12.02.04 – By Elliot Worsell: Middleweight great Marvin Hagler once explained why he was so fearfully avoided during his reign of terror in the early 80’s by stating ‘I’m black, I’m a southpaw, and I can fight’.
Parallels could be drawn with consummate ease to the current state of IBF heavyweight kingpin Chris Byrd; the elusive American southpaw who has often had to take his show on the road in search of risky and meaningful fights.
Byrd, standing at 6 foot 1 and weighing barely north of 200 pounds come fight night, is the ‘David’ of the heavyweight division to everyone else’s ‘Goliath’. He is an unwanted commodity and adds depth to the old adage that a fighter hates being humiliated as much as being knocked out. Byrd is not a concussive puncher. He is not even a dangerous fighter in that sense. But he has more tricks up his sleeve than David Copperfield and Paul Daniels combined and thrives upon unleashing them on the fragile big guys of the heavyweight division.
IBF champion Byrd offers his own insight on why he has been so ruthlessly evaded throughout his accomplished ring career.
‘Oh man. I’m a southpaw, I’ve got good skills for a heavyweight, I can outbox anyone, and I’m not even a true heavyweight. Other guys cannot face those facts. I call myself ‘The Test’, and these guys don’t want to take the test, because they really can’t study for it. I’m difficult to fight and I’m very competitive, I’m not just some small heavyweight who comes in and when a big guys hits me I’m gonna fold, or quit. I’m gonna keep fighting and stay in there. Against Wladimir Klitschko I was all swelled up and I kept fighting till’ the last bell rung, because I’ve got that determination to win, and that’s why a lot of big heavyweights, or any heavyweights for that matter don’t want to face me. They know 1. It’s hard to fight my style and 2. I’ve got a pretty good chin and I ain’t just gonna give up.’
33-year-old Byrd started his pro career back in 1993, following a flourishing amateur career that saw him capture silver at the 92’ Barcelona Olympics, as a fully-fledged middleweight.
Weighing in at merely 167 lbs for his first pro fight against Gary Smith, from that point on, it was onwards and upwards for Flint, Michigan’s Byrd, and not just in terms of success.
‘Heavyweight was where the big challenge was and of course you can make more money up against the big guys.’ Byrd explained.
‘You can make money in any division if you’re a marquee name and if you’re very good. But at the time, that was where the major challenge was (heavyweight). I didn’t see myself fighting James Toney or Roy Jones at middleweight being a young professional, and I knew I would have probably topped out at 175 lbs which is light heavyweight, and there wasn’t nothing there. So I was like ‘hey I might have to jump all the way up to heavyweight’, so I did and it worked out for me.’
The move to join world boxing’s big men proved successful for Byrd, as he captured his first professional title when stopping Mike Rouse in 6 rounds for the USBA strap back in March 1995. Byrd enjoyed mixing with the heavyweights, and continued to rack up wins against physically bigger men, the likes of Ross Puritty, Eliecar Castillo and wild old veterans Frankie Swindell and Jimmy Thunder. If the big guys lined up in front of him, Byrd would confuse, dupe and bamboozle them to defeat, employing a defence orientated style that has attracted criticism at times.
‘Of course I get hassle for it. We’re in an era of big guys and big punchers. There are very few guys that can box and are fluid boxers. There’s not many guys that think about what they’re doing in there and throw lots of accurate punches whilst on the move. Everyone wants a KO. Big name guys coming out to fight me? I can never see it happening. I’m a southpaw and hard to fight. I love a great challenge with the big guys but they don’t wanna do it.’
Byrd gives credence to why he believes he is still something of an unknown commodity in the heavyweight ballpark. Ringleader Lennox Lewis chose to bin his IBF portion of the title rather than face the ‘unattractive’ Byrd, a decision that seemed to pour scorn on a title shot the game Byrd deserved.
‘I don’t hold no grudges. But in my opinion if you’re going to continue boxing, fight the best guys out there. Even if the style doesn’t mesh with yours and the fight may not be a major event, still fight the recognised best guys out there because you still want to maintain the number 1 heavyweight in the world status. Right now if Lennox retires that’s cool, he went out at the top and he stayed there. But don’t hold the division up, and pick and choose who your going to fight. There’s a lot of hungry guys out there who want to make a living and want to win a title, but when you’ve got a guy like Lennox Lewis holding onto a belt and holding up the division it’s easier said than done.’
