Christopher Cornelius Byrd (born August 15, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2009. He is a two-time world

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

champion, having first won the WBO title in 2000 after an upset corner stoppage over then-undefeated

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Wladimir Klitschko. In 2002, Byrd defeated Evander Holyfield to win the IBF heavyweight title for his second reign as world champion. He made four successful defenses until losing his title again to Wladimir Klitschko in a 2006 rematch. He was ranked by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

in the world's top 10 heavyweight from 1998 to 2004, reaching his highest ranking of No.3 in 2000. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, Byrd represented the United States at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

and won a silver medal in the middleweight division. He is also a three-time national amateur champion, winning the light middleweight title in 1989, and the middleweight title in 1991 and 1992.

Early life

Chris Byrd was the youngest of eight children growing up in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

. He began boxing at age 5, training in his father's (Joe Sr.) Joe Byrd Boxing Academy. His father continued to train and manage Byrd as a professional. Byrd attended Flint Northwestern High School.

Amateur career

Byrd began competing in the ring at age 10, since then he had 285 amateur fights in various weight classes, compiled an impressive record of 275 wins, 10 losses. He was a three-time U.S. amateur champion (1989, 1991, and 1992). He was on the 1991 U.S. National boxing Team that became the first (and only) U.S. team to score a tie against the heralded Cuban team. Byrd won the silver medal in the 1992

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

summer Olympics as a middleweight, losing to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

's Ariel Hernández in the final.

Amateur highlights

*Lost in the 1988 Olympic Trials at Light Welterweight, losing to eventual United States representative Todd Foster. *1989 United States Amateur Light Middleweight Champion *1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, lost to Torsten Schmitz (East Germany) on points, in Light Middleweight competition. *1991 United States Amateur Middleweight Champion *1991 World Championships, lost at Middlweight to Ramon Garbey (Cuba) *1992 United States Amateur Middleweight Champion *1992 Middleweight Gold Medalist at Canada Cup. Results were: ** Justin Crawford (Australia) won on points ** Joe Laryea (Ghana) won on points ** Igor Anashkin (Russia) won on points *1992 Qualified as a Middleweight at the Olympic Trials in Worcester, MA. Results were: ** Derrick James won on points ** William Joppy won on points ** Mike DeMoss won on points ** Eric Carr won on points, this bout was at the Olympic Box-Offs in Phoenix, AZ* *Captured the Middleweight Silver Medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Results were: ** Mark Edwards (Great Britain) 21-3 ** Alexander Lebziak (Russia/Unified Team) 16-7 ** Ahmed Dine (Algeria) 21-2 ** Chris Johnson (Canada) 17-3 ** Ariel Hernandez (Cuba) 7-12

Professional career

1993–1998: early career

Byrd turned professional on January 28, 1993, knocking out 10 of his first 13 opponents. Byrd moved up to

three fights into his professional career. Byrd remained undefeated for his first 26 fights, knocking off then-notable opponents like Phil Jackson, Lionel Butler, Uriah Grant, Bert Cooper, Craig Peterson, Frankie Swindell, Jimmy Thunder, undefeated Eliecer Castillo and Ross Puritty.

1999: Byrd vs. Ibeabuchi, comeback victories

However, in 1999, Byrd's undefeated record came to a dead end when he fought undefeated

Ike Ibeabuchi Ikemefula Charles "Ike" Ibeabuchi (born February 2, 1973) is a Nigerian former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 1999 in the heavyweight division. He defeated the previously undefeated highly ranked contender David Tua in 1997 and ano ...

. With 48 seconds left in the fifth round, a left-handed

bolo punch A bolo punch is a punch used in martial arts. The bolo punch is not among the traditional boxing punches (jab, uppercut, Hook (boxing), hook and Cross (boxing), cross). ''Bolo knife, Bolo'' is a Filipino single-edged knife similar to the machete ...

followed with a right hook sent Byrd to the canvas, face first.

