Peculiarities of the modern boxing world....

[DavidPayne]

Chris Byrd to fight at Light-Heavyweight after 15 years as a heavyweight. Bizarre.

Rob Calloway the long -time tank town heavy with the pretty record, gets close to Cruiserweight title. Inconceivable.

Jeff Fenech and Azumah Nelson to clash in Cocoon IV.

43 year old Bernard Hopkins defends his consensus status as the king of the Light-Heavyweights. Only Archie Moore could claim such effectiveness at such a late stage. He may not be breathtaking entertainment, but we'll miss him when he's gone!

As someone famous once said "that's boxing!"

Some realy curious developments lately. The Chris Byrd one really strikes me as interesting.

Maybe this wont be Hopkins last fight after all.

Pavlik, Byrd, Dawson....maybe another mega money fight is out there for him.

Same for Calzaghe. The temptation to be able to beat a man who twice claimed the heavyweight title would certainly carry some implied kudos.

[Spud]

Sum it all up David - Money and Bunce whether people like it or not - it is money - there is more in boxing now than there has ever been!!!

[Mensa07]

doesn't Joe hold an amateur W over Byrd?

[STP]

doesn't Joe hold an amateur W over Byrd?

No. I know someone who asked Chris's wife in person and Chris told Chris's wife, 'no'.

It's BS.

[knockout]

i agree, 99.9% sure Joe didnt fight Byrd.
He did however:

KO Jason Matthews in 1 (future WBO champ)
KO Glen Catley in 3 (future WBC champ)
KO Dean Franis in 2 (future european champ who would have defo been WC if it wasnt for his shoulder)

He hasnt lost since 1990 I believe, when Romanian Adrian Opreda outpointed him... He also bizarrely lost to Michael Smyth, that fight is on youtube

[STP]

Yeah I know all that.

He fought Otkay Urkal as well.

[Asterix]

Amateur Accomplishments

Calzaghe won three ABA titles at different weights (welterweight in 1991, light middleweight in 1992, middleweight in 1993). He had a stand-out win over Chris Byrd in 1992.

http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Joe_Calzaghe

I don't know if it's true. If it isn't, it shouldn't be on Boxrec.

[Southpaw Stylist]

http://www.geocities.com/pedrinet/byrd.html

Look at the bottom fight.

NB: This records site has been thrown into doubt by our resident Cuban amateur know-all, but the Byrd-Calzaghe fight has been mentioned on loads of different sites now.

[m1kee50]

http://www.BS.com/forums/showt ... hp?t=53736

no mention of byrd
interesting to note that Lacy has a win over Judah

[STP]

It's all BS

[locoxelbox]

I seriously doubt Calzaghe beat Byrd in the amateurs. That fight is supposed to have taken place in dec 1992. It's highly unlikely Chris Byrd, a silver medalist at the Olympics would stay amateur to fight a Dual Meet. All US Olympic medalists finish their amateur careers at the Olympics and turn pro shortly after. Why would Byrd, who became a big star in Barcelona, be different?
Also, Calzaghe was fighting at 71 kg at the moment.

I asked Daniel Herbert from Boxing News about the fight and he said:

Joe wasn’t picked by Wales for the 1992 Olympic qualifiers because – as I remember it – he and his father Enzo (who is his coach) didn’t turn up for squad training sessions put on by the Welsh ABA.

And Joe was at 71 kgs then, so even if he had earned a qualifying spot for Wales he would have had to box off with Robin Reid, who had qualified for England.

In September 1992 Calzaghe outpointed Gordon Joyce at 71 kgs in a Wales v Ireland match.

I don’t think Joe ever boxed Chris Byrd. In 1992 Byrd was 75 kgs and Joe 71. Joe moved up to 75 in early 1993, so when could they have met?

After Joe won his third British ABA title in 1993 he turned pro.