How is Chris Byrd going to do at Light Heavyweight? And why didn't he just drop to Cruiserweight?

Question

What happens with;

Chris Byrd vs Joe Calzaghe

Chris Byrd vs Bernard Hopkins

Chris Byrd vs Chad Dawson

Chris Byrd vs Antonio Tarver

Chris Byrd vs Roy Jones Jr

Chris Byrd vs Glen Johnson

Chris Byrd vs Clinton Woods

Answer 1

This is very dicey territory for Chris; Sure, he has always been a smaller heavy who started out at middleweight BUT he is nonetheless a 37 year old man who has fought at 205 plus for the past 15 years. That kind of weight loss can be trauma to the body. Can anyone say "Roy Jones"? I say everyone with perhaps the exception of RJ on the list could be able to take him.

Answer 2

I honestly don't see him making it that far at 175.  Byrd was at his best against bigger, slower opponents that he could outpunch and counter effectively.  At 175, there are going to be guys that are faster than him and now that Byrd is in his late 30s, his "Rapidfire" punches are not quite what they used to be, and he's never had the power to knock anyone out and that won't change at a new weight.  I feel that he would have been much better suited at cruiserweight because he would still be facing guys would be bigger and slower than him.

The reason why he went to light heavyweight is because he was always a very small heavyweight, and he was training to drop down to cruiserweight, but his weight dropped to around 185, and then he realized that he would be too small to fight at cruiserweight (which is 200 pounds).  So, he decided to drop down to 175 because he could make it easily.  Here is the video in which he explains this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t-J3BTf2...

As for your hypothetical matchups:

Joe Calzaghe- Joe wins because he is faster than Byrd, and Byrd does not have the power to stop him.

Bernard Hopkins- This would be a boring fight that could go either way.  I might favor Byrd because Hopkins is just so slow at this stage of his career and all he does is look for one punch at a time.  Byrd would probably be able to use his faster combinations to outpoint Hopkins in a dull fight.  Then again, B-Hop could rough him up and find a way to beat him, but I would not even really want to see this fight anyway.

Chad Dawson- Chad wins this one easily.  Every asset that Byrd has, Dawson is better at, especially SPEED.  Dawson also has more power, and is just way too young and fast for Byrd at this stage.

Antonio Tarver- Even though Tarver looked good against Clinton Woods, I still think that his best days are long gone, and Byrd is faster than him, so I could actually see Chris outpointing Tarver.  I could also see Tarver winning, but I would favor Byrd since he's faster.

Roy Jones, Jr.- This fight was actually being discussed after Roy beat John Ruiz, but it never materialized.  If they were to have fought back then (at heavyweight), I would have favored Roy pretty easily, but if it happens now (at light heavyweight), then I would probably favor Byrd because he is still a bit more active in his fights than Roy is at this stage, and he might be able to outpoint him.

Glen Johnson- I'll go with Glen on this one because he can set a pace that would make anyone uncomfortable and I think that he would get on the inside to beat Byrd by a decision.  If its an outside fight, its Byrd because he is faster and can land combinations and win rounds (like Dawson did against Johnson), but if its on the inside, its Glen's fight.

Clinton Woods- Byrd would probably win because when Woods fought Tarver he could not deal with his faster hands and awkward southpaw angles.  Byrd has faster hands than Tarver and is also a southpaw, so I would favor Chris by unanimous decision.

Answer 3

Not sure how he'll do in the division but i think the answer to why Light Heavy instead of Cruiserweight is in your question...........bigger names=bigger paydays...........David Haye was becoming well known but now he's moving on and that leaves the Cruiserweights vacant of any big names that people would recognize.

Answer 4

Is Chris really moving down?  I think too little too late.  He loses to Jones, Calzaghe, Dawson and Hopkins.  He beats the rest.

Answer 5

well he did look like he had alot of body fat maybe he will come in the ring cut up and ready for war a faster fighter with much of his heavyweight power retained i think he would have been better at cruiser i wondered the same thing

Answer 6

I think he will be solid. I am not sure if he can be great because of the beatings he took from Wladimir. So I am very curious.

Answer 7

he is a good fighter he will prove a challege for all these guys

thanks

~Cherokee74