Byrd to Migrate Back Home

Chris Byrd had high aspirations for his new campaign at Light Heavyweight. His compelling weight loss tale had the boxing world buzzing about in the weeks leading to the fight. Byrd's intentions were clear from the beginning; to seek out the very best fighters of the talented division.  However, he did not intend to find himself fighting for his boxing career in his first bout at the new weight against a fairly unknown and underrated fighter.

Byrd came out in the first round (svelte as ever) and fought the way that he was supposed to fight - that is if he were still a  heavyweight.  He slowly moved around the ring on flat feet holding his hands up like punching mitts and picking very few moments to wing any meaningful shots. His counterpart, Shaun George, was moving much quicker, showing Byrd different angles and using his superior feet and hands to pepper him with punches.  

In didn't take long for the vast difference of speed and ability to overwhelm Byrd and after being wobbled a few times, he hit the canvas in the 1st round.  In between rounds, neither him nor his trainer had any ideas that would prove valuable in turning the fight around (one could have been -  stop moving and ducking to your left where his right hand is lighting you up every time it is thrown; but that's just me) 

The next seven rounds were clones of the first and although Byrd became a bit more comfortable at some-point, it was hard to give him any round.  In the 9th, George continued to land big shots and Byrd's dream of capturing the title in the light heavyweight division collapsed as fast as his legs did from underneath him.  He went down hard landing awkwardly, popping his shoulder out of the socket.  After getting up only to receive another barrage of punches, he went down again and this time he told the ref to stop the fight.

It seems Shaun George should be graciously thanking the promoter who landed him this fight.  Not to take anything away from George, but Byrd was obviously still in heavyweight mode (slow work rate, slow feet, slow hands) and I think any light heavy with some notable skill would have came out on top.  Look for George to garner some attention after this TKO stoppage. Look for Byrd to consider retirement.

Done Deal: Cotto vs. Margarito

The talented welterweight division is bringing us another exciting match up between two of it's top fighters.  Miguel Angel Cotto will take on the The Tijuana Tornado Antonio Margarito on July 26th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the WBA Welterweight Title.  

Both fighters are coming off dominate KO victories on the same card.  Cotto put on a boxing clinic for  The Contender star Alfonzo Gomez, resulting in a 5th round TKO.  In the same fashion, Maragarito ended Kermit Cintron's hopes of avenging his only loss with a devastating body shot in the 6th. 

Cotto and Margarito are primed for the biggest fight and cash purse of either fighter's career. Adding fuel to the already fiery competition is the national roots of these two fighters, Cotto being from Puerto Rico and Margarito from Mexico, which will certainly make for an interesting atmosphere leading up to the bout.

More to come on Cotto vs. Margarito...

Chris Byrd's Return to the Ring: Half of Him at Least

This weekend, ESPN's Friday Night Fights headliner pits former world heavyweight champion Chris Byrd against Shaun George.  The real significance of this fight reads clearly in the first byline of any promotional material produced for the bout - "Chris Byrd to take on Shaun George in a light heavyweight bout."   Light Heavyweight.  For the last decade, Byrd has  regularly  tipped the scales at over 210 lbs (photo to left).  This Friday he will be fighting at 173 lbs (only 12 lbs more than me!)

After two recent losses to Russian heavyweights, Alexander Povetkin and Wlad Klitschko, Byrd made the decision to move down to Cruiser-weight for two reasons,  he felt it was closer to his natural weight and he relished the chance to fight in a division with more action (can't blame him with the current dismal state of the heavyweight division).  

Once he got started on the proper dietary plan and workout regiment, the pounds started flying off.  He dropped to 180 lbs. so fast that he made the decision to move all the way down to light heavyweight (where the real action and money is). Byrd is now walking around at a somewhat unrecognizable, svelte 172 pounds and looks oddly skinny (video of skinny Byrd).  He is definitely not to be confused with a fighter who blows up to 195 lbs until a month before the fight and then scrambles into crash mode . 

The southpaw has always been a good boxer, (with key wins over Evander Holyfield, Vitali Klitschko and David Tua) and this newly shaped frame should provide some speed and endurance in his campaign at light heavy.  However, I don't think anything can prepare him for the jump from fighting slow moving mud-men in the heavyweight division to the fast-handed and explosive fighters at light heavyweight. 

His fight this weekend is more or less to get his feet wet in the division.  After this bout (which he should win), he will look to set his sights on the top of the talent-rich division.  Byrd hopes to be thrown into the mix of top fighters at light heavy like Dawson, Tarver, Johnson, Jones, Hopkins, and Calzaghe.  

If  Byrd's goal was big purses and high visibility, then he made the right move. However, he may find himself regretting this decision when he realizes that unlike the sluggish and talentless heavy weight divsion, he will run into a variety of some rather stiff competition in his new class.

