Chris Byrd Talking Comeback…at Middleweight
At fifty years of age, former world heavyweight champion Chris “Rapid Fire” Byrd (41-5-1, 22 KO’s) is flirting with a comeback. Byrd took to his social media to alert the boxing community that he’s itching to get back in the ring. Somewhat shockingly however, the Michigan born boxer is looking to campaign at middleweight.
“What am I known for? Slickness, speed, reflexes, it’s still there at fifty years old… Who is going to hang with the old man? Nobody can hang with the old man, I got energy all day! I will be the middleweight champion, definitely!”
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Prior to his last professional bout, back on March 21, 2009, the lowest that Byrd had competed at was light heavyweight. This is why it was a quite a shocking thing to hear Rapid Fire express his desire to campaign at 160. If he makes good on his claims, he will join Roy Jones Jr and Mike Tyson in a group of 50-something year old fighters returning to the ring. Jones Jr and Tyson are on schedule to face one another in an exhibition on November 28.
If the slimmed-down Byrd had a target opponent in mind he did not mention in his post. Yet, it would be interesting to see who he would return against. Unlike Tyson and Jones Jr, Byrd indicated that if he returned he was looking to capture another world title. This should naturally be viewed as a rather daunting task.
At the present moment, the current middleweight champions are Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (30-0, 22 KO’s) (WBC), Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KO’s) (IBO, IBF), Demetrius “Boo-Boo” Andrade (29-0, 18 KO’s) (WBO) and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (53-1-2, 26 KO’s) (WBA). It’s radically unlikely that any of these champions would face Chris Byrd in his return fight. So, its unknown who in the top ten Byrd has intentions on fighting to get himself in a strategic position to force any of these bouts.
3kingsboxing will stay on top of this developing situation to see what, if anything, materializes next for Chris Byrd.
By: Bakari Simpson
