Chris Byrd vs. Fres Oquendo - Revision history

Artur128: /* Notes */

2025-07-17T20:36:41Z

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	Oquendo was beating Tua for nine rounds by employing his jab and superior movement--until he got cocky in the tenth round and started dropping his guard and taunting Tua, who proceeded to catch Fres with some Tuaman power shots and TKO’d the careless Big O. What a waste of nine good rounds that was. That had to be a learning experience for Fres.		Oquendo was beating Tua for nine rounds by employing his jab and superior movement--until he got cocky in the tenth round and started dropping his guard and taunting Tua, who proceeded to catch Fres with some Tuaman power shots and TKO’d the careless Big O. What a waste of nine good rounds that was. That had to be a learning experience for Fres.

	~~* * *~~		<small>'''The Fight'''</small>

	The Fight

	The first few rounds drew boos from the audience as Byrd and Oquendo pawed their jabs and hardly scored any punches. I had the first round 9-9, with both losing. It looked like the beginning of a boring fight. Luckily I was drinking coffee instead of beer to stay awake for this one.		The first few rounds drew boos from the audience as Byrd and Oquendo pawed their jabs and hardly scored any punches. I had the first round 9-9, with both losing. It looked like the beginning of a boring fight. Luckily I was drinking coffee instead of beer to stay awake for this one.

Artur128: /* Notes */

2025-07-17T20:35:41Z

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	"I was talking about Roy Jones and Lennox Lewis, but this guy showed me a lot," Byrd said. [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2003-09-21-byrd-retains-title_x.htm]		"I was talking about Roy Jones and Lennox Lewis, but this guy showed me a lot," Byrd said. [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2003-09-21-byrd-retains-title_x.htm]

			'''Sharkie’s Machine: Merchant, Lampley and Foreman Wrong Again?'''<br>
			<small>By Frank Gonzalez Jr., East Side Boxing</small>

			21.09 - From Las Vegas to Uncasville Connecticut, bad decisions in professional Boxing know no boundaries. Although the names and venues change, the results are the same; the winner is deemed the loser.

			On Saturday night, Chris Byrd, the IBF Heavyweight Champion, defend his title against the IBF # 2 ranked fighter, Fres Oquendo.

			Since beating David Tua, Byrd has earned the right to fight WBC Champion, Lennox Lewis but Lewis has never shown any real interest in a Byrd fight.

			Why?

			Some say Byrd can make you look bad with his southpaw, defensive style. Others say it’s because they don’t want to sell their souls to the Don King in order to fight Byrd.

			Elder Statesman Evander Holyfield was reluctant to fight Byrd, saying Chris’ style is too awkward for him. But Evander was too brave for his own good and did face Byrd. Suffering a hand injury during the fight, Evander fell victim to the quick moving, soft punching Byrd, losing a 12 round decision. Holyfield was also a Don King fighter, so King had nothing to lose either way.

			The WBA “Champion,” Roy Jones Jr. wouldn’t consider fighting Byrd, saying Byrd is a friend of his. (Was John Ruiz one of his enemies?) Many of us who can read between the lines know the real reason Jones wouldn’t fight Byrd; Chris is in his prime and is quick, slick and might beat Jones. That’s a big risk and Jones doesn’t take risks, he’s a businessman. So, Byrd, in order to keep active, was actually lucky to get an opponent like Oquendo, who is a fairly respectable name in the division.

			Fres Oquendo has enjoyed some successes in boxing but has also shown himself to be inconsistent in his craft. He was not expected to win against the defensive and hard to hit Chris Byrd. Most people I talked to about this match up just yawned and said, “Byrd by boring decision.”

			Fres and Chris have a lot in common as fighters. Besides sharing the same promoter, The Dark Lord, Don King, they also had a recent common opponent in the slow moving but hard-hitting David Tua. Byrd was able to control Tua with jabs and movement and win a decision that looked like an easy fight for him.

			Oquendo was beating Tua for nine rounds by employing his jab and superior movement--until he got cocky in the tenth round and started dropping his guard and taunting Tua, who proceeded to catch Fres with some Tuaman power shots and TKO’d the careless Big O. What a waste of nine good rounds that was. That had to be a learning experience for Fres.

			* * *

			The Fight

			The first few rounds drew boos from the audience as Byrd and Oquendo pawed their jabs and hardly scored any punches. I had the first round 9-9, with both losing. It looked like the beginning of a boring fight. Luckily I was drinking coffee instead of beer to stay awake for this one.

			Byrd did a hair better than Fres in round 2 and by the third round, it was shaping up to be a fight, with Oquendo starting to take chances and forcing the action on Byrd. With every connect, Fres’ confidence rose and to the surprise of many, Oquendo was actually beating Chris Byrd to the punch. It turned out to be an exciting event.

