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| Thursday, August 16 |
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| A lighter Byrd prepares for Tua By Doug Fischer maxboxing.com | |||
When Chris Byrd steps in the ring against David Tua
on Saturday, Aug. 18, in a 12-round battle for the right to
become the mandatory challenger for the International
Boxing Federation's heavyweight title, he will weigh
30 to 40 pounds less than the squat but hard-hitting
Samoan from New Zealand.
"I'm a 217 now," Byrd, a 6-foot bronze medalist from
the '92 Olympic Games in the 165-pound division, told
media in an international conference call held
Thursday. "I'll weigh about 212 pounds on fight night.
That's a good fightin' weight for me. That's Ali
fightin' weight."
Muhammad Ali used to call 212 pounds a "good dancin'
weight" and that's what Byrd, 33-2 (19), will have to
all night against the murderous left-hooking Tua, 38-2
(33), at the 3,100-seat Cox Pavilion at the Thomas &
Mack Center in Las Vegas. Byrd can float like a
butterfly, but unlike Ali, he doesn't sting like a
bee. Since Byrd ventured into the heavyweight division
in his fourth pro fight (he fought at 169, 172 and 193
pounds in his first three fights) more than seven
years ago, his game has been to make his naturally
bigger-but-slower opponents miss their heavier
punches, then land his own and either frustrate them
over the distance or force them to quit under an
unrelenting barrage of shots.
What Byrd does is the "Sweet Science" in its purest
form and it's what Ali used to do so well in the 1960s
and '70s, but back then the top heavyweights in the
world weighed between 205 and 215 pounds. Those days
are long gone with the likes of the 6-foot-7,
240-pound super heavies like the Klitschko brothers,
Vitali and Wladimir (both of whom Byrd has fought) and
other giant contenders like Lance (Goofi) Whitaker and
Jameel McCline, and the elusive southpaw from Flint,
Michigan knows it.
"[The division] is changing," Byrd said. "When I first
turned pro, I was considered a normal heavyweight. Now
I'm a cruiserweight who fights heavyweights."
Byrd said the overlooked 190-pound division may be an
option if Tua beats him decisively in the Aug. 18th
main event that will be televised by the Showtime
cable network at 11 p.m., ET/PT. But he gives himself
a good shot to beat the 5-foot-10 slugger who has KO
victories over the two current heavyweight titlists
John Ruiz (holder of the World Boxing Association
belt) and Hasim Rahman (the IBF and World Boxing
Council champion). Byrd, briefly held the lightly
regarded World Boxing Organization heavyweight title,
a belt he won from Vitali Klitschko in Germany last
March.
Although the older and bigger of the Klitschko
brothers was close to eight inches taller and 40
pounds heavier than Byrd, the smaller challenger never
stopped trying to win and eventually out-lasted the
statuesque (in both physique and fighting style)
champion, when the Ph.D. holder quit on his stool
between the 10th and 11th rounds because of an injured
shoulder.
"For me fighting bigger guys is just a challenge,"
Byrd said. "I've got a little man's mentality. I never
quit. You rarely see little guys quit, but you see big
guys do it all the time."
In Byrd's next fight he was badly beaten over 12
rounds by Vitali's younger and more talented brother
Wladimir, the '96 Olympic gold medalist, who dropped
the smaller man twice en route to a one-sided
unanimous decision win. Byrd suffered scratched
retinas in both eyes, but continued to fight despite
the terrific pounding he absorbed that night.
He doesn't get credit for it, but Byrd is as tough as
they come in boxing. The only man to knock out Byrd is
currently on lock down. Ike Ibeabuchi, the mentally
unstable Nigerian nightmare who was the first man to
hand Tua a loss in a terrific 12-round war in '97,
stopped Byrd in five rounds two years ago. Byrd pretty
much had things his way for four rounds until he
foolishly spent too much time dipping and slipping
murderous shots with his back against the ropes. He
got caught.
It's a mistake Byrd won't make again.
"Ike hit me with one of the cleanest left hooks anyone
could be hit with and I still got up," he said. "I
still think it was stopped a little too soon, but
that's OK. I'm more cautious now. I box and move and I
fight my fight.
"That's my thing -- going 12 rounds. [Tua] ain't gonna
beat me if it goes the distance. He has to knock me
out to win."
And that's what many members of the boxing press
expect to happen sometime between rounds one and 12.
It only takes one punch from Tua, who is no stranger
to tracking an elusive opponent down and stopping him
late.
Tua trailed Rahman (KO 10 in '98), Oleg Maskaev (KO 11
in '97), and David Izon (KO 12 in '96) nine, 10 and 11
rounds respectively before finally catching up to them
and lowering the boom -- his left hook.
Can Tua do it against Byrd, who is coming off an
impressive points win over dangerous-but-undisciplined
Maurice Harris in May of this year? Since stopping
Rahman in controversial fashion on Dec. 19th, '98 (he
landed a hook after the bell ending the ninth round ),
Tua, who used to fight in the low 220s, has put on 30
pounds and now seems to be stuck in first gear against
higher caliber opponents. He could not catch up to
Lennox Lewis in their lackluster title bout last
November, but earlier this year he did find the jaw of
Danell Nicholson, who basically evaded Tua for five
rounds with only a jab and lateral movement.
So who knows whose style will prevail?
"What we have is a short, pure puncher against a
regular-sized, pure boxer," said Byrd. "It's an
interesting matchup."
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