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| Date | December 14, 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | vacant IBF heavyweight title | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Byrd defeated Holyfield via Unanimous decision | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chris Byrd vs. Evander Holyfield was a professional boxing match contested on December 14, 2002 for the vacant IBF heavyweight championship.
Evander Holyfield had lost both his WBA and IBF heavyweight titles to WBC heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis in 1999. However, Lewis would then be stripped of the WBA title after opting to face Michael Grant rather than the WBA's number one contender and mandatory challenger John Ruiz. As a result, Holyfield faced Ruiz on August 12, 2000 and regained the WBA title after defeating Ruiz by unanimous decision becoming the first four-time heavyweight champion. [1] Holyfield's fourth reign, however, would be short-lived. Ruiz would capture the title in a rematch later in the year and the two fought to a draw in their third bout. [2] Holyfield then met the former WBC and IBF heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (who had recently lost his titles in a rematch with Lennox Lewis) in a WBA heavyweight title "eliminator" match with the winner to earn a shot at the WBA title. Holyfield picked up the victory by referee technical decision, [3] but rather than face Ruiz for the WBA title for a fourth time, agreed to face Chris Byrd for the now vacant IBF version of the heavyweight championship. At the urging of promoter Don King, Lennox Lewis vacated the title shortly after defeating Mike Tyson, allowing King to put together the Byrd–Holyfield match with hopes of pitting the winner against the winner of the John Ruiz–Roy Jones Jr. WBA championship bout. [4] Byrd came into the fight with an impressive 35–2 record and was two years removed from capturing the WBO heavyweight title after handing the previously undefeated Vitali Klitschko his first loss. Byrd then lost the title in his first defense to Vitali's brother Wladimir, but became the IBF's number one contender the following year after winning an IBF heavyweight title "eliminator" mini-tournament by defeating Maurice Harris and David Tua.
The fight went the full 12 rounds, Holyfield's fifth consecutive championship fight to go the distance. The younger and quicker Byrd was able to keep the aging Holyfield off balance throughout the fight with his right jab. As the fight went on Holyfield seem to tire and took a more defensive approach, allowing Byrd to control most of the action. As a result, the judge's scores were lopsided in favor of Byrd. Two judges had Byrd winning by the score of 117–111, while the other had him winning by the score of 116–112. Holyfield would attribute his loss to a left shoulder injury he sustained early in the fight that he claimed prevented him effectively using his left hand. [5]
Byrd's reign would last over three years and he would successfully defend his titles four times during that span with decision victories over Fres Oquendo, Jameel McCline and DaVarryl Williamson and a draw with Andrew Golota. His reign would come to an end on April 22, 2006 after losing a rematch to Wladimir Klitschko by seventh-round technical knockout.
Though it was not known if the now 40-year-old Holyfield would continue his quest for a fifth heavyweight title, he ultimately decided to continue on and met former IBF middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion James Toney in Toney's heavyweight debut on October 4, 2003. Holyfield had a strong first round, but Toney dominated the remainder of the fight before Holyfield's corner stopped the fight in the ninth. Holyfield then lost his third consecutive fight after losing by unanimous decision to Larry Donald. After nearly two years away from the ring, Holyfield returned on August 8, 2006 and proceeded to win his next four fights. He would gain two consecutive world title matches, first challenging Sultan Ibragimov for the WBO title on October 13, 2007 but lost by unanimous decision. Over a year later, Holyfield returned to challenge towering WBA champion Nikolai Valuev but lost a close majority decision.
Confirmed bouts: [6]
| Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
 Lamon Brewster | Tommy Martin | WBO NABO heavyweight title | 3rd-round TKO. |
| Fres Oquendo |  George Arias | vacant WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title | 11th-round TKO. |
 Syd Vanderpool |  Jaffa Ballogou | Super Middleweight (10 rounds) | 2nd-round TKO. |
| Faruq Saleem | Richie Jero | Heavyweight (10 rounds) | 1st-round TKO. |
 Owen Beck | Craig Tomlinson | Heavyweight (10 rounds) | 5th-round TKO. |
 Louis Azille | Sam Reese | Cruiserweight (8 rounds) | Majority decision. |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Germany | ARD |
| United States | HBO [7] |
Lennox Claudius Lewis is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed championship. Holding dual British and Canadian citizenship, Lewis represented Canada as an amateur at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; in the latter, he won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division.
John Ruiz is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2010, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2001 and 2005. Ruiz is of Puerto Rican descent, and is the first Latino boxer to win a world heavyweight title.
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and is the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the three belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
Hasim Sharif Rahman is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles in 2001; and the WBC title again from 2005 to 2006. He was ranked as a top 10 heavyweight by BoxRec from 2000 to 2007, and reached his highest ranking of world No.6 in 2000.
Christopher Cornelius Byrd is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2009. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having first won the WBO title in 2000 after an upset corner stoppage over then-undefeated Vitali Klitschko. In his first title defense later that year, he lost to Vitali's brother Wladimir Klitschko. In 2002, Byrd defeated Evander Holyfield to win the IBF heavyweight title for his second reign as world champion. He made four successful defenses until losing his title again to Wladimir Klitschko in a 2006 rematch. He was ranked by BoxRec in the world's top 10 heavyweight from 1998 to 2004, reaching his highest ranking of No.3 in 2000.
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Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis, billed as Undisputed, was a professional boxing match contested on March 13, 1999 for the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight championships.
Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis II, was a professional boxing match contested on November 13, 1999 for the WBA, WBC, IBF, and vacant IBO undisputed heavyweight championship.
Evander Holyfield vs. John Ruiz, billed as Justice, was a professional boxing match contested on August 12, 2000 for the vacant WBA heavyweight championship.
John Ruiz vs. Evander Holyfield III was a professional boxing match contested on December 15, 2001 for the WBA heavyweight championship. The fight ended in a split draw, a result that meant Ruiz retained his WBA title.
Chris Byrd vs. Wladimir Klitschko II, billed as "Revenge Is The Name Of The Game", was a professional boxing match contested on 22 April 2006 for the IBF and vacant IBO heavyweight championship.
Wladimir Klitschko vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as "X-Plosive", was a professional boxing match contested on 13 December 2008 for the IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight championship.
Nikolai Valuev vs. David Haye, billed as David vs Goliath, was a professional boxing match contested on 7 November 2009 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Chris Byrd vs. Wladimir Klitschko, billed as Die Rache des Bruders, was a professional boxing match contested on 14 October 2000 for the WBO Heavyweight Championship.
John Ruiz vs. James Toney was a professional boxing match contested on April 30, 2005, for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Evander Holyfield vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as "The Royal Comeback", was a professional boxing match contested on June 1, 2002.
Evander Holyfield vs. James Toney, billed as "The War on October 4", was a professional boxing match contested on October 4, 2003.