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Byrd resurfaces on Aprils Fools Day
Once upon a time, no one wanted to fight Chris Byrd. He was a heavyweight's worst nightmare. An awkward southpaw who threw machine gun combinations and vanished from the scene of the crime with ghost-like characteristics.
He routinely made larger, stronger men swat at air like disoriented bears, while he gracefully shifted and slipped out of harms way like a feather in the wind. Fighters are men of great pride and machismo and Chris Byrd wasn't really worth the risk. He posed a serious threat, not because he could hurt you physically (he is not a strong puncher), but rather because he could do something much worse, something that men, especially large, powerful men, secretly fear more than anything. He could make you look foolish.
But one day it all caught up to Byrd. He got a little too cocky, too sure of his invisibility in the ring and Ike Ibeabuchi knocked him silly as he lay against the ropes. Throughout the fight, it was as though Byrd were mocking Ibeabuchi (who outweighed him by about 40 pounds of rippling muscle), daring "The President" to hit him with his best shot. When Ibeabuchi's best shot came in the form of a stunning uppercut/hook, Byrd crumbled to the canvas and the heavyweight boxing world let out a sigh of relief. Finally, someone had swatted that annoying little bug.
For a while we didn't hear much from Byrd. He fell from his position near the top of heavyweight rankings. His name stopped rolling off the tongues of men in barbershops and boxing clubs and he went back to his basement gym where his father trains him, and waited patiently to resurface.
When Razor Ruddock pulled out of his scheduled bout with WBO heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, Byrd's name was mentioned as a possible replacement. He was offered the bout. He accepted. So, on April 1st in Berlin, Chris Byrd will try to pull off the ultimate April Fool's prank and prove to the world and to Klitschko, that his his loss to Ibeabuchi was more the result of a fluke/stupid fight plan, than waning skills.
And it won't be easy. His opponent, Ukranian-born behemoth Vitali Klitschko is as imposing a figure as the heavyweight division has to offer. At 6'8" and 245 pounds Klitschko is the very picture of raw power. In 27 fights, he has won them all by knockout, most impressively against prospects Ed Mahone and Obed Sullivan. Many have pegged Klitschko as the iron man who will hold the future of the heavyweight division in his destructive paws.
But first he'll have to solve Byrd, who will be the most talented fighter Klistschko has ever faced. And it's not always easy to swat that little buzzing bug from the air. Sometimes, the more you try, the harder it gets until you realize that you've totally lost it. Wild swings grow wilder, you turn red with anger, and when you do it half-naked in front of thousands of people on live television (the fight will be broadcast on HBO), you can wind up looking very foolish. And I'm sure Vitali Klitschko is somewhere right now thinking about his fight with Bryd, dreaming of the one punch that would end it all, but realizing that if he can't find the elusive chin of his slippery opponent, it could be a very red-faced April 1st.
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