Chris Byrd Christopher Cornelius Byrd (born August 15, 1970) 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 th ...

vs.

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир Вол� ...

II, billed as "Revenge Is The Name Of The Game", was a professional boxing match contested on 22 April 2006 for the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

and vacant IBO heavyweight championship.

Background

After

beating Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

Evander Holyfield in 2002 to win the IBF title, Byrd has successfully defended the IBF belt four times against

Fres Oquendo Fres Oquendo (born April 1, 1973) is a Puerto Rican professional heavyweight boxer. He had a successful amateur record before turning professional in 1997. He has challenged three times for world heavyweight titles. Amateur career He had an amat ...

Andrew Golota Andrzej Jan Gołota (; born 5 January 1968), best known as Andrew Golota, is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. He challenged four times for a heavyweight world title (by all four major sanctioning bodies), and as ...

, Jameel McCline, and

DaVarryl Williamson DaVarryl Jerome Williamson (born July 25, 1968) is an American former professional boxer. A highly-touted amateur, he challenged once for the IBF world heavyweight title in 2005. Early and personal life Williamson was raised in poverty in th ...

. 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 Lamon Tajuan Brewster (born June 5, 1973) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2010. He held the WBO heavyweight title from 2004 to 2006, and is best known for scoring an upset knockout victory over Wladimir Klitsch ...

while trying to regain the WBO title he had lost to

Corrie Sanders Cornelius Johannes "Corrie" Sanders (7 January 1966 – 23 September 2012) was a South African professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2008. He won the WBO heavyweight title in 2003 after knocking out Wladimir Klitschko in two rounds, whi ...

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 Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and '' The Ring'' magazine title from 2020 to August 202 ...

in November 2015. This fight would mark the fourth time trainer

Emanuel Steward Emanuel "Manny" Steward (July 7, 1944 – October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. He was also called the Godfather of Detroit Boxing. Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his care ...

guided a fighter to a Heavyweight title, after Evander Holyfield, Oliver McCall and Lennox Lewis.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrd, Klitschko II 2006 in boxing International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship matches Boxing in Germany 2006 in German sport Klitschko brothers Sports competitions in Mannheim April 2006 sports events in Germany Boxing on HBO Boxing matches