Byrd-Oquendo: Which one will land a punch?

By Janne Romppainen

If you are a casual boxing fan, it wouldn’t be a surprise if you hadn’t even heard about this upcoming heavyweight match-up. The big junior middleweight fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Sugar Shane Mosley and especially the huge controversy after it has flooded nearly all the space from the boxing sites. But this upcoming fight, non-hyped as it might be, is nothing less than a world heavyweight championship bout. In the shadow of all the talk about De La Hoya’s protests and the quality of the judges, the IBF heavyweight boss Chris Byrd and his challenger Fres Oquendo have made themselves ready for their clash on Saturday 20th of September.

The time of the fight is not the only reason why the fight hasn’t created big interest of course. Neither the defending champion nor his challenger are well-known names outside the boxing circles. Both are known as good technicians who usually win their fight easily but hardly ever dramatically. Drama is however what makes the crowds excited and thusly both fighters have stayed out from the big picture.

The challenger Fres Oquendo, fighting out of Puerto Rico, is not very big man for a heavyweight but standing at 6’2 and weighing usually a little over 220lbs he has a close size advantage. Even though he has already turned 30 years, he is still considered as a young heavyweight prospect since he has been a heavyweight contender for only two years. Early in his career he walked through the usual cannon-fodders and has-beens, Phil Jackson, Bert Cooper and Everett Martin among them but his breakthrough to the bigger circles came in 2001. Back then he faced Clifford Etienne who at the time was seen as the most promising young heavyweight in the world. Despite his unblemished record Oquendo wasn’t seen as a much of a thread in Etienne’s road to the stardom. Oquendo however shocked the boxing fans and most of all Etienne himself by downing his foe three times in the very first round and stopping him in the eighth. Afterwards Oquendo was named as “The Fighter Of The Month” by the American boxing magazine The Ring.

Oquendo followed up with pair of good victories over Obed Sullivan and David Izon, which lead him to face a heavyweight top contender David Tua. For eight and a half rounds Oquendo did fine, using his movement and stiff jab to easily outbox Tua. Then in the ninth round his concentration slipped for a moment and that was all that Tua needed. The hard-punching Samoan pummelled Oquendo to the ropes, forcing the referee to intervene the action in the ninth round.

This fight was a setback for Oquendo of course, but during the first two thirds of the fight he had clearly demonstrated that he could hang in there with the best. After one warm-up victory Oquendo fought in the undercard of the John Ruiz – Roy Jones heavyweight title fight against a dangerous, unpredictable Maurice Harris. Oquendo was behind in all cards in a slow-paced fight until in the tenth round he brutally knocked Harris out. This victory opened him the chance to challenge Byrd for the title. Oquendo’s record is now 24-1 with 15 opponents stopped.

The 33-year old southpaw Chris Byrd has been a consensus top-10 heavyweight for six years already. The former middleweight Olympic silver medallist weighed in his first professional bout merely 169lbs, a little over the super-middleweight limit, but since then he has grown to a solid heavyweight, weighing now about 215lbs. Byrd captured the WBO heavyweight title in 2000 by stopping the Ukrainian Vitaly Klitschko in nine rounds when his opponent had to retire because of an injured shoulder. Byrd’s reign as a champion turned out to be a short one, only six months later the younger Klitschko Wladimir outpointed him soundly over twelve rounds. Byrd came back, winning Maurice Harris and David Tua in an IBF elimination tournament to receive a chance to compete for the title. This chance came in the December 2002 when Byrd took home a lopsided victory and the title over the ring-legend Evander Holyfield. This is the first time Byrd defends his title belt.

Chris Byrd has a unique, unorthodox fighting style that has enabled him to defeat his much bigger and stronger opponents. Byrd bases his fighting on his brilliant defensive tactics. He likes to wait for his opponent to come in and when they do, Byrd blocks punches with his gloves, slips and ducks under shots and fires back with fast combinations. He is no knockout artist by any means but he usually lands much more punches than his opponent. Byrd has gathered a record of 36-2 with 20 opponents stopped, usually more frustrated than hurt.

Byrd starts this fight as the favourite. He has the edge in speed and technique and most of all, his skills have been proven against the best of the division whereas Oquendo is still somewhat untested. Oquendo seems to be the bigger puncher of the two, but that shouldn’t be a big factor since Byrd has demonstrated that even though he is not the strongest fighter out there, his chin is very firm. Nobody expects a knockout and since the fight will very likely go to the cards, there are few man who could win the decision over the IBF champion.

When we take a look at the losses of these fighters, we don’t really become any wiser about which fighter had the tools to win the other. The only man Oquendo has lost to is Tua, and he fights nothing like Byrd. Then again, Byrd has only lost to Ike Ibeabuchi and Wladimir Klitschko, who both were much bigger and stronger than him – or Oquendo for the matter.

What seems like an interesting fact that might give us something to think about is that Byrd has never been at his best when fighting other good boxers. He seems to enjoy it when he can break down bigger, slower opponents who are trying to take him out with single shots. But if his opponent refuses to come in, Byrd usually stays at his shelter almost phlegmatically too and usually doesn’t do all that lot. If Byrd can sucker Oquendo to come at him, then he should take the command and box his way to a clear-cut decision. But if Oquendo keeps his composure, stays back and is able to connect with his jab, forcing Byrd to lead himself, then he might make things hard for the champion. Oquendo has a nice hand-speed himself which is something Byrd is not that used to. Between two defensive fortresses, the side who have to come out and attack usually loses.

I expect that the first five, maybe six rounds will be pretty uneventful, with the fighters trying to out-think each other and trading quick punches in the progress. I believe that Byrd with his better hand-speed should have a slight edge in this. Then Oquendo, trailing on the cards, has to open up more and try to force his way in, which leaves Byrd more opportunities to counter and thusly box his way to the decision. I wouldn’t be totally surprised though if Oquendo would actually pull off the upset. If he can control the tempo early with his jab and take Byrd out of his normal rhythm, then the fight could turn for the challenger.

This is a fight that promises to be more technical than exciting and more interesting than dramatic where small amount of punches will be thrown and even less landed. Usually when two knockout artists face each other the saying goes that the one who lands first is the winner. Between these two slick boxers the same might be true: the one who is able to land a punch at all could win the fight.

Comments/questions: janneromppainen@hotmail.com