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Byrd Watchers: Merchant & Kellerman
By Steve Kim (December 13, 2002)
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It's amazing how two people can see the exact same thing and come away with different conclusions. One person can look at an Andy Warhol painting and call it a masterpiece. All another person sees is a regular can of soup. Another example would be Chris Byrd, the crafty southpaw who takes on Evander Holyfield for the vacant IBF heavyweight crown this Saturday night in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Some see a boxing virtuoso, other see a flat out stinker. Such is the case when HBO sage, Larry Merchant and ESPN2's generation X boxing guru Max Kellerman size up Byrd. To them beauty (or the beast) is in the eye of
the beholder.
"When I first saw him I thought that he was a nightmare for the heavyweight division," said Merchant of Byrd. "Because in the old days, promoters wouldn't have allowed him in the building, much less into the ring and because they saw him as a negative force.
"Somebody who had to bore you to win and his style, as far as I was concerned, was displeasing at any weight because he principally seemed to be involved in making other guys miss rather than in hitting them, throwing
these feather-duster punches."
But 'Mad' Max, the staunchest defender of clever southpaws across the world, not only tolerates the style of Byrd, but get this, he enjoys it.
"What's not to enjoy about a guy who's always right in front of his man, hardly ever grabs the guy, always throws punches and displays boxing skill?" asked Kellerman, rhetorically. "He mixes it up to the head and body and is competitive and sometimes beats top guys who out-weigh him by 30 pounds. The only other guy to do that in recent years against good fighters is Evander Holyfield."
Lately, Merchant has come around on Byrd- but only a little bit.
"I think gradually as he has matured and gotten more comfortable as a heavyweight, having started his career as a super middleweight in the Olympics and because he's gotten a little bit older, he's now sitting down on his punches more and tries to throw harder punches as he did against David Tua. So he's fighting more like a heavyweight than a featherweight these days -- although maybe I shouldn't put down featherweights like that."
Ouch, hey, we told you he's come around just a little bit on Byrd. But Kellerman argues that he's justified in fighting the way he does based on the physical disadvantages he faces virtually every fight.
"He's one of the most underated fighters ever," stated Kellerman, the host of ESPN's 'Around the Horn', "and just to crystallize how good this guy is, imagine, he's a slick southpaw boxer without a lot of power right? Let's take another guy like Shane Mosley. Shane Mosley's a lightweight, who moved up to welterweight. Chris Byrd, is really a large middleweight, maybe a light heavyweight. Imagine he moves up from 170 or so pounds to 210 or so -- 40 pounds. Now, even as a percentage of his body weight, that would be like Shane Mosley moving up from lightweight immediately to jr. middleweight.
"As a percentage, that's a similar jump, even though it's not as much in actual pounds. Now, imagine as a jr. middleweight, Mosley decides to take on the best light heavyweight of his era. I mean, Chris Byrd loses to Wladimir Klitschko, Ike Ibeabuchi -- you think Mosley beats Dariusz Michalczewski? That's what he's asked to do. Now, is Mosley a better fighter than Michalczewski? Of course. It's not close but he wouldn't beat him because Michalczewski's huge.
"So Chris Byrd fighting Klitschko and Ibeabuchi and Tua and Vitaly Klitschko is like Shane Mosley fighting a guy like Michalczewski. If he was competitive we would laud him, instead with Chris Byrd, he gets criticized, it's an unimaginable injustice to this guy."
Merchant will at least concede this to Byrd:
"You have to give him credit for his patience and persistence. It was probably a good thing that not many people saw him being demolished by Wladimir Klitschko, a fight that was not on American TV. I mean, when you think about it, in the two Klitschko fights, one which went nine rounds when Vitaly retired with a shoulder injury and in the fight with Wladimir, he won a total of about three of the 21 rounds that they've fought.
"And yet, somehow mysteriously he evolves as a mandatory challenger. But he played by the rules and he's here and even though Holyfield, for the first time in his entire life said, 'This is a guy I don't want to fight' They're fighting."
OK, Merchant really didn't concede all that much, but at least Byrd has an excuse. C'mon, the guy usually goes into fights at least two or three inches shorter and usually out-weighed by 25-30 pounds by his opponent. He HAS to fight that way. What would Floyd Mayweather's excuse be?
"I mean, imagine that," says Kellerman of the thought. "Floyd Mayweather, as much as I think of his talent and pound-for-pound position, you really consider what pound-for-pound means. I guess what it means is how you dominate in your own division. But if we give him a little leeway here, since the heavyweight division is unlimited and encompasses several weight classes -- at least jr. and super heavyweight -- Chris Byrd is in a pound-for-pound sense is just as good as anyone out there.
"Let's face it and it sounds like an outrageous comment but just consider the only times he has not been at an enormous size advantage -- at least in terms of size and reach -- has been David Tua and he beat Tua.
"And I'll remind everyone that Tua's only loses to really special fighters. He lost to Ike close, he lost to Lennox and otherwise he's beaten everyone else: Rahman, Oquendo, Izon, Maskaev, the list goes on and on. Unless you're a special fighter you're not going to beat Tua. But Chris Byrd is a special fighter and therefore was able to give up 20 pounds to him and still beat him."
So c'mon Larry, give Byrd a little bit of credit. He is fighting much bigger guys and unlike David, he can't bring in a slingshot against these Goliaths. That has to mean something, right?
"I think that if Chris Byrd were to get into a position where he was fighting really big guys it would be perceived as this really gutsy, skilled, David fighting these massive Goliaths," Merchant points out. "I think fans might be intrigued by that. But when he's fought the real good guys like Ibeabuchi and like the Klitschko's, he's been exposed."
OK, Larry, we give up. You just don't dig his style.
PREDICTION TIME
I like Byrd big in this bout. In short, I'm not sure Holyfield is in the mood to be facing a style such as Byrd -- he's admitted as much in the past. I like Byrd to out-box 'the Real Deal' over 12 boring rounds. And if you think Merchant was hard on Jameel McCline last week, I have a feeling you ain't heard nothing yet.
NIGHTMARE
Could you imagine if Byrd somehow won the undisputed heavyweight championship? I think Merchant might wake up in a cold sweat just
thinking about it.
JOHNSON'S LAST STAND
Word is that Kirk Johnson is looking for a fight against WBO heavyweight titlist Wladimir Klitschko. Again, if a guy is going to freeze up against a
Shannon Briggs like McCline did -- how was he going to beat Klitschko? Now, if a guy puts on a tentative showing against John Ruiz, how is that guy going to beat the huge Ukranian? He's not.
It looks like Duva Boxing is cashing in their chips with Johnson.
CHANCES?
What are the odds that Kellerman will give credit to the IBF for basically making this match-up between Byrd and Holyfied -- a fight you know would have never been made in any other circumstance. Probably about as much as Merchant handing out glowing compliments to Byrd for a beautiful display of feinting and slipping punches.
For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com
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