Former heavyweight champion and Olympic middleweight Chris Byrd was recently hammered in Las Vegas by relatively unknown Brooklyn native Shaun George.  George landed his right hand at will against the once crafty and elusive slick heavyweight. 

The fight started with both men studying each other; however, it was George who began the aggression and Byrd had no replies to any of George’s power shots.  Byrd stumbled midway through the round and was knocked down in the last 30 seconds. 

Byrd was knocked down again in the second round and for the most part, Chris did not show any of the dominance and elusive style he had once displayed.  In the 9th round, the end finally came for the fallen fighter.  A right hand sent Byrd down again, and he landed awkwardly.  After being allowed to continue by referee Jay Nady, George rushed in and threw crushing hooks which sent Byrd to the canvas again. The fight was then mercifully stopped by Nady at 2:45 of the ninth round. 

Byrd started off his career like he ended it, not as a heavyweight fighter, but as a light heavyweight.  Within a couple of fights, however, he built his frame to that of a heavyweight and began taking on the big men in boxing. 

Byrd would fight many of them, and was often the smaller in both weight and height.  Byrd beat Wladimir Klitschko conqueror Ross Purity, and was outweighed by over 30 pounds.  Up until he was stopped against Ike Ibeabuchi, Byrd was a target that was not easy to hit.  Despite a cracked rib that Byrd had suffered during training, he gave as good as he got until the last minute of the fight. 

His next big shot was against Vitali Klitschko.  Klitschko was originally slated to fight former contender Donavan Ruddock, but Donavan pulled out seven days before the fight. Byrd went to Germany, gave it his all and with a little luck, won the fight, since Vitali tore his rotator cuff and was forced to quit on the stool.  Byrd was behind on all cards at the time of the stoppage, and with the win gained the WBO heavyweight title. 

Byrd would lose to younger brother Wlad in his next fight, being dropped twice on the way to a unanimous decision loss.

He would then fight David Tua in the final part of an eliminator for the IBF belt.  The hard hitting Tua was not able to land as often as he usually would and Chris gave a classic boxing lesson on his way to a comfortable unanimous decision.

After Lewis dethroned Mike Tyson, Lennox would elect to give up the IBF belt rather than fight Byrd.  After beating Tua in an elimination tournament, Chris would fight for the vacant title against Evander Holyfield.

Holyfield has always been known to pull of a stunning upset, but Byrd was too quick for the aging fighter and easily captured the title.  Byrd's crafty speed and reflexes were too much for Evander, and Chris cruised to a comfortable decision.

The Flint, Michigan native then took on Puerto Rican Fres Oquendo.  The scrappy affair was not as easy for Chris, who struggled in the fight but kept his title via a unanimous decision that some felt was controversial.  Oquendo took advantage of Byrd’s slow start and landed cleaner punches but as Fres tired out a bit, Byrd upped the tempo to take the later rounds.

It was clear that Byrd had to impress in his next fight, and not just escape with a victory.  His opponent would be Polish-born Chicago resident Andrew Golota.  Golota, who has always been famous for the wrong reasons, had the raw power and size to be a heavyweight champ.  Byrd tried to be a little more entertaining by staying in the pocket; however, the 36 year old Golota used that to his benefit.  Golota landed more punches than anyone had up to that point against Byrd, and threw more than Chris as well.  Again Chris escaped with his title by way of a draw.

Byrd would face a friend in his next fight, Jameel McCline. “Big” is the only way to describe Jameel.  While Chris was busier, McCline was simply looking to land the bigger punches and accomplished that in the second round.  Against the ropes, Byrd was sent down and survived the round.  McCline faded down the stretch, as Byrd was able to rally late to pull out a split decision victory.   

DaVarryl Williamson was next for Byrd.  In an ugly affair, Byrd out pointed Williamson to keep his title once again. 

After having promotional problems with Don King, Byrd would attempt to avenge his defeat by defending his IBF title against Wladimir Klitschko.  Klitschko was coming off three straight victories after his awkward loss against Lamon Brewster, including a tough victory against Samuel Peter where the Ukrainian was down three times. 

Wladimir made this fight even easier than the first time, however, as he threw everything in his arsenal against Byrd.  The devastating right hand was landing at will against the usually elusive Byrd.  Byrd was down in the fifth and managed to survive the onslaught that followed the rest of the round. Having survived the sixth round, Byrd was down again in the seventh and although he beat the count, referee Wayne Kelly took a look at Byrd’s bloodied face and stopped the contest. 

After taking a year off Byrd scored a stoppage in his comeback fight against Paul Marinaccio.  He would then participate in an IBF elimination match against Russian phenomenon Alexander Povetkin. 

Both fighters fought at an exciting pace, but, in most of the exchanges it was Povetkin who got the better of them. The fight became one-sided and Byrd’s father threw in the towel during the 11^th round to give Povetkin the TKO victory. 

It seemed that Byrd was likely to retire after this fight.  After all, the speed and defense and elusiveness that was once there was nowhere to be found in any of the recent fights against quality opposition. 

Byrd elected to move down to cruiserweight, and then down to light heavyweight since he decided he could make weight. 

Nevertheless, it was the same result as Byrd just did not have the speed or quickness to deal with the younger fighters.  Worse, his legs did not seem stable at all as he was dominated in the fight, and down on a few occasions.  Byrd took many heavyweight shots, but the light-heavyweight Shaun George easily stopped Chris. 

A lot has transpired since Byrd's first few pro fights.  He moved up to heavyweight where he not only lasted in the division, but won two world titles. Not only did Chris beat some of the best, but at times embarrassed them with his quickness and sneaky style.

If there was ever a time to call it a career, that time is now.  If his wife threatening to leave him if he ever fought again was not enough, Byrd does not seem to belong in any division anymore.  The once crafty fighter has turned into a punching bag.  Now is the time to call it a career and perhaps move on to becoming an analyst. 

After all, an originally middleweight fighter becoming a two-time champion in the heavyweight division makes for quite a successful career.
 

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