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 champion, having first won the WBO title in 2000 after an upset corner stoppage over then-undefeated Vitali Klitschko. In his first title defense later that year, he lost to Vitali's brother 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 as the world's top 10 heavyweight from 1996 to 2003, reaching his highest ranking of No.4 in 1998.
As an amateur, Byrd represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics 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. He began boxing at age 5, training in his father (Joe Sr.)'s 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 summer Olympics as a middleweight, losing to Cuba'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 heavyweight 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. With 48 seconds left in the fifth round, a left-handed bolo punch 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 in Berlin, Germany (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 struggled greatly in the fight, 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, Klitschko severely injured his shoulder and was 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.