The Lewis cold shoulder hasn’t held up Byrd in the slightest. Anything but in fact. Upon winning his first world title, a WBO title triumph against the injured Vitali Klitschko in Germany, Byrd has fought an array of top heavyweight contenders and last December captured the IBF portion he chased in vain for so long, by beating Evander Holyfield.
Byrd’s first successful defence of that title, a tooth and nail scrap with Puerto Rican contender Fres Oquendo, was clouded in controversy. Many in attendance believed Byrd deserved to lose a fight in which he had adopted the wrong tactics, and had begun to believe he really was a true heavyweight. Byrd clinched when he’d usually spin and roll, he’d slug when he’d usually box, and most importantly he’d lead when he’d usually follow. It all led to a very messy affair, that Byrd is quick to summarise.
‘I thought I pulled it out, especially in the last couple of rounds, but the fight was just a sloppy fight, a lot of holding and grappling and it wasn’t really about punching. I don’t hold in a boxing match, I usually don’t need a referee around cos’ I don’t clinch. It just turned into a really sloppy fight and people say ‘Fres made you fight his fight’, no, this was just one fight where I wanted to fight. I wanted to go forward and show the people that I can stand in there and slug it out with anybody; I was determined to do it. And the thing is, yeah, close fight, but I got the win, and I’ll move on. I wasn’t pleased with my performance, and that’s what matters, I know what I done wrong. I don’t worry about people criticising whether I won or lost, I’m still champion and I can move onto other fights. If Fres wants another fight, cool, I’m never gonna duck anybody.’
Byrd’s last non-active ring role was to lend commentary support to US TV on the mammoth December 13 Don King Bill from Atlantic City. A rare chance for Byrd to eye up the heavyweight landscape, and in particular closely follow the WBA interim title row between John Ruiz and Hasim Rahman. Ruiz of course came out on top in a messy affair, but Byrd, it seems is no closer to fighting him.
‘I was looking to fight the winner of that fight, and I hope it comes off, but I don’t see unification ever in my professional career to be honest. It may happen one day, I’m a true believer in the lord and it may turn out he wants me to be unified, but I don’t have a choice who I can pick to fight, and all the other champions don’t want to unify with me, so what can I do? The wrong guy has got the title it seems. Unification with me is almost impossible.’
So where does the oft avoided Byrd go from here? Don King promoted and with a style that doesn’t equal dollars and marquee value, Byrd has to pick and choose from those who make themselves available for ‘The Test’.
One man, who if he’s to be believed, has put his name down, is former WBO heavyweight champion Herbie Hide.
‘I haven’t heard anything about it, that’s actually pretty funny. If everything is right then I’m the guy who doesn’t turn anybody down, so I’d fight him. I’m not gonna say I wouldn’t fight Herbie Hide, if it can be made with Don King, he knows his number tell him to call him. And if it’s right we’ll make the fight. But for now, I haven’t heard anything about it.’
‘My next fight is in March, and I’m deadly serious, I’ll fight absolutely anyone on that date. I don’t care if I fight Vitali Klitschko, James Toney, Roy (Jones), it doesn’t matter, throw anybody at me, Corrie Sanders, anybody, just sign the contract. Don’t talk trash, sign the contract. Then we can get it on and move along.’
With guys like Mike Tyson, James Toney and Roy Jones blocking the heavyweight airwaves with cheap insults and macho boasts, and with the queue to face Byrd resembling a tour bus line to Compton, LA, one has to wonder whether the intrusive Byrd has ever contemplated changing his style to bring more dollars into the picture.
‘I’ve thought about that a lot, but people tell me ‘man, that’s not your style of boxing, just stay with what you do best’. When I fought Fres my mindset was to go forward and to try and make a fight, get in there and rough him, and it backfired on me big time. I won a title doing what I do best and that’s boxing, I cant change the way I fight to please people and to get bigger fights or more money, I’ve just got to use the skills God gave me and box the way that I box.’
