A Byrd in the Hand
By Sean Newman (April 20, 2006) 
Photo © Everlast
When Wladimir Klitschko steps into the ring this weekend in Manheim, Germany to face Chris Byrd in his first legitimate title fight, he will do so as the favorite to lift Byrd’s crown, and with good reason. Primary among the reasons Klitschko should win this fight is that, while Byrd has been sitting down on his punches more recently, he isn’t likely to have Wladimir fumbling around on the canvas the way Corrie Sanders, Lamon Brewster, and Samuel Peter did. Byrd has been the IBF heavyweight titlist for going on four years now, and he hasn’t scored so much as a single knockdown during that time.

Klitschko, 45-3 (40), has been accused and convicted by the boxing media of having little stamina and a non-existent chin. However, looking at the aforementioned trio of Sanders, Brewster, and Peter, and including DaVarryl Williamson, it seems Klitschko has faced a virtual murderer’s row of punchers in his last several fights. When he faces light-hitting boxers like Byrd and Eliseo Castillo, he excels, and there is a big reason for this: confidence. When Klitschko enters the ring believing he cannot be hurt by his opponent, he excels. This belief in turn benefits his stamina, because he doesn’t waste energy with nervous tension.

Wladimir will also be fighting in front of a hometown crowd against a man he thoroughly bested in October 2000. Back then, Byrd was in his fighting prime, a slippery boxers with unworldly defensive skills. While Klitschko has had problems in his recent fights, he will enter the ring with the knowledge that he is fully capable of administering a beating to Byrd, who is now a much more stationary target than he was in fight number one.

Byrd, on the other hand, is motivated to avenge that loss, which he continues to claim was caused by a foreign substance that was allegedly on Klitschko’s gloves. Whatever. Byrd has either lost a step or has become bored with fighting guys he does not view as a challenge or who he happens to be friends with. Either way, it has shown in his last several fights, where he was lucky to escape with decision wins over Fres Oquendo and Jameel McCline and a draw with Andrew Golota. In his last fight, he and Williamson engaged in a waltz that beat whatever sleep aid you use all to hell.

This time, thankfully, it will be different. Byrd has every reason to come into this fight more mentally focused than he has been possibly since winning his vacant title in 2002 against Evander Holyfield. Byrd has made clear that he wants the referee in this fight to make sure that Klitschko does not get away with excessive holding, so we should see a good scrap. I can’t see that boding well for Byrd, unless for some reason Klitschko tires once again.

Klitschko should and probably will keep Byrd at the end of his considerable reach advantage, busting Byrd up similarly to the way he did years ago, only this time the fight will end inside the distance. Look for Klitschko to lower the boom on Byrd somewhere in the middle rounds of the fight.

Insert Boxing Cliché Here

I've been away from writing for some time now, so I thought I would take it easy with this first piece back. I would like to touch on a few recent happenings, though. First of all, I cannot believe that there is even any question in the minds of fans on whether Zab Judah’s low blow-rabbit punch combination on Floyd Mayweather was intentional. My feeling's, of course it was. While Roger Mayweather's storming the ring was unquestionably the wrong move to make and of course two wrongs don’t make a right, I have to applaud the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s decision to uphold the verdict of the fight. Judah’s fouls, coupled with Roger’s actions were kind of like offsetting penalties in the NFL… It should be clear to everyone by now that while talented, Dominick Guinn is simply never going to live up to his potential, and that’s a shame. At least we’re finally rid of Audley Harrison as a contender… I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Ricardo Mayorga will knock Oscar De La Hoya out when they meet next month. My argument is De La Hoya’s lengthy layoff from the ring coupled with Mayorga’s freakish power. I made the same argument while saying that Mayorga was going to knock Tito Trinidad’s block off… Lamon Brewster is a good fighter and a heckuva nice guy, but I can’t say I was really surprised that he was dethroned by Sergei Lyakhovich. It was easy to get excited about Brewster after he jumped all over perennial nutjob Andrew Golota and scored a KO in less than a minute, but it seems we were getting ahead of ourselves and forgetting his losses to Clifford Etienne and Charles Shufford. We also forgot that he defeated Klitschko by attrition and that Golota will fall apart the second the bell rings when confronted with an aggressive powerpuncher. Hopefully Brewster will put it together again and inject some life into the division… Finally, can someone make Mayweather-Ricky Hatton already?
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