New video of Byrd's move just released by ESPN at 2:00 pm  

Contender's on the Main-stage: All Except One

The Pride of Providence, Peter Manfredo Jr.,  is headlining another major televised event on ESPN's Friday Night Fights series, slated for May 23rd.   It seems that every time I turn around Manfredo is getting another shot at showcasing his abilities to the main stream television audience, starting with The Contender Series and ending with his two losses on Showtime/PPV. Manfredo is a good (but not great) fighter and I know that he is a major draw in ticket sales and television ratings, but how many chances is he going to get as he hogs the top bill on major televised cards.  I know for a fact that there are much better and more exciting boxers in not only his division (super-middleweight), but all divisions, that deserve a shot at mainstream recognition.

We watched the smaller Alfonzo Gomez step up and beat him when he was the favorite, two decision losses to Sergio Mora, a loss at the hands of Jeff Lacy and a questionable stoppage loss to Joe Calzaghe (stoppage was questionable, but he was getting dominated regardless).  I haven't seen anything from him that justifies the amount of attention he receives.  The obvious explanation is the continued attention (deserved or not) that the long line of Contender participants have received since participating the highly rated television series.

This year we have seen an explosion of ex-Contender's land major bouts on high visibility platforms including Showtime, HBO, and ESPN.  Besides Manfredo, we have seen Cornelius K9 Bundridge defeat ex-champ Kassim Ouma, Brian Vera pull a shocking upset over the highly touted Andy Lee, David Banks get his jaw blown off the hinges by Edison Miranda (see KO of the year candidate here), Alfonzo Gomez put Arturo Gatti into ealry retirement (only to be obliterated by Cotto), Steve Forbes take his best shot at The Golden Boy and Sergio Mora, even after a few dismal fights (one of which I was sitting ringside to watch Elvin Ayala beat Mora only to receive a draw when it went to the cards) receive a shot at the middle weight title against Vernon Forest.  Of all these Contender fighters who have seen their stock soar from the show, there is one fighter that has fallen back into mediocrity for the American public and he is one of the only fighters from that series without a blemish on his record.

Paul Smith from Liverpool, England came over to fight in the Contender series to prove to the American public that British boxing is better than we perceive (it's going to take more than that).  To me he looked liked he had the skills and mental toughness to be a good fighter from the onset.  However, his exit was quick, not because of a loss but because of the new scoring system that was set in place for the 3rd Contender season.  Since the fights before him ended in KO's, to stay in the competition he needed to do as well or better.  He defeated the aforementioned David Banks in a close decision, was booted because he had the lowest score and promptly took his undefeated record back to England.

Since his short stint on the show, he has won two more fights and claimed the vacant English middleweight title (not the most astounding feat) on the non-televised under-card of the Haye-Maccarinelli fight, bringing his record to 23-0. Now the knock on him (like most british fighters) is the poor competition that most of those wins have come from on the way to the top in Britain.  But a boxer can only fight what is there in front of him and that hasn't been much.  

With that said, I would still rather see him on the next bill of ESPN Friday Night Fights instead of Manfredo.  If the reason that all of these fighters mentioned above are getting big fights is because they were on the Contender (which it is), then why not give a guy a shot from the same show who has an undefeated record.  I would much more willingly watch someone who has never lost fight, even all his wins came in Britain (Smith), than watch someone who has been beaten five times right before my eyes on national TV (Manfredo). Who knows,  Smith will probably get knocked cold in his first major televised fight, but wouldn't that be a little better than watching the same ole' thing again?

California Kid Timothy Bradley Upsets Witter

Timothy Bradley has never travelled across an ocean to fight. He hasn't even left the great state of California for one his bouts. And he has never been in the 12th round of any fight, let alone a major title fight.  Yet in his first significant fight on any scale, he managed to do all three of these things - and win.

After 5 rounds of messy (and fairly boring) boxing, Junior The Quitter (or Shitter; whichever you prefer) Witter seemed to have a stronghold on points for the mere fact that he looked like the better of the two sloppy fighters.  In the following round Timothy Bradley landed  an over hand right dropping Witter and changing the landscape of the fight from there on out.   

Bradley pressed Witter for the next eight rounds, while Junior continued using his very awkward tactics of switching from south paw to orthodox every 10 seconds (reminding me of a 15 yr. old amateur with very little training).  When the final bell rang it was clear to everyone at ringside, even the English contingent, that no one could give the victory to Witter.  

Clear to everyone accept on judge who had Witter ahead in the score card 115- 112.  We normally expect this when a English champion is defending his title in is home country, but I find it very hard to agree with the decision.  The other two judges saw the bout the same as the majority and although not overly impressive, Timothy Bradley got the win and the WBC light welterweight title that he deserved.

Before this fight Junior Witter loudly proclaimed he was the best junior middleweight in the world (better than both Hatton or Malignaggi) and that Ricky Hatton was ducking him.  Good thing he was overmatched by Bradley, the fairly unknown #1 mandatory challenger,  so we didn't have to see The Hitman waste a fight whipping this chump around the ring.