19.04.06 – By Geoffrey Ciani: Saturday night will be the second time that Wladimir Klitschko squares off against Chris Byrd. A lot has changed since these two pugilists first met back on October 14, 2000 when Wladimir pummeled Byrd mercilessly en route to a shut out decision. In the aftermath of that bout, many were of the opinion that young Wladimir would be the future of the heavyweight division. Indeed, many considered him to be the heir apparent to Lennox Lewis’s throne. Since that time, Chris Byrd has captured the IBF version of the heavyweight crown which he’s now held for over three years, whereas Wladimir has suffered some devastating setbacks at the hands of Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster.
The main question surrounding this bout is whether or not enough has changed since their last encounter to make things more competitive.
Basically, there are two schools of thought surrounding this. The first states that Byrd will win because of a style change combined with the fact that Wladimir has since been exposed. To be sure, Byrd has evolved into a more aggressive fighter who is more apt to bring the attack to his opponent. This greatly contrasts his style from several years back wherein he was more of a defensive wizard. Add to this the fact that Wladimir has shown some vulnerabilities in the realms of chin and stamina, and many people feel Byrd will be able to reverse the outcome of their prior match-up by taking advantage of a tired Klitschko in the later rounds.
The other school of thought says that this fight is a stylistic nightmare for Byrd. After all, Wlad didn’t just beat Byrd in their first encounter; he annihilated him! Judges scored the bout 120-106, 119-107, and 118-108 all in favor of Wladimir. That two judges gave one and two rounds to Byrd respectively was overly generous in my eyes. In fact, I find one hard-pressed to have scored the bout anything other than 120-106; Wlad’s domination was that thorough and complete. He literally won all twelve rounds dropping an exhausted Byrd twice in the process.
So what’s really going on here? Is Byrd smart enough to take advantage of some of Wlad’s weaknesses which have been exposed since their first battle? Or does Wlad simply have Byrd’s number?
Frankly, I’m not sure what the answer to that question is. I tend to believe that Wlad has Byrd’s number, and that stylistically, there is little Byrd can do to make this one any more competitive than the last one. To be sure, five years is a very long time in heavyweight boxing, and this is a sport where anything and everything can happen. So nothing would completely shock me, but be that as it may, I still give Byrd a very slim chance of winning this bout. I just don’t think he hits hard enough to expose the weaknesses Wlad has shown against Sanders and Brewster, especially in light of the fact that Klitschko redeemed himself in his last contest against the power-punching Samuel Peter. If Wlad can go twelve rounds with Peter while being knocked down three times in the process, then I see no reason why he can’t go twelve rounds with Byrd. The fact that Wlad has already easily outboxed Byrd – let me reiterate the word easily – leads me to believe he can do it again. Styles make fights.
I’ve been trying to think of an example where a fighter who lost a one-sided decision in the fashion Byrd lost to Wlad was ever able to reverse the outcome of their original bout. After thinking long and hard, I couldn’t come up with any such example. That’s not to say that one doesn’t exist; that’s just to say I was unable to think of one. I mean, plenty of fighters have reversed the outcome of fights in rematches, but has it ever happened where the first fight was a shutout decision?
In any case, whether Wladimir once again dominates Byrd or whether Byrd somehow finds a way to reverse the outcome, this fight will inevitably be an entertaining encounter. Perhaps not in the same fashion as the recent bout between Brewster and Serguei Lyakovich, but still, this should be an entertaining one in its own right. I, for one, look forward to watching this match-up on Saturday night, and hope that this takes us one step closer towards unification.
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