Ruthless-RKO wrote: How/where do you rate Byrd in any of you're lists?
He's not that interesting to me.. He's not super exceptional.. Byrd didn't rank in last place among Heavyweight Champions.. He certainly had skills. I would probably rank him about 15 to 20% down the chain.. I don't know how many Heavyweight Champions there were in History.. a lot of 'em. A fifth the way down.
Byrd was a clever boxer, but I was never impressed with him because he DID catch big shots.. He looked terrific for Tua and that's about it.. Versus Ibeabuchi he looked to be in trouble every second he was in there.. It was inevitable he was going to catch big punches.. Ike was ripping Byrd to the body and popping him upside the head with superior hand speed.. Wladimir Klitschko had very fast hands and hammered a drumbeat on Haye's head.. And people always blast me for slamming Ali.. He was a clever boxer like Byrd -- but anyone with fast fists was able to hit Ali.. I would even say the same thing about Jimmy Young.. It seemed anybody with exceptionally fast hands could put it on Jimmy Young -- or Jimmy Ellis as well.. Fast hands does not mean you can beat everybody of course.. I always thought prime Frazier had fast hands -- but lacked the size or strength to deal with Foreman or guys like him. Like Patterson with Sonny Liston.
This is why I always said Ike Ibeabuchi would have been nearly unbeatable with 5 more fights... He he had size, strength, speed, and a cast-iron chin.
But I'll say any Heavyweight with exceptionally quick hands would pound Byrd real good.. That would include a prime David Haye because nobody was faster.
Ali, Young, Byrd, and Ellis were all guys who could be touched real good with blazing fast fists... They were the quartet with Ali leading the chorus. The thing Ibeabuchi, Joshua, Lewis, and the Klitschko Bros had was size, strength, speed, skills, and all had great chins except for Wladimir and Lewis.