			I was impressed with Oquendo’s ability to fight smart. After seeing a few of his fights, he showed considerable improvements in his game. His stamina issue is a lingering criticism. He still gets winded late in fights, which leaves him vulnerable.

			During the sixth round, with Byrd confounded by Oquendo's awkward style (picture that!) Chris scored what looked like a respectable flurry of punches all over Fres. When he was done, Fres just looked at him and laughed. Byrd's power was ineffective against Oquendo and both fighters knew it. As Fres was scoring many good shots, it looked as though he was en route to scoring a knock out. To Byrd’s credit, that didn’t happen.

			From that point on, Fres won every round up till the 10th, when exhaustion threatened to squander a great performance. Byrd was the better-conditioned fighter though and fought as desperately as Mosley did during the closing rounds of last week’s debacle. Fres did the smart thing though, he was too gassed to keep the pressure on so he stayed out of harms way and clinched when Byrd got too near, even scoring an occasional shot in the process.

			Fres still has a lot of bad habits in the ring, like hitting behind the head and turning his back on his opponents during clinches. However, his improvements exceeded his vices Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun.

			Fres took the fight to Byrd, scoring at will in too many rounds and clinching at the perfect times, limiting Byrd’s retaliations and keeping him out of his rhythm. Byrd may be a ‘defensive whiz’ but The Big O, or Fast Fres, or whatever he's calling himself these days was able to crack Byrd’s shield and score well and often. Byrd was outright frustrated by the Oquendo’s effective awkward aggression in this fight.

			At the start of the 12th, it looked like Fres floored Byrd, but it turned out to be just a slip, as Fres shoved Byrd after a missed punch. Byrd slipped three times Saturday night, always influenced by Fres’ aggression--but never from clean punches. The referee, Eddie Cotton, rightly called them all slips.

			It was quite a sight watching Byrd trying to score a knock out late in the fight. Though Chris won two of the last three rounds, it was too little, too late. Fres was able to buy his time at the end and come out on top. On top meaning; he didn’t succumb to his fatigue and actually won the fight. Although the official scoring did not reflect that fact. Since I’m not on The Dark Lord’s payroll as a Judge, I’m probably not qualified to make that determination.

			With Oquendo’s dominating performance, he looked in line to easily win the decision. That’s not to imply that winners always win on the Judges’ scorecards, but from this fan’s view, Fres put on a clinic on how to beat the defensive genius that is Chris Byrd. Fres had pulled off a convincing upset victory and was about to shake things up in the HW division.

			Then the Judge’s scorecards were read. It was a unanimous decision.

			Judge Dan Akerman, 115-113 (close I thought!)

			Judge Steve Epstein, 116-112 (ok, that sounds right, I thought)

			and Judge John Lawson had it 117-111 (wow, this guy really thought Oquendo took him to school!)

			All for the winner...and STILL Heavyweight Champion, Chris Byrd.

			I could not believe it.

			Then again, based on what happens so frequently in professional Boxing these days, why should anyone be surprised? After last weekend’s fiasco, this is exactly what boxing needed; another bad decision that turns casual fans off from professional Boxing. Who wants to invest time in watching a sport that is not even true to itself? Maybe the way fights are scored needs to change. Something has to be done before Boxing loses all its credibility, if it hasn’t already.

			Fres didn't look too upset at the decision; he seemed to accept it--almost as though it was part of the arrangement. Of course I am just speculating here, but when you see such a bad decision, you tend to conjure up all kinds of things in your mind. Unless you have been properly conditioned to just accept the Judges scores without question.

			There were no hard feelings as Byrd and Oquendo stood with arms draped over each other’s shoulders like great pals, while Larry Merchant conducted the post fight interviews. In the background, the fans chanted a chorus of "Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!" in disgust with the official decision.

			I know its not been done before and maybe "etiquette" forbids it but, what a heroic moment it could have been for Chris Byrd if he would’ve taken the belt off and handed it to Fres and said, "I know I got the decision, but I'm a Christian man with principles and I cannot accept this tainted victory. It would be unethical. So, I give this belt to you Fres, for a job well done in winning this fight. I just hope you'll give me a rematch."

			This fight wasn’t even close.

			Of course that didn’t happen though. Byrd did come close to admitting that he lost, expressing the greatest respect for Fres, calling him a smart fighter who clinched at all the right moments and had a weird hook that packed good power. It’s got to be hard to sound gracious when you just lost the fight but won the decision.

			Fres just stood there, looking like his medicine had just kicked in. He said now the fans can see the "new" Fres Oquendo and that he sees how the fans in attendance thought he won the fight.

