Chris Byrd, 37 Pounds Lighter Than Last Time
The shadow of Chris Byrd (40-4-1) will make his much ballyhooed light heavyweight debut tonight against Brooklyn’s Shaun George (16-2-2) on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights (9:00 p.m. EST).
Byrd’s most recent fight was last October when he was TKO’d in the 11th against 2004 Athens Super Heavyweight Olympic gold medalist Aleksandr Povetkin. Povetkin weighed in at 226 1/4, Byrd at 211 1/4. It was a far cry from Byrd’s own Olympic medaling weight: a svelte 165.
After winning the middleweight silver medal in Barcelona 1992 Byrd immediately placed himself on the heavyweight trajectory. “Guys I knew I could beat (at heavyweight) were making money,” he explained to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “(so) I started eating and didn’t stop.”
In the midst of his eating Byrd won a few heavyweight titles and faced the best the weight class has to offer in its present-day pathetic state. Namely the Klitschko brothers, losing to Wlad twice and defeating Vitali. After losing to Povetkin, Byrd thought “What else do I have to prove?” So instead of slogging for purses by traveling to Germany and facing more eastern Europeans heavys Byrd decided to drop a few weight classes and make his living fighting in Vegas.
Byrd’s dramatic weight loss - as seen when comparing the two accompanying photos - has been well documented by Tim Smith in both the New York Daily News and on ESPN.com. The, er, skinny: 37 pounds lost since his last fight. Las Vegan yes. Vegan no. Meats and animal products OK, just in small portions. His real secret? Seven miles of running a day and hard training.
His physique as seen in the ESPN.com video is astounding. He is so fit and so quick that he is hardly recognizable. Byrd’s fighting style tonight could be just as perplexing.
Will the southpaw revert to his early career technical style which wowed boxing purists and put everyone else to sleep, will he stay stationary and bully his smaller, less experienced opponent, or will a newer, quicker Chris Byrd emerge?
Byrd is one of the sport’s most intelligent and savvy competitors, some have even argued that his advanced boxing acumen and mathematical style may have been too complex for the average fight fan and soured his heavyweight commercial success.
He won’t need to rely on his smarts as much against fighters his own size and that should make for a veritable rising phoenix. We’re excited to see the 175-pound Byrd fight and eager for what we think will be a pleasant surprise. Our hunch is that Byrd might want to rethink his stated year-end retirement because there are a lot of big money light heavy bouts out there and tonight’s fight could solidify his place high in the pecking order. Watch closely Joe Calzaghe. Watch closely.
For more on tonight’s fight also check:
Las Vegas Review-Journal’s profile of Shaun George and the Fightwriter.com’s preview.
Photo Source: Newscom.com
Tags: Aleksandr Povetkin, Chris Byrd, ESPN2, Friday Night Fights, Joe Calzaghe, light heavyweights, Olympians, Olympic Medalists, Shaun George, Vitali Klitschko, Wlad KlitschkoRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Boxing
1 opinion for Chris Byrd, 37 Pounds Lighter Than Last Time
Chris Byrd’s Debut As A Smaller Man Goes Wrong
May 17, 2008 at 8:15 am
[...] All our pre-fight thoughts regarding Byrd were wrong. His 37-pound weight loss and heavyweight experience did not help him one bit. Rather they proved to be severe hindrances. Byrd looked lost and unfamiliar with his new body, confused about the fight’s speed, too slow to present any kind of defense, and too weak to land any meaningful blows. [...]
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