Byrd, Klitschko, & Kipling

[BloodClot]

I'm just glad these two are getting it on. With Rahman and Toney failing to produce a definitive heir to the throne and with Brewster falling back amidst the other contenders, Wlad and Chris are truly fighting for The World Heavyweight Championship, IMHO. It'll be good to have a clear leader again.

well many here were saying Brewster was the man at heavy to beat. I think we can safely say Sergei is a force now...right

[K-DOGG]

well many here were saying Brewster was the man at heavy to beat. I think we can safely say Sergei is a force now...right

As one of the ones, admittedly, that was saying Lamon was the rightful #1 at heavyweight, I hear ya. If Sergei's resume was deeper, I would agree with him taking over the posisition; and I will say that the winner of Byrd-Klitschko II does need to fight him for absolute certainty. However, based on the level of competition, I still have to go with the winner of this bout as the new #1. Unfortunately, while I do think Liakhovich was underrated, apparently I and others overrated Brewster.

While I did say Brewster was the #1 Big Man, I never said he was the champ. There has been no champ since Lewis hung the gloves up. My attitude was that the winner of a supposed Brewster-Klitschko rematch would have been THE MAN. However, since that fight didn't take place and Byrd has been the rightful #2 for quite some time, he and Wlad (in light of Brewster's recent fall from grace) should be a determining bout for the new #1.

Liakhovich, I would say has earned at least # 3 or 4 status.

[TheHoff!]

The thing that concerns me about the easiness of such a call is the “X-Factor? The X-Factor is that Chris has never been respected as a fighter and is getting old and knows people think he’s going to lose. Any fighter you meet has tremendous pride in their abilities, especially a world champion; and Chris is a belt holder with something to prove?.and he has to prove it against the man who pounded him for 12 rounds and dropped him twice when he was in his physical prime. How bad does Chris want the respect he’s always been denied?

^That is true but Wlad also has a lot to prove. He's still fighting to get some respect back after the way he lost to Sanders and Brewster and if he loses to Byrd his career would probably be as good as over... There is a lot on the line for him.

I personally dont see how Byrd can win. He was completely outboxed the first time and that was in his prime. Wlad has had setbacks that have knocked his confidence since then but I think that maybe the Sam Peter fight will prove to be a mental hurdle that he has crossed, in that he took shots but was still there at the end and got the decision.

If Byrd tries to go inside and trade I dont think he has the power to do real damage and Wlad seems better prepared to deal with that now... Wlad will probably stay on the outside, outboxing him again and hugging Chris to death if he comes inside and looks remotely dangerous.

As for Lennox, I respect him as a boxer but he does chat a lot of ****. He's been bigging up Audley Harrison for a while now and was even really supportive of him after he lost to Danny Williams while looking petrified for the whole 12 rounds.

...I can see Wlad winning by decision or possibly a late tko.

[K-DOGG]

^That is true but Wlad also has a lot to prove. He's still fighting to get some respect back after the way he lost to Sanders and Brewster and if he loses to Byrd his career would probably be as good as over... There is a lot on the line for him.

I personally dont see how Byrd can win. He was completely outboxed the first time and that was in his prime. Wlad has had setbacks that have knocked his confidence since then but I think that maybe the Sam Peter fight will prove to be a mental hurdle that he has crossed, in that he took shots but was still there at the end and got the decision.

If Byrd tries to go inside and trade I dont think he has the power to do real damage and Wlad seems better prepared to deal with that now... Wlad will probably stay on the outside, outboxing him again and hugging Chris to death if he comes inside and looks remotely dangerous.

As for Lennox, I respect him as a boxer but he does chat a lot of ****. He's been bigging up Audley Harrison for a while now and was even really supportive of him after he lost to Danny Williams while looking petrified for the whole 12 rounds.

...I can see Wlad winning by decision or possibly a late tko.

You make good points about Wlad having something to prove as well...I believe the article pointed that out....but, I think there is a possibility, given the ease of the first fight, that Wlad could be overconfident coming into the rematch.