Hindsight is 20/20. But did you think that Heavyweight Star CHRIS BYRD would have IMMEDIATELY lost at lght hvy

Question

Hindsight is 20/20. But did you think that Heavyweight Star CHRIS BYRD would have IMMEDIATELY lost at lght hvy

Answer 1

What never occured to Bryd is that the stuff that made him successfull at HW would not transfer over.

Bryd used his speed and skills agianst the usually bigger and slower HWs.

But in lower weights, fighters are going to be faster and more mobile. You could see the bewildered look on Bryd face against George, becaue was not use to such a faster oppoent beating him to the punch everytime. He even said this between rounds.

Not to mention, Bryd was already shot. Fighting against the Big Boys takes a lot out of a smaller guy that has to work harder to get a win, let alone survive.

Answer 2

YES, I had said beforehand that Chris Byrd was not suited for light heavyweight.  There were so many things going against him, but people got caught up in the hype and started thinking that since he was a former heavyweight titleholder, he would immediatlely dominate at 175.  What they forgot was that Byrd's biggest advantage was always that he could outsmart and outpunch the bigger and slower guys.  At 175, he didn't have that advantage because the guys at light heavwyeight are smaller and much faster than him, so he could not counter them like he did with the heavyweights.  The other thing is that no matter how much weight he loses, the fact still remains that he is past his prime.  He can drop down to middleweight, but his reflexes are still going to be slown down.  Plus, the fact that he took off that much weight in that short of a time was not healthy for him and it showed when Shaun George knocked him out.  You could see in the first round that he was gone because he looked slow and lethargic and lacked the energy that he used to have.  Its unfortunate what happened to Chris because he is one of the nicest guys in boxing and he worked really hard to get down to light heavyweight, but thats the risk that you take when you do something that drastic, especially in the world of boxing.

Answer 3

The dude who answered above needs to get with the program: Chris Byrd got stopped in nine two weeks ago by Shaun George at 175.

To answer the question: no, it surprised the f*ck out of me. Here's a guy that beat David Tua, Vitali Klitschko, Evander Holyfield and had the balls to get in there with Ike Ibeabuchi when others wouldn't, but then got beaten up and eventually TKOd by a light heavyweight.

Answer 4

To be honest i was quite shocked when i read a few questions and answers on the site about Byrd saying that he would rule the Light Heavy division, i thought he might be better at the weight than he has at Heavy as he has been appaling up there lately but the people who thought he would rule the world just because he dropped a couple of weights i thought at the time must just be big Chris Byrd fans because he never really showed me enough to think he would beat a Roy Jones Jr or a Bernard Hopkins or a Joe Calzaghe. It seems Chris is at a real crossroads now and retirement looks the answer to me. He is fast but not big enough as a Heavy but not fast enough to survive with the current crop of Light Heavys, he will only rack up more losses on his record if he continues. Its a shame as he seems like a nice guy.

Answer 5

I had assumed he would have picked an easy opponent for his first foray into LH, and that he'd win, but judge how well he fought.  I didn't think he could fight well as we all remember what happened to Roy Jones's career after moving up to HW, then back to LH.  I was surprised that he was beat the way he was, but that shoulder injury was no fake.  I'd like to see Byrd give it another go, perhaps a rematch, just to know for certain whether or not his body could adapt.  I bet Calzaghe was breathing a sigh of relief when Byrd lost...he would be feeling a little sandwiched between Byrd and Kelly Pavlik with nowhere to go but retirement.

Answer 6

I figured he would.   You cant just melt off all that weight, in such a short period of time,  and still function normally.   It's like taking parts of a race car and expecting it to still perform at top level.  

Ask Roy Jones Jr.  what happened to his CAREER when he decided to melt back to 175.  Chris is a smart guy.  I'm VERY surprised he didn't see this.    

It can be done but you MUST give your body TIME to adjust to the new weight.   In reality,  Chris should have taken at LEAST a year to allow his body to adjust to the return to 175.  

FAT people can lose weight and become MORE effective in nearly everything they do physically.   Atheletes can not do the same in most cases.   When you lose muscle you usually lose performance with it.   ROY, even more than Chris learned this the hard way because he lost ALL MUSCLE.  At least Chris had a good percentage of fat to lose.  

Chris should be fine but he should wait a while, get his strength back.

Answer 7

former ibf world heavyweight champion chris byrd would have been more than a handful at light heavyweight, imagine byrd against roy jones, antonio tarver, glen johnson, and joe calzaghe, the possibilties are endless.

Answer 8

no never in a million years