You can always rely on Chris Byrd for a bit of perspective.
Throughout a stellar 16-year professional career, Byrd, a former Olympic silver medallist, stood toe-to-toe with the likes of Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, Ike Ibeabuchi, David Tua, Evander Holyfield, Andrew Golota and Alexander Povetkin. He also won the IBF and WBO world heavyweight titles.
Not only that, Byrd battled these men when dangerously undersized, having turned professional at 169 pounds, and relied on technical skills, defence and intelligence rarely found in the heavyweight division.
When he speaks, therefore, youโd do well to listen.
That means you, Anthony Joshua. It also means you, Deontay Wilder.
โI love Anthony Joshua,โ Byrd, 47, told Boxing News. โHeโs just a nice kid. He can fight and heโs getting better with each fight.
โI watched him in the Olympics. I heard all the hype. When he won that Olympic gold medal (in 2012), I didnโt see the ability or the potential. He was just okay. Nothing special whatsoever.
โBut to see him now, and his growth, Iโm like, โWow.โ What came with it was confidence and power.
โNow, Anthony Joshua should be saying to himself, โNobody under 220 pounds is going to beat me.โ That was my rule. If youโre under six-four and 220, youโre not going to beat me. I was only worried about the big guys. I had guys like Jameel McCline, for example, who was 270 pounds, and I couldnโt really hurt him. Thatโs what worried me.
โAnthony Joshua, though, is a beast. Heโs selling out stadiums because he has an aura about him now. He walks and talks like a heavyweight champion. The upside of that guy is huge.
โHeโs got the greatest following. Man, England does it right. I love what theyโre doing for boxing.โ
But what about โThe Bronze Bomberโ?
โDeontay Wilder is a scary monster but heโs beatable just like anybody else,โ says Byrd.
โIn Wilderโs last fight, that old man (Luis Ortiz) was getting ready to stop him. Ortiz is at least 45 years of age. If he had thrown three or four more punches he would have stopped Wilder. So, if Anthony Joshua puts pressure on him, he might win. Wilder canโt take pressure. If you do it the right way and use solid defence to get close, he canโt take it.
โBut if you give that man distance and find yourself in his range, at the end of his punches, he will knock your head clean off. He has power that is unbelievable.โ
For much of Byrdโs heavyweight career, he was a spoilsport, a problem solver, the snitch of the division. He used defence, smarts and southpaw skills to frustrate and defuse bigger men and bigger punchers and often danced his way to a unanimous decision. He did this to good fighters and he did it to a couple of great ones, too.
Joshua and Wilder, meanwhile, supreme athletes with fight-ending power, represent a new breed of heavyweight. Theyโre bigger, if not better, than their predecessors. Their records look fabulous on paper; they look the way youโd expect heavyweights to look.
Byrd, retired since 2009, has imagined himself in the ring with both and knows which of the suit would be better suited to his style.
โOh, man, thatโs easy โ Anthony Joshua,โ he says. โFor my style, he would have been my choice. The rangy guys like Vitali and Wladimir are hard to fight. I know Joshua is big and rangy in his own sort of way โ for a small guy like me โ but his style is different. He doesnโt know how to use his size all that well.
โHeโs six-six and a great athlete. He reminds me of Jameel (McCline) in a way. In a way.โ
Just as you start getting used to Byrdโs movement, flow and rhythm, he spins you around and hits you with something. He did this to countless heavyweights and he did this to me, too, when offering the name of the man he believes is the best boxer in the division today.
โIn this four-man tournament โ Joshua, Wilder, the Cuban (Luis Ortiz) and (Joseph) Parker โ the Cuban is still the scariest of the whole bunch,โ Byrd says. โThatโs who I worried about for Joshua and Wilder. Heโs the guy I still worry about for Joshua and Wilder.
โHeโs an old man but heโs big, heโs left-handed, heโs smart, heโs seasoned and he knows the Cuban style. Heโs not the best Cuban, but heโs still good.
โThatโs why he gave Deontay Wilder so many problems. He was like, โIโm six-four, Iโm big, and Iโm not worried about this guy because he doesnโt know how to fight.โ
โThen heโll look at Joshua and say, โIโm roughly the same size but he isnโt educated mentally. He might catch me, but if he doesnโt heโs going to get a boxing lesson.โ
โThat was what Deontay Wilder found out. He was losing that fight. The Joshua and Ortiz fight would be the same.
โItโs all about experience, technique and seasoning in this generation. If youโve got that, you can make up a hell of a lot of ground on guys who only have size, athleticism and power.
โOrtiz is a damn 45-year-old man and still has what it takes to give these two top guys hell. That says a lot. Ortiz is an old man, but he knows boxing. He can break it down. Heโs got an old face, a chubby body, and he moves slowly. But he knows things these two, Joshua and Wilder, will never know.
โFor that reason, I could probably still be in the mix with these guys.โ
With that, the bell rings. School’s out. Professor Byrd, 41-5-1 (22), picks up his briefcase and coat, and leaves.
*** An in-depth interview with former IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion Chris Byrd can be read in this weekโs Boxing News ***