Chris Byrd vs. Wladimir Klitschko II

Revenge Is The Name Of The Game

Date	22 April 2006
Venue	SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany
Title(s) on the line	IBF/IBO Heavyweight Championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Chris Byrd Wladimir Klitschko Nickname "Rapid Fire" "Dr. Steelhammer" Hometown Flint, Michigan, US Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine Pre-fight record 39–2–1 (20 KO) 45–3 (40 KO) Age 35 years, 8 months 30 years Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) Weight 213+1⁄2 lb (97 kg) 241 lb (109 kg) Style Southpaw Orthodox Recognition IBF Heavyweight Champion The Ring No. 1 Ranked Heavyweight IBF No. 1 Ranked Heavyweight The Ring No. 8 Ranked Heavyweight
Result
Klitschko defeated Byrd by 7th round TKO

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.

Background

After beating Evander Holyfield in 2002 to win the IBF title, Byrd has successfully defended the IBF belt four times against Fres Oquendo, Andrew Golota, Jameel McCline, and DaVarryl Williamson. At the time he was ranked as the best Heavyweight in the world by Ring magazine (Wladimir Klitschko was 8th).

Klitschko had won four fights in his comeback from his shock defeat to Lamon Brewster while trying to regain the WBO title he had lost to Corrie Sanders in 2003.

The two men had fought six years earlier with Wladimir winning via a unanimous decision.

The fight

The fight was a one sided affair with Klitschko dominating Byrd before Klitschko's right hook finished off the American 41 seconds into round 7, the second time Byrd was floored in the fight.

Aftermath

Byrd had originally planned to fight then reigning WBA champion Nicolai Valuev; he would instead go on to lose to Alexander Povetkin before briefly returning to the light heavyweight division and ultimately retiring in 2010 with the record of 41–5–1.

Klitschko held the IBF title for a record-breaking 3,507 days before his defeat at the hands of Tyson Fury in November 2015.

This fight would mark the fourth time trainer Emanuel Steward guided a fighter to a Heavyweight title, after Evander Holyfield, Oliver McCall and Lennox Lewis.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
Sebastian Sylvester	Steven Bendall	EBU Middleweight Title	3rd round TKO.
Oleg Platov	Colin Kenna	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	5th round TKO.
Alexander Abraham	Mazen Girke	Super Welterweight (8 rounds)	Unanimous decision.
Timo Hoffmann	Abraham Okine	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	Unanimous decision.
Rene Dettweiler	Ondřej Pála	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	Unanimous decision.
Alexander Povetkin	Friday Ahunanya	Heavyweight (6 rounds)	Unanimous decision.
Andy Lee	Wassim Khalil	Middleweight (6 rounds)	5th round TKO.

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Germany	Das Erste
United States	HBO