Chris Byrd stopped in his first fight at light-heaviweight in Round 9?

Question

Did anybody watch Byrd fight against that shaun George guy?

If so what did you think about it?

Answer 1

He looked weak the things we usually see from Chris Byrd the sharp punches and elusiveness were gone. When i heard he lost weight and moved down to light heavyweight i was skeptical to begin with. Chris has a lot of class and he knows his time is over i think he is probably going to call it quits. I think that Shaun George could have showed a respected former champion like Chris more respect once the fight was stopped he was yelling  out names he wanted to fight and jumping around the ring. I think that was disrespectful especially when Chris has always been a Boxing good guy.

Answer 2

Yes, he was getting dominated and then he was TKO'd against Shaun George.  I had said before the fight that Byrd was not suited for light heavyweight because his greatest advantage was always that he could outpunch and counter the bigger, slower guys.  However, I didn't expect for him to prove me right by getting stopped by a guy like Shaun George.  This fight showed that he cannot outsmart and counterpunch the faster, smaller fighters- he can drop down to middleweight, but it doesn't change the fact that he is still past his prime, and his reflexes are not what they used to be, especially at 175 pounds where the punches are coming in much faster than they were at heavyweight.  I feel bad for Chris because he worked hard to get down to light heavyweight, but thats the risk you take when you're in boxing.

Answer 3

I wasn't surprised at all, I saw the weigh-in pics and Byrd looked like an anorexic. Here's the thing, when one puts their body through drastic changes things like these are bound too happen. Byrd's best bet would've been to go down to cruiserweight were it wouldn't have been that much of a drastic change. See also: Roy Jones Jr (after going back from heavy to light heavy), Antonio Tarver (having to shed all the pounds he put on to make the Rocky movie), Diego Corrales (jumping two weights in between to fight Clottey).

Answer 4

I saw that. Yeah, I was very curious about this. Someone who is used to being a heavyweight can't just drop weight and expect to be able to compete with someone who is naturally 175. George was used to being 175. When I was in high school, I used to wrestle. Sometimes I'd wrestle in the 177 class, but sometimes I'd get bumped to 215. I found the 215 easier, even though I only weighed 175 myself at the time because I was faster than them.

I also don't believe that Byrd was injured early. Good excuse, but when his father was interviewed in the 7th round, he made no mention of an injury.

Answer 5

of course.  Mark is right- he losed any advantage he have at heavy waeight.  He looked skinny and tired.  Maybe he should retire.

Answer 6

Chris tore or pulled his rotator cuff in his shoulder in the first round last night with the first fall (should have stopped it there).  That's why he didn't throw any of his "south paw" punches - his left shoulder was out.  Then it got messed up even more at the end.

He's a super good guy.  I was hating what I saw!!!

Even worse, he was given too much of combination morphine and valium in the locker room after the fight to try and put the shoulder back in place...this put him in a comma and he was rushed to the hospital.  They gave him other drugs to counter act what he had been given in the locker room and he is out of it and recooping.

Answer 7

Just because you lose weight does not make you a light heavy weight the same thing happen to Roy Jones Jr.  when he went from heavy weight to light heavy weight it takes time for your body to ajust the light heavy weight div is the tuffest div because they hit like a heavy weight and they are as fast as a middle weight I fought in this weight classs my whole life. CHRIS bYRD CAN COME BACK IT IS JUST GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME i WISH i HAD SEEN THE HOLE FIGHT

Answer 8

I didn't see the fight, but clearly this answers the question "How much does Byrd have left?"  Age and the effects of the weight loss clearly impacted much more adversely on Byrd than we expected, he is nearing the end of his career and should think about hanging up the gloves.