Chris Byrd was a future Olympian and heavyweight champion of the world, but in the summer of 1980 he was just a 10-year-old kid boxing in his first official bout.
He lost that match to future pro Jamie Stevenson of Davison.
“Me losing, I was a little hurt, but I never really cared,” Byrd recalls. “I was younger. Losing, I guess, is part of the sport. You’ve got to learn and get better.”
Byrd had a wealth of knowledge at his disposal in his own home to ensure days like this would become a rarity during his boxing career.
His father, Joe, was a renowned boxing trainer who would eventually help coach the 1992 U.S. Olympic team. Older brother Patrick would compete in the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials. All five Byrd brothers and one sister, Tracy, were boxers.
“I started boxing at 5,” Byrd said. “I was in the gym since birth. Boxing has been my whole life.”
Byrd didn’t lose much after his debut against Stevenson in what must have been a heck of a 10-year-old bout.
He went 275-10 during his amateur career, winning a silver medal in the 1992 Olympics and winning three national championships. As a pro, he went 41-5-1 and was a two-time heavyweight champion.
It wasn’t until Byrd was 17 that he knew he could do something special in the sport.
“I won Silver Gloves when I was 11,” said Byrd, who attended Hamady schools through 10th grade and graduated from Flint Northwestern after a year at Flint Northern. “The next year, I won national Silver Gloves.
“At 15, I made it to the finals of the national Junior Olympics. I still didn’t really think I could do it, because when I was 16 I lost like four times. I was fighting grown men, but at 17 I made it to the finals of the U.S. championships, which is the biggest tournament in the nation. I was No. 2 in the country and made it to the Olympic Trials. From there, I never looked back.”
Byrd competed in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, losing at welterweight to eventual Olympian Todd Foster. Byrd would have to wait four years for his next shot at the Olympics, giving up the opportunity to turn pro on the advice of his father.
“My father kept saying, ‘You’re too young. You’re not a man yet. You need to be a man before you turn pro so you can have a great career,’” Byrd said. “I never thought about turning pro. I was actually having fun traveling the world with a lot of guys from the national team, being a top amateur.”
Byrd qualified for the 1992 U.S. Olympic team by winning a box-off with Eric Carr in Phoenix after going 3-0 during the Trials in Worcester, Mass.
He won his first four bouts at the Barcelona Olympics before losing to Ariel Hernandez of Cuba in the gold medal bout.
“I thought I would win gold,” Byrd said. “It hurt me big-time. That’s the first time I ever cried after a fight. I was in the locker room just crying.”
Byrd returned to Flint as a hero, fully expecting big opportunities to come his way.
Instead, he was working for his brother’s lawn business and boxing sporadically in local bouts at IMA Sports Arena and a now-defunct night club on Dort Highway called The Network.
He got his first break fighting as a fill-in against Waxxem Fikes at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Oct. 4, 1994, a match that aired on USA Network’s “Tuesday Night Fights.” Byrd won by technical knockout.
Byrd was 26-0 when he was offered the chance to replace Donovan Ruddock in a WBO heavyweight title fight against Vitali Klitschko on April 4, 2000 in Berlin. With only seven days to prepare for the fight, Byrd won the championship when Klitschko was unable to continue after the ninth round because of a shoulder injury.
“It was unreal,” Byrd said. “As soon as they said I was the winner, I thought about the night club. I came from a night club. It was just like a Rocky movie. I’m coming from a night club, working my way to the top. Now I’m the champion. It felt so good.”
Byrd lost his title defense six months later by unanimous decision against Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali’s younger brother.
Byrd put himself in a position for another title shot by winning the United States Boxing Association heavyweight championship in 2001. He beat Evander Holyfield by unanimous decision on Dec. 14, 2002 in Atlantic City for the International Boxing Federation’s title.
“It was surreal,” Byrd said. “When I first decided to go to heavyweight, there were three boxers I wanted to get. It was Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield. I got Evander Holyfield. Lennox Lewis didn’t want to fight me. Mike Tyson didn’t want to fight me. I got to that main stage. I at least got Evander Holyfield, which was mind-blowing. I couldn’t believe I was in the ring with Evander Holyfield for the heavyweight title.”
Byrd wasn’t a natural heavyweight. His natural weight was 156 pounds, but he moved up to 165 for the Olympics because he and a friend were in the same weight class. He worked his way up to 215 to fight at heavyweight against men who were between 240 and 270 pounds.
He used his quickness and head movement to compete with bigger, stronger boxers. He would drink a gallon of milk before weigh-ins.
Byrd had four successful title defenses before losing again to Wladimir Klitschko by technical knockout on April 22, 2006 in Germany. Of his five professional losses, three came in his final five bouts. His last fight was a victory over Matthias Sandow on March 21, 2009 in Germany.
“Every boxer thinks you still have it,” Byrd said. “It starts going. I’m fighting at heavyweight and I felt tired. I was in chronic pain for 11 1/2 years. I wanted to cut my foot off; I had nerve damage. All my joints started falling apart. I had hip replacement. I needed shoulder replacement. My body was falling apart.”
Now, at the age of 53 and on the verge of induction into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame, Byrd is back in the ring training in California. He plans to fight an exhibition in September as a 160-pounder.
“I feel better than I’ve ever felt in my life,” he said. “Right now, I’m at the peak. I wish I felt like this when I was fighting, because I would’ve been
healthy. I was sick after fights. I would break out in hives. My back was swelling. I was rushed to the hospital all the time after fights. I had to eat a lot to keep up my weight.
“I’m so healthy right now, I might as well do it.”
