Chris Byrd: “If Floyd Mayweather comes back, he should take up the challenge to fight Golovkin at middleweight!”

Former two time heavyweight champion, Chris Byrd, fought in one of the best heavyweight eras, having faced Evander Holyfield, Wladimir Klitschko and beating Vitali Klitschko. I recently was afforded the chance to speak to Chris Byrd and I got his thoughts on the changing landscape of the heavyweight division and also got his thoughts on the upcoming Ruslan Chageav vs. Lucas Browne bout. Byrd also talked about rubber match between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley and shared his views on what would happen if Floyd Mayweather met Gennady Golovkin in the ring. Here is what Chris Byrd had to say.

Robert Brown: A lot has happened in the heavyweight division recently, what do you think of the weight class as a whole?

Chris Byrd: It’s very active, it’s coming back. There’s a lot of young talent coming up, there’s a lot of good fights. I think with the current champions, if they continue to develop and get better, you’re going to see the heavyweight division be the most dominant division again.

Robert Brown: What are your thoughts on the upcoming bout between Ruslan Chagaev and Lucas Browne?

Chris Byrd: Anything is possible, especially in that fight. Chagaev is a little shopworn in my opinion, a little bit older in the game. Chagaev’s been around a long time and I think this may be Australia’s time to get their heavyweight title.

I think Lucas Browne is fresh enough in boxing where he’s coming along at the right time and it’s the perfect fight. He’s fighting another lefty also, and if Lucas Browne can figure out the style, he’s a big guy who is pretty good on his feet, he throw nice punches. I think he can actually pull off an upset, I think he can actually win the title.

Robert Brown: Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan was recently made, why do you think Amir is taking this fight and what are your thoughts on the match?

Chris Byrd: In my opinion I think he’s doing it because he’s still chasing Floyd. Floyd beat Canelo pretty easy and Amir feels, “If I beat him too, I’m on that level, Floyd should come out and fight me.” It’s a tough fight for Amir Khan in my opinion. Canelo Alvarez is for real, he can fight, he can punch, he has good head and waist movement, he’s a pretty slick guy himself.

Canelo can fight all around, he can box or he can brawl, and that’s tough for Amir Khan. Amir seems like he doesn’t take a great punch, and doing that and jumping up a weight class, he may feel the effects of it with Alvarez. Canelo is a solid guy and he can fight, I look at it to be an interesting fight especially seeing Amir Khan jumping to that weight class and seeing what he can do there fighting Canelo Alvarez.

Is it a one and done, or is Khan going to stay there? If Khan wins, he’s gotta stay there and fight all the guys there, which makes it harder for him to try to challenge all those big guys up in that weight class. It’s an interesting match up, it’s speed vs. power, movement and speed. It’s a difficult fight for Amir Khan but more props to him for taking up the challenge.

Robert Brown: Pacquiao’s next fight is in April, what are your thoughts on Pacquiao-Bradley 3?

Chris Byrd: It’s interesting, you got two guys that know each other and fought each other twice. Of course, Pacquiao won the second fight and Bradley won the first fight, but people thought Manny won the first one, so you have to lean towards Pacquiao just on the sheer fact of the big fights and experience he has at that weight class, the speed and power Pacquiao has and he’s very unorthodox in his movement and it’s hard to catch up to the rhythm.

I know Timothy Bradley probably knows that rhythm but in talking to Freddie Roach, they have another different gameplan. At the same time, Bradley has Teddy Atlas and I know he’s not going to be slugging, he’s going to be boxing more and trying to use his boxing skills. The fight can draw, it’s interesting just to see what both guys have left and what kind of gameplan they’re gonna have going in to the fight.

Robert Brown: Floyd Mayweather recently came out in the press and said that Gennady Golovkin would be easy work for him if they met in the ring. If that fight ever got made, what do you think would happen?

Chris Byrd: I don’t really look at him moving up a couple of weight classes and fighting Golovkin. Floyd’s style can neutralize guys and make it look easy but in the moving up in weight, I think it would be a little more difficult because he’s not a natural middleweight and Golovkin is very much a natural middleweight and he’s a good fighter.

Golovkin is a good puncher, he’s an Olympic silver medalist, he knows what he’s doing in the ring. But I truly think if Floyd comes back, he should take up the challenge to fight him at middleweight. I think it would be an interesting matchup, and when I look at both styles, it would be a much easier fight than him fighting a pure boxing guy that moves and is rangy and could give him problems. Golovkin is more flat footed, and of course there’s the punching power aspect of it, but at the same time, I fought guys just like that all the time.