George Shoots Down Byrd!

May 22, 2008

By Andreas Hale at ringside
Photos: Mary Ann Owen / BoxinginLasVegas.com

It was supposed to be a coming out party for Chris Byrd at light heavyweight when he met Shaun George in a ten round battle in Las Vegas. Everyone in the boxing world was curious how Byrd and his 30 pound weight loss would affect the 175lb division. Even Chad Dawson made a trip down to get a peek at the former heavyweight champ who could possibly shake things up in his division. Everyone got the memo – except for Shaun George.

The Brooklyn, New York native took it to the former champion from the opening bell en route to a brutal 9th round TKO victory. Byrd – who falls to 40-5-1 with 24KO’s - looked sluggish and oftentimes confused as he made his 175lb debut against a fighter many thought would be nothing more than a sparring partner. Shaun George improved to 17-2-2 (8KO’s)while giving an impressive performance in front of the sparse crowd at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, NV. George gave Byrd bad angles to work with and regularly found the mark with the right hand as Byrd constantly followed around his challenger but could never get into a rhythm.

The fight looked ill fated for Byrd from the jump as a lead right hand found Byrd’s chin midway through the first round and badly staggered Byrd. Shortly after, another right hand landed flush on the chin and found Byrd on the seat of his pants and terribly hurt. From that point, the dynamic of the fight changed considerably as Byrd constantly stalked Byrd round after round and constantly ate right hands. It wasn’t as if George applied an enormous amount of pressure as he only fought in spurts and pawed away with the left jab looking to open Byrd’s face up for loaded right hands. Byrd obliged by not putting combinations together and fighting at the pace of a Heavyweight while George continued to score.

The weight loss put on full display a drained Byrd who showed nothing from the opening bell. The chin that took Heavyweight punches was a non factor as well as the speed that made Byrd a contender. as each round passed, the fighter who makes his home in Las Vegas, NV looked resigned to take the loss on the judge’s scorecards. George, on the other hand, decided that the judge’s would no input on the decision and dispatched of Byrd with a sizzling left uppercut, right hook combination that dropped Byrd awkwardly to the canvas – and apparently dislocated his left shoulder during the fall – late in the 9th round. Referee Jay Nady let the fight continue as Byrd rose and wobbly legs and walked right into yet another assault that crumbled Byrd in the corner and forced Nady to wave off the fight at 2:45 before any more damage was applied.

Chris Byrd was taken directly to the dressing room following the fight and reportedly passed out after a mixture of morphine and valium were administered to relieve the pain of the dislocated shoulder. Byrd became unresponsive and slipped into a sleep but was fortunately revived and released from a Las Vegas hospital. Byrd’s wife says that this will be the last time we see Chris Byrd in a boxing ring.

George’s performance certainly vaults him up the Light Heavyweight ladder and could possibly find him fighting for a belt if he continues putting on performances like this. At 29 years of age, George could certainly land a good fight (and a good purse to match) against fighters who hover the division such as Roy Jones Jr, Antonio Tarver, Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson.

“I believe I’m the best,” George said in a post fight interview. “I want to fight the best fighters in the world. I been saying that before but I’ve been going about it the wrong way.

“My goal is to fight the world champions out there,” George continued. “I’ll fight any contender out there. Whoever, whenever, however. I’m not scared of anyone out there. Give me Adrian Diaconu. Give me Glen Johnson. I want them bad.”

In the co-feature, South Korean Ji-Hoon Kim – who had his first fight on American soil - weathered a feverish left hand assault to shockingly stop Koba Gogladze at 2:27 in the 1st round of their 130lb fight. Kim looked like it was going to be over for him early as Gogladze landed a string of several brutal left hands to Kim’s head and body and pursued what seemed to be a sure knockout. But Kim caught Gogladze advancing with a beautiful left counter that Gogladze never saw as he winged punches recklessly . Gogoladze was dazed and Kim finished him off with an assault at 2:27 in the first round as Referee Robert Byrd called a halt to the fight. Kim improves to 14-5 with 11KO’s as the 1996 Olympian, Gogoladze, falls to 20-3 with 8KO’s.

Elsewhere, Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov and California’s Brian Gordon put their undefeated records on the line in an action packed 6 round Junior Welterwight bout. But it would be Provodnikov’s persistent body assault that would slow down the game Gordon en route to a unanimous decision. Provodnikov’s record improves to 8-0 (6KO’s) as he punished Gordon with digging left hooks to the body that nearly stopped the Iraq War vet on several occasions in the fight. Gordon - who drops to 4-1 (4KO’s) - weathered the storm but came up on the short end of the scorecards. Judge Adalaide Byrd scored it a 60-54 shutout while Judges Lisa Giampa and Glenn Trowbridge scored the fight 58-56 and 59-55 respectively.

Super Middeweight, Maxim Vlasov continued the evening with a brutal knockout of Columbia’s Orlando Torres. Vlasov – who improves to 12-0-1 – got the fourth KO of his career as a right cross found Torres chin and crumbled the Columbian like a sack of potatoes to the canvas at 1:11 Round 4.

Tacoma Washington’s Jonte Willis (3-0 3 KO’s) remained undefeated by pounding his way to a decision over a hefty Alvaro Morales (2-1-4) in their 4 round Heavyweight fight. The hometown kid Morales couldn’t get much going against Willis who slugged his way through the four round fight and won via shutout on all three scorecards.

In a short, but action packed fight, Henry Namauu gained his first victory of his young career as defeated fellow Las Vegan Caleb Caldwell via TKO at 2:35 in the first round of their Cruiserweight battle. Caldwell – who drops to 2-2-1 (2 KO’s) - dropped Namauu early with a right cross but Namauu would not be denied as a sweeping right hook knocked Caldwell’s mouthpiece into the seats and the rest was elementary as Robert Bird waved off the fight. Namauu improves to 1-1 with 1 KO.