‘I use all my skills to the best of my ability, and if I’m successful with them there ain’t no point in changing. I’m not even a true heavyweight, so people have to accept that I have to do things my way to make up for the weight difference I have to face in all my fights. For example, I only weigh about 200 lbs when I weigh in with my clothes on. I was 211 when I fought Fres, then within 24 hours when I got in the ring I’d lost 5, 6, 7 pounds. That’s how my body works; I probably got in the ring at about 202 lbs.’
These astonishing facts about Byrd, and the way his body works, make it even more awe inspiring to think he has traded hell and leather with explosive heavyweight hitters such as Nigerian banger Ike Ibeabuchi, Ukrainian sky scrapers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, and of course a comprehensive points drubbing of the sledgehammer fisted David Tua. Ibeabuchi, who stopped Byrd in 5 rounds, was a special talent, Byrd recollects.
‘Oh in my opinion he would have ruled the division for a while. A true slick boxer had a chance of beating him, because you’re not gonna keep him off, but you can out slick him and feint long enough to win rounds and win a decision. But I don’t see anybody in there banging with him, cos’ he’ll just run through most of these guys. A lot of big guys can’t fight going backwards. Ike was a killer, he was a destroyer, he would go straight ahead and was like a young Tyson. He didn’t have the big one punch knockout power of Tyson but he could put them together and he was just a beast in the ring. His style of boxing would have meant he just runs through a lot of these boxers now because they don’t know how to fight going backwards, how could they keep him off?’
‘To be perfectly honest with you, I’d pick Ike to beat Lennox Lewis without hesitation. Lennox, great skills, very big man, if he could have kept him at bay long enough with the jab and hit him with the big right hands to keep him in check he has a chance of beating him, but Lennox can’t fight well going backwards. And you’ve got a guy that’s 6’2, 245 lbs of solid muscle coming straight at you all the time and who can take a hell of a punch. It would have been hard for Lennox to keep him off.’
With so much mixed opinion on today’s heavyweight division, one is left confused as to whether it is the worst bunch of big guys in the last century, or a batch of 20 heavyweight’s who are all on an even plateau, and whose competitiveness translates into excitement for boxing fans. Byrd’s opinions land somewhere in between.
‘Era’s of the past had fighters that were household names because of free TV. There were loads of known heavyweights, and this era doesn’t compare well to past eras because there are not many name heavyweights around. I think it’s a great era of heavyweights though because the titles keep changing hands and there isn’t really one dominant guy who is running the division anymore. So it makes for competitive fights and you go into fights not being scared of the opponent, because you know you could be champion of the world the next day.’
‘I think this era is great; it’s wide open and everybody’s got a chance to not only win a title but make some money if the guy fights regularly. You’ve got guys like Lennox Lewis, who is just holding up the division, and you’ve got Roy Jones with his WBA title holding up the division. The sanctioning bodies are allowing these guys to pick and choose who they fight and when they want to fight, they can do this, do that, and yet they can still hold their belt. There’s other guys like ‘The Rock’ (Rahman) and John Ruiz fighting for the interim title who are hungry, they want to win a title, they want to make matches and that’s how boxing should be. It’s a great time for boxing except for a few guys in the division that are holding it up.’
Which begs the question, how would the ‘old school’ style of Chris Byrd have slotted into heavyweight eras of the past when more emphasis was placed on brain over brawn and mobility over knockouts?
‘Oh man, I look at guys that are around my size and heavyweights from the past, and I’m like ‘damn, I don’t see a heavyweight my size beating me’. I look at Roy, he’s a small guy, I look at James Toney as just a blown up middleweight like myself, but I’ve been fighting up in the heavyweight division for a long time now, and they are smaller compared to me. If I was put in with heavyweights from the past, I would have been kicking some butt. There was some great heavyweights back then and some of them guys may have gotten me but I still feel that I would have ruled in that era.’
Without the assistance of a time machine, Byrd will have to continue to master what he has been doing for the last decade. Fighting bigger men on their terms. There are two newcomers to the heavyweight picture that perk up the interest of Byrd, who it seems has become somewhat disillusioned with heavyweight rivals and the idea of unification battles.
