Vitali Klitschko vs Chris Byrd

[Boxing Writer]

Just re-watched Vitali's fight against Chris Byrd, and I have to say I disagree with judges scorecards. Vitali won rounds 1,2,4,6,8 on my scorecard and Byrd won rounds 3,5 and 7. 9th round was even in my opinion, so it can go either way. All in all, in my opinion, fight was much closer than judges scored it in Germany (until the stoppage). It's either 5-4, 5-3-1 or 6-3 (at most) in Vitali's favor. And according to CompuBox it was by far the closest margin in the number of landed punches in Vitali's career between him and his opponent. 132 to 124 in landed punches in Vitali's favor, but effectiveness difference in Byrd's favor was HUGE - he landed 44% of his punches while Vitali landed only 26% of his.

I don't know why Chris still doesn't get well deserved credit for this win. People act like he got a beating and lost only because of Vitali's injury, which definitely wasn't the case. By the way, Vitali said many years ago that he tore his shoulder while missing the target with his left hand, so he basically got injured because of Byrd's defensive skills. And do you remeber Byrd's fight against Evander Holyfield? Holyfield got exactly the same injury as Vitali did, but he didn't quit. Vitali has chosen not to fight on, he remained on his stool after the 9th round. Byrd won fair and square and people should give him a well deserved credit for this win.

[Tuan_Jim]

Byrd beat Klitschko fair and square and was easily the second best opponent Vitali fought, after Lewis.

It's obvious watching the fight that it is a very different sort of fight from the usual one-sided Vitali contest.

Telling that Vitali never fancied another go at Byrd.

It's a hugely inconvenient fight for Klitschko fans. Like Ross Puritty's KO of his brother, it is subject to over simplification. His inability to handle an A class opponent who was young, in his prime and there to win makes you wonder how he would have coped with Lewis and Holyfield and the then-crop of contenders, rather than steering them all and taking the Herbie Hide WBO path.

[Ambling Alp II]

I will go a step farther. I had Byrd up by a point going into the final round. My friend who was watching the fight with me had Klitschko up by a point. We were amazed by the scoring.

It was a terrible fight. It was actually funny when they would jab at each other gloves.

Agree that it was the 2nd best opponent that he ever fought.

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- Oh my, a boxing writer writing about it is it?

Sky blue, grass green, water wet, Byrd with the recorded win, Vitali's amateur team said they erred by pulling out, and East is east and West is West, so no changes, none what so ever.

With lavish affections for prissy little punch monkey numbers and popcorn popping American sprinters, perhaps soon this lot will be Boxing Judges, but of course fudge will still be brown as Bambi remains dear... 8)

[Tuan_Jim]

I will go a step farther. I had Byrd up by a point going into the final round. My friend who was watching the fight with me had Klitschko up by a point. We were amazed by the scoring.

It was a terrible fight. It was actually funny when they would jab at each other gloves.

Agree that it was the 2nd best opponent that he ever fought.

I'm not surprised you had him up. Never scored it myself but Byrd stood his ground and was able to hit Vitali solidly to body and even head. He's no puncher but certainly a 210lb man striking you won't tickle. Vitali was in his first real fight, and he failed the test.

[Seamus]

I had it 6-2-1 for Klitschko. Byrd just didn't land enough punches to compensate for his power defficiency.

[Tuan_Jim]

2 rounds to Byrd seems a silly score to me, although like I said I haven't scored it yet. Byrd was having fun in the second half of the fight. Vitali couldn't back Byrd up and Byrd was back him up. I also recall he had better accuracy in multiple rounds. At worse it was a close fight, irrespective of whatever HBO were selling.

[Seamus]

The two American judges had Vitali ahead by 5 and 7 pts. This was the fight that gave VK the reputation as a quitter until the bout with Lewis.

[BoxBuzz]

I believe Chris to be rather under rated.....and you're right, does not get the credit he should for this victory. It was his agility that wrenched the big guys rotator cuff to begin with. Credit where it's due.

[Tuan_Jim]

And what Byrd was hitting Vitali with encouraged him to stay on his stool.

[Seamus]

A fair and deserved win for Byrd, but also rather lucky.

[Tuan_Jim]

Vitali landed 132 to Byrd's 124. A mighty 8 punch difference.

Meanwhile Byrd's accuracy was a hefty 44% compared to Vitali's 26%.

[Caractacus]

I always thought that this song would be a great entrance song into the ring for Chris Byrd.
check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXcFFNx0_g8

[Bodyshot3]

I believe Chris to be rather under rated.....and you're right, does not get the credit he should for this victory. It was his agility that wrenched the big guys rotator cuff to begin with. Credit where it's due.

Agreed.....

The real danger to the older, meaner and more rugged K brother was a smart, fast and mobile dude like Byrd.
And Chris executed things very well that night.