2000: first world title, facing the Klitschkos

During the last week of March 2000, Byrd was offered the chance to be the replacement (for Donovan Ruddock) against undefeated champion

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(Klitschko's adopted home country) for the WBO Heavyweight Title. He therefore had only seven days to prepare for the fight (not the customary 6–12 weeks). Byrd was trailing after nine rounds by scores of 88–83 (on two cards) and 89–82 (on one card), i.e. losing seven or eight of those rounds. However, Byrd was arguably Vitali's most difficult opponent as he landed clean shots and made him miss regularly, resulting Klitschko severely injured his shoulder and being unable to continue after the ninth round. The injury that Klitschko suffered was a torn shoulder rotator cuff, which required major surgery and a 7-month lay-off. Despite trailing on all three of the judges' scorecards, Byrd walked away the winner by a technical knockout due to the injury to Klitschko. While most consider this a fluke win for Byrd, nobody (including Lennox Lewis) gave Vitali a more difficult fight before that and since. Vitali landed at a much lower percentage and while he threw more, Byrd almost landed as many punches as him. Six months later, Byrd was back in Germany to defend the title against Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali's younger, more agile brother. Twelve rounds later, Byrd had lost a lopsided unanimous decision and the WBO belt after being knocked down twice.

2001–2002: comeback victories, second world title

Byrd returned to the U.S., signed with Don King and beat Maurice Harris to win the United States Boxing Association heavyweight belt in Madison Square Garden. He was now a top-five contender for the IBF title. After winning his next match (a title defense against New Zealand's top contender David Tua) Byrd eventually received his mandatory shot at the vacant IBF world Heavyweight Championship against Evander Holyfield in Atlantic City. On December 14, 2002, Byrd won a unanimous decision and the IBF title.

2003–2005: four successful title defenses

Byrd has successfully defended the IBF belt against: Fres Oquendo in 2003, a highly entertaining draw with Andrew Golota and a decision win over friend Jameel McCline in 2004, and DaVarryl Williamson in 2005. Byrd's fight with Golota did 75,000 buys on

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

2006: Klitschko rematch

On April 22, 2006, Byrd faced Wladimir Klitschko for the second time. Byrd was making his fifth defense of his IBF title and the fight was also sanctioned by the International Boxing Organization for its title, which had been vacated upon the retirement of Lennox Lewis. The fight took place at

SAP Arena SAP Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Mannheim, Germany. It is primarily used for ice hockey and Team handball, handball, and is the home arena of the Adler Mannheim ice hockey club and the Rhein-Neckar Löwen handball club. Inaugurated in 2005, ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

. Byrd was heavily dominated throughout the fight, was down in the fifth, and again in the seventh. Referee Wayne Kelly stopped the fight after the second knockdown when Byrd had an open cut near his eyes. Klitschko won in a TKO.

2007–2010: Povetkin bout, move to light heavyweight, and retirement

After losing to Alexander Povetkin, Byrd would drop about 40 pounds to return to the light heavyweight division. He fought Shaun George on May 16, 2008, at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. Byrd was dropped by George in round one and rocked again in round two. George then hammered Byrd with his right hand at will, finally flooring Byrd twice in the ninth round. Byrd beat the count after the first knockdown, but was then battered down again and the bout was waved off by the referee. In 2010, Byrd officially announced his retirement from boxing.

Life outside boxing

Byrd hosts a weekly video podcast, entitled "Byrd's Eye View", which showcases former boxers as well as current professional and champion-level fighters.

Additional information

*Byrd's hometown is

, where he trained along with his brother Patrick Byrd and sister

Tracy Byrd Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single "Holdin' Heaven" ...

. Byrd's other sister, Laurie Byrd, is a professional basketball coach. Byrd is also a first cousin of Lamon Brewster, himself a former world heavyweight champion and two-time Klitschko opponent. *Byrd's corner consisted entirely of family members. *Byrd made an appearance in the 2008 documentary ''Beyond the Ropes''. *Byrd also makes an appearance in the 2011 documentary ''Klitschko'', in which he discusses his trio of title bouts with the brothers.

Professional boxing record

Viewership

Germany

US pay-per-view bouts

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrd, Chris 1970 births Living people African-American boxers Southpaw boxers Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics International Boxing Federation champions Olympic boxers for the United States Sportspeople from Flint, Michigan Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers World Boxing Organization champions American male boxers World heavyweight boxing champions Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in boxing Light-middleweight boxers Middleweight boxers Boxers from Michigan Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games 20th-century American sportsmen