‘Oh yeah, I want to fight both those guys, Roy Jones and James Toney, and we can fight at cruiserweight or light heavyweight, any weight. It’s great to have them in the division, but fighting wise we’re all small heavyweights so lets do it. I’m the only one screaming, I’ll fight both of them. I’m holding a portion of the heavyweight title and Roy doesn’t want to unify and James doesn’t want to get a portion of the heavyweight title. He’ll talk trash and he’ll pick and choose who he wants to fight but he doesn’t want a heavyweight title, that’s crazy. All he can do is talk; he’s been talking all his career, now it’s time to fight. Stop the talking.’
‘Toney’s talking trash about me all the time saying he’s gonna kick my butt. But we can do it in the state of Michigan where it would be a big fight because both of us are from Michigan, but he don’t want it. He’s picking on the wrong guy cos’ I’m not the one who is gonna back down. All he’s doing is just talking about the fight; I want him to bring it. He needs to shut his mouth because he don’t know what he’s getting into.’
Trading verbals with a cutthroat guy like Toney is about as rewarding as contesting an ‘all you can eat’ challenge in Texas, yet it appears Byrd is drawn into these kind of slanging matches because his phone has gone stale. Byrd has proved in the past that he will fight all comers, and with his 34th year approaching, he still holds hope that a big, tantalising heavyweight match up can be made involving him.
‘I’ve achieved everything I want to achieve in the sport. I’ve won a portion of the heavyweight title, and I’m not looking to unify, because as I said these guys don’t want to fight me and I shouldn’t have to make the first move. When I beat Evander Holyfield for the title, I thought ‘hey, lets unify’ but the more I say it, the more people turn the other way, so I don’t really look at unification anymore. If it happens, cool, if it don’t, it don’t. So I’m just going to enjoy myself fighting anybody who wants to fight me. I know I need big fights as my career is coming to an end, and I need to fight the best guys out there so when I leave boxing I know I was a guy who fought the best guys and was willing to take anybody at anytime, anywhere. I’m just having fun now.’
A religious, quietly spoken, family man, who shows as much grace in the ring with his fleet footed canvas movements as he does in his post fight interviews, Byrd knows that retirement will soon be knocking at his regularly open door. For Byrd, when retirement approaches, boxing remains.
‘I’d like to go into coaching, or even do some commentating on boxing. Anything dealing with boxing would be great because that’s been my life since I was 5 years old, and I enjoy it and hopefully can continue to help and keep young guys in boxing and train some good fighters. I’d also like to be involved in the ministry and work at my local church, and with that and some involvement in boxing, that would be retirement.’
His educated and calculated views on the sport he loves would be greatly appreciated when he bows out. Discussing why he believes boxing is perceived as being ‘down in the dumps’ at the moment, Byrd raises some insightful points.
‘If I could change one thing about the way the sport is run today it would be to make guys fight for their titles more often and forcing mandatory fights. Force the mandatory fights or strip them of their title. I know they strip them in some cases but I mean drop them completely. If you aren’t gonna fight then I think you should be suspended or fined, it’s crazy. You work you’re hardest to become a number one contender, then the champion just avoids you, is that fair? You can go ‘I don’t wanna fight him, I’ll just give up my belt’. That’s a coward’s way out. Hey I think we should just suspend them. Suspend them or fine them. No one wants to lose money, and if you threaten to fine them, they are gonna fight a whole lot more.’
‘That’s the problem with boxing, everybody wants a title but you’ve got certain guys who’ve made so much money and have won a few titles and then the title means nothing to them. Then you’ve got guys like myself where the title means everything, that’s what I live for and that’s what I dreamed of, and guys try and deprive you of that dream, it’s not fair.’
Byrd’s articulate and intelligent persona owes a lot to his safety first, longevity-guaranteed style of fighting. Chris Byrd fights the way Chris Byrd wants to, and it works for him. Although he greatly values the opinion of outsiders, Byrd is a guy who is all about doing what he has to do, to achieve what he wants to achieve.
It’s not often you’ll hear Chris Byrd and legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin mentioned in the same sentence, but one thing they undoubtedly share in common is ‘respect’. Aretha sung about it, Chris Byrd prays for it.
‘When I retire, I just wanna be respected. That’s how I’d like to be remembered. You may not like me and you may not like the way I fight, but you respected me as not only a fighter in the ring who was willing to face everybody, but as a person. I treated you right, I was the type of guy that was kind and who loved the sport of boxing, and I will continue to do so.’