I recently updated my b5 profile with the intention of explaining how www.jabandgrapple.com could cover both the scripted fun of pro wrestling entertainment and the unexpected life-threating tension of professional boxing. My answer wasn’t that they both take place in rings and involve some sort of combat.

No, my explanation was that they are bookends of the sporting world with everything else existing in between their emotional bounds. Friday night was evidence of this evocative breadth. WWE’s SmackDown and ESPN’s Friday Night Fights were broadcast simultaneously and my Motorola DVR only allowed me to watch one at a time while taping both. I was forced to delve into both without distraction.

First up was the glorious costumed cabaret fun of SmackDown. The Undertaker was trying to take revenge out on a supposedly wheelchair-bound lady. People were fired, lives were affected, fear, trouble, mayhem, betrayal and loss were the pervasive themes.

We all know, however, that the situations were fake. That in the end the performers’ lives aren’t affected as far as career longevity and/or actual intended danger. Sure, unexpected tragedies can and have occurred but The Undertaker’s choke slam really isn’t endangering opponents; the Great Khali wasn’t really bleeding profusely from the mouth a few weeks ago. Their career paths are decided by scriptwriters and their salary, however modest, isn’t dependent on them winning.

Once SmackDown ended I switched over to the very real career arc of Chris Byrd, a 37-year-old who had just lost 37 pounds in an attempt to compete at the light heavyweight level. Things didn’t work out that well for the former heavyweight champion as he was beaten badly and knocked out in the ninth round. Byrd then deliriously apologized to his wife and handsome young son; he felt he had let them down.

The drama was real, the pain evident, and the tragedy too much to bear. Here was a man who put his life on the line in the ring and couldn’t bear the failure that he wrongly perceived himself to be.

Shortly after the fight doctors diagnosed Byrd with a separated shoulder and administered painkillers. Then the situation nosedived. His wife explained to ESPN, “They gave him Valium and morphine and we couldn’t wake him up,” she continued. “I was so scared. We had to rush him to the hospital.”

Byrd was revived late Friday night and returned home but the psychological pain will not end. Byrd will presumably not fight again at least not on the same championship level he was accustomed. He understands that he should retire.

His opponent Shaun George added after the fight “There’s going to come a point where you have to give it up. That’s the hard part because you love the sport. It’s sad for anybody, but especially someone like Byrd who is a two-time heavyweight champion.”

For me, the pathos was too much to bear, especially after watching its polar opposite at SmackDown.

So I turned the channel to the end of the Boston Celtics-Cleveland Cavs playoff game. I love the NBA but after the Byrd fight it seemed so superficial and so far removed from man’s essential struggle. So scripted and so much closer to pro wrestling than what I had just viewed.

Lives aren’t going to be affected by the Celtics loss no matter how angsty Kevin Garnett portrays himself; no matter how aloof and affected Ray Allen appears to be. They’ll pull in their guaranteed million dollar contract accept their loss, continue performing to David Stern’s script, move on and compete until their bodies can’t move. Just like Bruno Sammartino, just like Hulk Hogan and just like Ric Flair.

If Chris Byrd were to go back in the ring he might be killed, the fact that he’s still an elite boxer doesn’t matter. His skills just aren’t elite enough.

Think I’m off base? Comment below and tell me what you think.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

The Real Drama of Boxing vs. the Fake Drama of the WWE and the NBA

Chris Byrd’s foray into the light heavyweight division did not go as planned. In a relatively shocking and ultimately sad bout Shaun George TKOd the former heavyweight champ late in the ninth round. Referee Jay Nady stopped the fight after George floored Byrd for the second time that round.

George’s demonstrative and dominating win, he was up 79-72 on all three cards, announced that he is yet another talented fighter in a division proving to be boxing’s finest. Byrd, on the other hand, did not prove that he belonged.

