he dodged crushing blows and judiciously dished out much lighter ones, and the list of big men he beat is genuinely impressive. He seemed to be defying fate, but he was fighting with the grain of the craft: beating size and strength (and judges' and TV people's blindness or hostility to his virtues) with technique, intelligence, quickness, and courage. There's plenty of solid fight precedent for that transaction. But when he came back down in weight so fast, and so late in his career, he went against the grain of the craft--by tampering recklessly with his own body, and by going down to where there's more, not less, technical boxing ability and quickness (and courage, I might add: today's heavyweights might bring up the rear in that category, too, although I say this with the caveat that it's all relative, since any boxer has courage in quantities that non-boxers can't really understand). So he left himself open for a serious pounding, which is what he got, and it didn't require the light-heavyweight equivalent of Ike Ibeabuchi to administer it.
Coming down in weight so far had a deleterious effect, but Byrd's decline had been set in motion considerably earlier than that. As a slightly larger than average sized man, being hit in the head not just by Ike Ibeabuchi and both Klitschko brothers (Wladimir twice), but by Jameel McCline, Andrew Golota, Alexander Povetkin, and even guys like Ross Puritty (who can punch) and Fres Oquendo contributed dramatically to his erosion. I guess you can't add the tectonic plate thrower David Tua, since I don't recall him laying a glove on Chris. Even without Tua thrown into the equation, that's too much heavy firepower for a small guy to take. Real heavyweights tend to crumble fast once they start to go, and Byrd can't even be said to have been a genuine heavyweight. What strikes me as remarkable is that Byrd, an empty package at 175, managed to hang on for nine rounds when, by rights, he should have only lasted one. Character tells, I suppose.
I agree with the previous two post by Carlo & Charles. Chris Byrd is remarkably tough, and started to decline way before he fought Shaun George.
I happened to be watching with fans who never liked Byrd whatsoever, and none could help but be saddened to see him go out like that. Unfortunately the same internal qualities that drive a guy like Byrd to succeed as a HW against the odds meant it was inevitable he would sign up for a difficult challenge one last time.
Would that the accolades be given to these fighters while they were still in their primes. When we had the Boxing Writers’ Rankings Poll, in 2005, Chris Byrd would regularly come in number two at heavyweight, only behind Vitali Klitschko. At least once, I recall, he came in first.
The nature of the boxing business leads fighters, usually through their management and publicists, to denigrate potential foes in search of landing a fight with them. Each deal is individually struck, with real mandatories being a farce. There thus is always a cloud of negativity about the fighters themselves hanging over the sport. Most of the boxing media, either to shill for management or because of ineptitude, fail to combat this negativity, and actually perpetuate it. (Of course, these same scribblers are too often silent when screaming is in order.)
So let us celebrate the top fighters before they end up as old men being counted out while doctors rush into the ring to tend to them. They may not be Ali or Louis, but they are among the best we have today, and they risk their lives time and again for our pleasure.
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