Much like Brad Pitt's character Benjamin Button, it seems like the boxing career of former heavyweight champion Chris Byrd (40-5-1, 21 KOs) is going in reverse. Tomorrow, Saturday, March 21, Byrd makes his return to the ring as a cruiserweight when he takes on unknown Matthias Sandow (4-3, 3 KOs) at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle in Stuttgart, Germany on the undercard of WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko's title defense against Juan Carlos Gomez. Byrd has been in Austria helping Klitschko, whom he holds a win over, prepare for his upcoming bout with Gomez.
Byrd last fought in May of 2008, a 9th round loss to Shaun George in a bout that took place at light heavyweight after he shed nearly 40 pounds. Believing that the drastic weight loss had an impact on his performance, Byrd hopes to get his career back on track a little heavier as a cruiserweight. "I'm going to maybe take it slow in my first fight and see how I look and feel. Then I'll get back in the mix of fighting mainstream guys," Byrd would state in an interview. With a record of 4-3, Matthias Sandow, who's never fought past four rounds and has been knocked out twice, is about as slow of a start as it gets for the 38-year-old former IBF heavyweight champion. If he struggles at all with Sandow in their eight-round affair, Byrd has stated, "I'm not a stupid guy as far as ability goes. If I'm gone completely, I'm gone. I will leave the sport; walk away from it."
The 12-round WBC heavyweight title bout between Vitali Klitscho and Juan Carlos Gomez will be televised on ESPN Classic at 6PM ET.