Byrd fought the smaller quicker George as if he were a plodding heavyweight and George did not oblige Byrd’s incorrect assumption. The 5/1 underdog dropped him in the first and pounded him throughout. He never slowed down his unceasing barrage, dancing around Byrd while peppering him with pinpoint punches and scoring numerous head shots. Byrd landed no punches of consequence and never threatened the 29-year-old Brooklyn native. This wasn’t the Byrd we thought we were going to see.

All our pre-fight thoughts regarding Byrd were wrong. His 37-pound weight loss and heavyweight experience did not help him one bit. Rather they proved to be severe hindrances. Byrd looked lost and unfamiliar with his new body, confused about the fight’s speed, too slow to present any kind of defense, and too weak to land any meaningful blows.

Byrd’s inability to be competitive is a sad indictment on the skill level chasm between the heavyweight class and light heavys below. Wlad Kiltschko need not appear on any pound-for-pound lists any time soon.

Chris Byrd really has no place to go from here. The light heavyweight division is full of great fighters and large purses but, last night’s fight showed, the 175-lb. Byrd cannot compete on their level without relearning how to fight as a smaller man would. And even then it’s uncertain that a powerful punch would ever materialize at that lighter weight.

George wasn’t the best choice for Byrd’s intro to a dramatically different style of boxing. He was too good and too focused. If Byrd is to return to the ring and make another attempt at this class then he’ll have to start much further down the competitive ladder. If he does then good luck. If he does not then last night was a farewell to a champion.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Chris Byrd’s Debut As A Smaller Man Goes Wrong

Byrd’s most recent fight was last October when he was TKO’d in the 11th against 2004 Athens Super Heavyweight Olympic gold medalist Aleksandr Povetkin. Povetkin weighed in at 226 1/4, Byrd at 211 1/4. It was a far cry from Byrd’s own Olympic medaling weight: a svelte 165.

After winning the middleweight silver medal in Barcelona 1992 Byrd immediately placed himself on the heavyweight trajectory. “Guys I knew I could beat (at heavyweight) were making money,” he explained to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “(so) I started eating and didn’t stop.”

In the midst of his eating Byrd won a few heavyweight titles and faced the best the weight class has to offer in its present-day pathetic state. Namely the Klitschko brothers, losing to Wlad twice and defeating Vitali. After losing to Povetkin, Byrd thought “What else do I have to prove?” So instead of slogging for purses by traveling to Germany and facing more eastern Europeans heavys Byrd decided to drop a few weight classes and make his living fighting in Vegas.

Byrd’s dramatic weight loss – as seen when comparing the two accompanying photos – has been well documented by Tim Smith in both the New York Daily News and on ESPN.com. The, er, skinny: 37 pounds lost since his last fight. Las Vegan yes. Vegan no. Meats and animal products OK, just in small portions. His real secret? Seven miles of running a day and hard training.

His physique as seen in the ESPN.com video is astounding. He is so fit and so quick that he is hardly recognizable. Byrd’s fighting style tonight could be just as perplexing.

Will the southpaw revert to his early career technical style which wowed boxing purists and put everyone else to sleep, will he stay stationary and bully his smaller, less experienced opponent, or will a newer, quicker Chris Byrd emerge?

Byrd is one of the sport’s most intelligent and savvy competitors, some have even argued that his advanced boxing acumen and mathematical style may have been too complex for the average fight fan and soured his heavyweight commercial success.

He won’t need to rely on his smarts as much against fighters his own size and that should make for a veritable rising phoenix. We’re excited to see the 175-pound Byrd fight and eager for what we think will be a pleasant surprise. Our hunch is that Byrd might want to rethink his stated year-end retirement because there are a lot of big money light heavy bouts out there and tonight’s fight could solidify his place high in the pecking order. Watch closely Joe Calzaghe. Watch closely.

For more on tonight’s fight also check:
Las Vegas Review-Journal’s profile of Shaun George and the Fightwriter.com’s preview.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Chris Byrd, 37 Pounds Lighter Than Last Time