			Looks like for a second week in a row, Merchant, Lampley, Foreman and Lederman were all wrong about whom they thought won the fight. Well folks, that's boxing. Love it or leave it. Forget making it better, that ain't happening.[https://www.boxing247.com/news/sharkie2109.php]

	{{start box}}		{{start box}}

Artur128 at 20:05, 17 July 2025

2025-07-17T20:05:32Z

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			{\| {{punchstatstable-r}}
			\|+ '''Challenger rankings'''
			\|- {{pstable-bg1}}
			! Org.
			! Pos.
			! As of
			! Published
			\|-
			! colspan="4"\| 1+ Mth. Old
			\|-
			\| WBA \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| WBC \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| IBF \|\| 1 \|\| 01.06.2003 \|\| by 26.06.2003
			\|-
			\| WBO \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| Ring \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-{{pstable-bg1}}
			! colspan="4"\| 2+ Mth. Old
			\|-
			\| WBA \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| WBC \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| IBF \|\| 1 \|\| 01.05.2003 \|\| by 22.05.2003
			\|-
			\| WBO \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| Ring \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			! colspan="4"\| 3+ Mth. Old
			\|-
			\| WBA \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| WBC \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| IBF \|\| 1 \|\| 01.04.2003 \|\| by 27.04.2003
			\|-
			\| WBO \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\| Ring \|\| N/A \|\| N/A \|\| N/A
			\|-
			\|}
	<fight>647411</fight>		<fight>647411</fight>
	*'''Announcer:''' [[Jimmy Lennon Jr.]]		*'''Announcer:''' [[Jimmy Lennon Jr.]]

Artur128 at 20:01, 17 July 2025

2025-07-17T20:01:35Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:01, 17 July 2025
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	~~[[File:Byrd-Oquendo.jpg\|right\|400px]]~~
	<fight>647411</fight>		<fight>647411</fight>
	*'''Announcer:''' [[Jimmy Lennon Jr.]]		*'''Announcer:''' [[Jimmy Lennon Jr.]]
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	== Notes ==		== Notes ==
			[[File:Byrd-Oquendo.jpg\|right\|400px]]
	* Oquendo signed the contract on July 11; Byrd signed on July 31.		* Oquendo signed the contract on July 11; Byrd signed on July 31.

Artur128: /* Notes */

2023-12-18T18:02:58Z

Notes

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:02, 18 December 2023
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	== Notes ==		== Notes ==
	* Oquendo signed the contract on July 11.		* Oquendo signed the contract on July 11; Byrd signed on July 31.

	'''Byrd wins unanimous decision over Oquendo'''<br>		'''Byrd wins unanimous decision over Oquendo'''<br>

Artur128 at 18:02, 18 December 2023

2023-12-18T18:02:05Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:02, 18 December 2023
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	*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defense by Byrd)		*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defense by Byrd)

			== Notes ==
			* Oquendo signed the contract on July 11.

	'''Byrd wins unanimous decision over Oquendo'''<br>		'''Byrd wins unanimous decision over Oquendo'''<br>

Earl at 20:10, 4 January 2014

2014-01-04T20:10:24Z

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 <fight>647411</fight>
-*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defence of Byrd)
+*'''Announcer:''' [[Jimmy Lennon Jr.]]
-*'''Weights:''' Byrd 211.5 lbs, Oquendo 224 lbs
+*'''Aired On:''' [[HBO World Championship Boxing]]
 {{start box}}

Fosho at 20:12, 29 December 2008

2008-12-29T20:12:03Z

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 <fight>647411</fight>
-*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defending of Byrd)<br>
+*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defence of Byrd)
 *'''Weights:''' Byrd 211.5 lbs, Oquendo 224 lbs

JollyDee at 20:13, 3 October 2008

2008-10-03T20:13:11Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:13, 3 October 2008
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	<fight>647411</fight>		<fight>647411</fight>
	*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defending of Byrd)<br>		*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defending of Byrd)<br>
	*Weights: Byrd 211.5 lbs, Oquendo 224 lbs		*'''Weights:''' Byrd 211.5 lbs, Oquendo 224 lbs

Emaster: removed "Category:2003 Bouts" and double entry of officials

2008-03-06T19:17:37Z

removed "Category:2003 Bouts" and double entry of officials

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:17, 6 March 2008
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	<fight>647411</fight>		<fight>647411</fight>
	*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defending of Byrd)<br>		*'''[[International Boxing Federation]] Heavyweight Title''' (1st defending of Byrd)<br>
	*'''Referee:''' [[Eddie Cotton]]<br>
	*'''Judges scoring:''' [[Don Ackerman]] (115-113), [[Steve Epstein]] (116-112), [[John Lawson]] (117-111)<br>
	*Weights: Byrd 211.5 lbs, Oquendo 224 lbs		*Weights: Byrd 211.5 lbs, Oquendo 224 lbs


	~~[[Category:2003 Bouts\|Byrd vs. Oquendo]]~~