Will he dominate the Light Heavyweight Division ?

Question

Now that Chris Byrd has decided to fight at 175lb who agrees that he will be the next Champion? What are your thoughts on these potential opponents for Chris to face: 1. Joe Calzaghe 2. Roy Jones 3. Antonio Tarver 4. Bernard Hopkins and 5. James Toney ( if he wises up and drops weight ).

Answer 1

Calzaghe yes ok fight with chris bryd. Roy Jones it is over stay home sleep go fishing. Tarver has not won a meaningful fight since Jones so it would benfit him but not the crowd watching. Hopkins still one of my favorites but it might be time to throw in the towel. James who???? Oh that fat guy. No thanks.

Answer 2

I will watch Friday to see. I will say this thought Byrd is a spent fighter, and his best is behind him. At Heavyweight he could use defense to move and outbox slower opponents but at 175lbs against elite fighters he will see his advantage is not there as he thinks.

Answer 3

now  that joe calzaghe is champion, lets see how he handles roy jones, chad dawson, clinton woods, kelly pavlik, jermain taylor, and glen johnson including chris byrd and james toney.

Answer 4

I honestly don't see Chris Byrd making it far as a light heavyweight.  His greatest advantage was that he was able to counter and outpuch the bigger, slower guys.  At 175 pounds, he will not be able to do that because there are going to be guys that are faster than him.  I think that he would have done better at cruiserweight because he would still be facing guys that were bigger and slower than him.  It would be different if Byrd was a big puncher, but he has NEVER been a power puncher and I guarantee you that won't change at a new weight.  He may get stoppage victories against guys like Shaun George (who he'll face on Friday), but when he starts to face the elite younger and faster guys of the division (like Chad Dawson), he will still be the light hitter that he always was.  Plus, he can drop down all the weight he wants, but it doesn't change the fact that he is past his prime at 37 years old, and his past few fights have shown that his reflexes are not as good as they once were.  At 175, the faster guys will be able to hit him more easily than the heavyweights did.  I wish him the best, but I really can't see him making it to the top at 175 at this stage of his career.  As for your matchups:

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

Roy Jones, Jr.- This fight was actually rumored to take place after Roy moved up to heavyweight and beat John Ruiz, but it never materialized.  If they had fought in Roy's prime, then I would pick Jones at any weight becuase he was always the better fighter.  If they fought now, I might favor Byrd because I think that he has a little bit more left than Roy does.  Byrd is a little bit more active in his fights nowadays than Roy is, so I think that Chris may be able to outpoint him.

Antonio Tarver- This matchup would depend on who could get their combinations off first.  Tarver landed his combos non-stop against Clinton Woods, but that's because Woods fought like he didn't have a pulse.  Despite that good performance over Woods, Tarver is still the older man at 39 and he is not as fast or as good as he was when he knocked out Jones.  I could see Byrd outpointing Tarver, but I also could see it going the other way.  I will have to see how fast Byrd really is at 175 for me to make an accurate prediction.

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.

James Toney- I won't even discuss this fight at light heavyweight because there is no way that Toney can drop down to 175 pounds at this stage of his career.  If it had happened at heavyweight a few years ago, then I would favor Toney because he was always better defensively and he was stronger.  If it had happened at heavyweight now, I think that Byrd would have beaten him because Toney has looked like c**p in his last two fights and has been very inactive.

Edit, Decannadys01: there may not be younger fighters (except Chad Dawson), but my point is that he will not be able to have the advantages that he had at heavyweight, because the guys he will be facing will be smaller, and faster than him.  Meaning that he won't be able to outpunch them and counter them like he used to at heavyweight.  He can drop down to flyweight- it doesn't change that he is past his prime.

2nd Edit: The question was answered- NO, he will not dominate at 175 because he got TKO'd by Shaun George.  I knew he wouldn't make it far as a light heavyweight, but I didn't think that he would get dominated and stopped by a guy like Shaun George.

Answer 5

He has his first fight at LH this weekend.  Let's wait and see how he looks before predicting a thing.  Don't forget how much zip Roy Jones lost when dropping back to LH from HW.  Let's be honest here, if he keeps his ability, he's the top LH, beyond a doubt.  Looking back on his career, he probably would have had a long run at LH had he chose that weight.

Answer 6

Well, since HE just got dominated....NO!

Answer 7

I think he will could possibly be a force in the division thanks to a lack of talent in its prime.  

Of the boxers you have named:  Toney could never get down to 175.  Tarver would get destroyed by byrd.  I think Roy Jones best days are far behind him, Byrd wins UD.  BHop probably looks good- real good against Byrd for the first 4 rounds.  But loses a UD 8 rounds to 4.  Calzaghe could give Byrd a run for his money, but I think even here Byrd pulls it out.

Chris Byrd has always been underrated, his natural size and the power he brings, he will bring to light heavy with him.  He will not look emaciated like RJJ did against Tarver in the first fight because he has dropped the gradually and will have trained long enough for his conditioning to be good.

Answer 8

What people need to realize when they say he can't compete with the young fighters in that division, is that the young fighters aren't even dominating the weight class. you have b=hop, r. jones jr. antonio tarver still gets exposure at that weight class so if you get byrd in the light hvy. weight division after him hitting the weight room for his fight against klistzko(mispelled so what) and maybe get him a new trainer like one of the mayweathers who can show him how to turn his punches over so he can produce more power with his great boxing skills he'll give any of those guys a run for their money and i think he can actually have a great 2 -3 yrs. left in that body of his if you consider even though he's been ko'd before he haven't been in any real wars or really tough fights and tall fighters are able to last a lil while longer in the boxing game. and he seem to stay in pretty decent shape and i'll pick him against all the fighters mentioned and i pick a entertaining against j. toney if toney wanna finally actually get in shape.