Hide should have really done the same thing a few years earlier and had the talent to do so against a 'greener' Vitali; but Herbie was the type of guy who would prefer to sit on a rapidly sinking ship and ignore the warning claxons rather than taking a bit of sound advice

[BoxBuzz]

I always thought that this song would be a great entrance song into the ring for Chris Byrd.
check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXcFFNx0_g8

One of their best, and sung by Phillipe' not their typical lead vocalist, but perhaps their best. Bobby Smith usually got the nod for the leads..two fantastic singers though.

...see how these threads can take twists and turns? Need to just relax, and take it all in without complaining. You'll learn something now and again.

[Ambling Alp II]

Those guys have better footwork than even Vitaly!

[Caractacus]

I always thought that this song would be a great entrance song into the ring for Chris Byrd.
check it out.

[Caractacus]

can anyone here tell which punch in which round that Vitali Klitschko had torn his left rotator cuff in ?

[BoxBuzz]

Look at that.....after all these years....Chris still ends up winning that fight every time it's shown.

[jamamb]

wow, i mean i think vitalis utter trash when put in an atg context, but no way was he losing that fight to bryd b4 he quit. some right old nutters enjoying there thoughts together in this section. sound old and bitter for some reason.

what did the klits do to you guys?

[Kalan]

I will go a step farther. I had Byrd up by a point going into the final round. My friend who was watching the fight with me had Klitschko up by a point. We were amazed by the scoring.

It was a terrible fight. It was actually funny when they would jab at each other gloves.

Agree that it was the 2nd best opponent that he ever fought

YOU wouldn't give Vitali credit for anything if your life depended on it... If he wasn't severely injured he would have given Bryd as bad a beating as his brother or worse. The Klitschko Bros have 4 name opponents in common... Vitali beat 3 of them much worse than his Brother did and stopped them -- and for the 4th opponent he had a bad injury that required major surgery so he quit with a big lead on all cards because a career is more important than winning a fight.

He had more Title Fights and lasted longer than Byrd -- who was turned into a punching bag by Wladimir and Ibeabuchi... To say nothing of Tracy Byrd who tried to grab the lime light and insisted Chris grind his Heavyweight/Cruiserweight body down to LHW for a disastrous final fight. He looked so skeletal you'd think he came out of a POW camp.

[Kalan]

Just re-watched Vitali's fight against Chris Byrd, and I have to say I disagree with judges scorecards. Vitali won rounds 1,2,4,6,8 on my scorecard and Byrd won rounds 3,5 and 7. 9th round was even in my opinion, so it can go either way. All in all, in my opinion, fight was much closer than judges scored it in Germany (until the stoppage). It's either 5-4, 5-3-1 or 6-3 (at most) in Vitali's favor. And according to CompuBox it was by far the closest margin in the number of landed punches in Vitali's career between him and his opponent. 132 to 124 in landed punches in Vitali's favor, but effectiveness difference in Byrd's favor was HUGE - he landed 44% of his punches while Vitali landed only 26% of his.

I don't know why Chris still doesn't get well deserved credit for this win. People act like he got a beating and lost only because of Vitali's injury, which definitely wasn't the case. By the way, Vitali said many years ago that he tore his shoulder while missing the target with his left hand, so he basically got injured because of Byrd's defensive skills. And do you remeber Byrd's fight against Evander Holyfield? Holyfield got exactly the same injury as Vitali did, but he didn't quit. Vitali has chosen not to fight on, he remained on his stool after the 9th round. Byrd won fair and square and people should give him a well deserved credit for this win.

Bryd doesn't deserve too much credit for the win because he was way behind on the scorecards and beat a 1-armed man.... Vitali Klitschko had a completely severed Rotator cuff assembly... The surgeon said it was in 2 separate pieces and that it was the worst rotator cuff injury he'd ever seen... Vitali was feeling pain in camp and rested it a little... but miscalculated and tried to get through the fight without having it checked out.

If you had 36 Kickboxing matches and over 200 amateur Boxing matches and about 30 pro fights, you've had many nagging pains and injuries... You tend to think they need rest and they'll go away on their own... His leg injuries -- mainly from Kickboxing -- also got to a point where they weren't going away.. He had to take 4 yrs. off to rehab his legs.

[Caractacus]

so (judging from facial expressions) in which round do y'all think Vitali Klitschko tore his rotator cuff ?
( or maybe tore i even more then when he entered the ring).
( note-watch it again with the sound off like you were watching a Charlie Chaplin movie for maxium effect).

[gilgamesh]

so (judging from facial expressions) which round do y'all think Klitschko tore his rotator cuff ?
( or maybe tore i even more then when he entered the ring).

The tell tale sign is gonna be what round does he stop throwing with the injured arm. Even if their expression hides the pain you can always pick up on the fact that a guy isn't throwing with one of his arms if you're on the lookout for that kinda thing.

Hell I often see it in fights before others pick up on it. I remember picking up on an injury one time in a fight a few rounds before the commentators did.

[Caractacus]

yeah,but maybe the "Blinding Pain" only really hit him when his adrenaline rush was going down further into the fight
as it progressed and the reality of the moment had set in ?