Give me Byrd. A smarter, more elusive & patient fighter than Morrison ever was. This is one fight where you'd have to figure Morrison's chin would be safe, but the thing of it is with Morrison, if it isn't one thing letting him down, it's another. This time, it's his endurance. Byrd flat survives & evades him long enough for Morrison to wear down (aided by his mediocre defense), & Byrd wins the UD, 8-4.
And Morrison had terrific handspeed. I really think Byrd's defense would be taxed and he would get hit hard
Tommy I think it would go kinda like the Ike fight did. Byrd would lean on the ropes too much sure he would have his moments but Morrison would just throw bombs in combination and some of them would land and take Byrd out
Have to go with Byrd. Tommy has the Ibeabuchi factor- he can take Chris head off with that left hook, but he has to land it. I think Tommy would need to get Chris out of there inside the first 4 rounds. IF he doesn't, he is just going to get out-nicked and out-picked for the duration of the remainder. If you look at the Wlad vs Byrd fight, the first one- Klitschko was throwing a lot of leather, forcing Byrd to cover up, forcing him to back up, and lose rounds. Morrison will be doing that for the first few rounds only. Its not got anything to do with skill or elusiveness as such, Byrd often lost rounds simply by being outworked and covering up. Morrison is probably a more fluid fighter than Byrd and a better natural mover. He just would get tired and ragged throwing and missing and Byrd would come into it through the mid rounds and the later stages.
I'll take Morrison. The Duke's stamina might let him down late if Byrd lasts the distance, but I think he'd be ahead by enough on the cards by that point for it not to matter.
agree Byrd was a cutie, essentially, who achieved the vast amount of his victories against a lot of third-teir opposition... his most notable victories were one totally lucky fluke (Vitali), one Alzheimer's sufferer (Holyfield) and a fat, one-dimensional slob who was past his already limited best (Tua) Morrison's two main flaws were his stamina and his chin... his chin is in NO danger here at all... and his stamina wouldnt matter either because he'd have already knocked Byrd out by the time he would be typically starting to tire (round 7 or so) ... His handspeed is being overlooked here... Morrison had fast hands and serious offensive firepower... against a guy who can not threaten him in any way, he cruises
Styles favor Morrison here but let's not forget most of his wins were against scrubs or oldies too. He outboxed Foreman, landed a miracle hook to defeat an old Razor Ruddock and did well for four rounds against Mercer, that's pretty much it. He was outclassed by Lennox and fought evenly with the likes of Ross Puritty and Joe Hipp. Morrison might be the favorite but if Byrd survives the first four, which he well might, he could outbox Tommy clearly
On second thoughts I agree with this assessment. Fights not as sure a thing as I was sure it was before I became unsure.
Byrd aint outboxing shit. He outboxed an OLD Holyfield who would soon be stopped by Toney and outboxed and old fat Tua (Tua's "shortness" and one-dimensional style was made for Byrd). The only young reasonably decent boxer that Byrd has beaten was Fres Oquendo (He only beat Vitali because he had an injury), and I thought Fres won that fight and was robbed. Morrison would outbox Byrd, no doubt.
Yes but the 90s was a glorious era. He was an average fighter in a glorious era!!!! I still think Byrd has too much for this guy.
So now we have two guys who ever beat anyone worth of shit so what becomes the deciding factor under these circumstances?
Golota had that over Byrd also. I think to beat Byrd you need to walk him onto something massive, or keep up an impressive work-rate all night long.