Tracy Michelle Byrd (born August 27, 1964,

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

) is an American

female boxer Although women have participated in boxing for almost as long as the sport has existed, female fights have been effectively outlawed for most of boxing's history until recently, with athletic commissioners refusing to sanction or issue licenses ...

Early life

Byrd comes from a boxing family: her father, Joe Byrd, is a former boxer who

trained Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

her. Her brother Antoine once lost to

Roy Jones Jr. Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American former professional boxer who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, inc ...

in a bid to win the world's Middleweight title, and her other brother, Chris, is a former heavyweight title holder. Tracy Byrd enjoyed athletics since she was a young child. She excelled in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

as a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. Her brothers Antoine and Chris, however, inspired her into trying out

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

, so she began to attend the Byrd boxing gym, owned by her father.

Professional career

On her first professional fight, August 6, 1996, the then 32-year-old boxer beat Sue Chase by a decision in four rounds in Flint. Her first three fights were held in Flint, and she earned first round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

s in professional fights number two and three. Her fourth fight, a rematch with Chase on January 28, 1997, took place just outside Flint, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. Byrd again outpointed Chase over four rounds. After beating Dee Dufoe by decision in six in what turned out to be her first fight held outside

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

(the fight was held in

Indio, California Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, Califo ...

), Byrd was given the opportunity to challenge for a world championship for the first time: On August 2, 1997, she defeated defending champion Nora Daigle to become the IFBA world Lightweight champion, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Byrd retained the title on October 24 with a fourth-round knockout of Bethanny Payne in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. After this fight, and since Byrd continued undefeated in nine fights, Byrd was given some attention by boxing magazines such as The Ring and KO. But, on her second defense, held on June 30, 1998, she lost her title, and her undefeated mark, to Russian Zulfia Koutdoussova, who, as a consequence, inherited the media attention that Byrd was receiving. Byrd rebounded with three consecutive decision wins, and she was given a second chance at becoming a world champion, when she met

Laura Serrano Laura Serrano Garcia (born October 20, 1967 in Mexico City) is a Mexican boxer. Serrano began boxing at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City, where she was studying to become a lawyer. She wanted to lose weight and stay in ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on September 2, 1999. She lost by a ten-round decision in Tunica, Mississippi, for the

WIBF The Women's International Boxing Federation (WIBF) is one of the more recognized world championship fight sanctioning organizations in women's boxing. Founded in March 1989, it is based in Miami, Florida, and presided over by Barbara Buttrick. The ...

's world Lightweight title. Byrd then took off two years from boxing, deciding to lose weight and return as a Junior Lightweight in 2001. Initially, she had success fighting at a lower weight class, conquering the vacant IFBA intercontinental title with a ten-round unanimous decision over Brenda Vickers on May 19, at Ignacio, Colorado. Her next fight was for the IFBA world Featherweight title, on July 7. She lost that world championship bid, being outpointed over ten rounds by Layla McCarter. This was the beginning of a five fight losing streak for Byrd. All those fights were lost by decision, and they included two more losses to McCarter, another loss to Koutdoussova, and a defeat at the hands of

Isra Girgrah Isra Girgrah (born September 16, 1971) is a Yemeni-born American professional world champion List of female boxers, female boxer. Family and early life The Girgrah family is of the old gypsy roaming families of Aden who are originally of Ethi ...

. Despite losing five times in a row, she was given yet another world title chance, when, on March 22, 2003, she faced Agnieszka Rylik for the WIBO world Jr. Welterweight title. Byrd became a world champion for the second time, when she defeated Rylik by a ten-round split decision in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Her next, and so far last, fight, took place on June 28 of that year, when she and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Belinda Laracuente Belinda Laracuente (born 1980) is a women's boxing competitor from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, where she lived from 1989 to 1998. Her nickname is ''Brown Sugar''. Laracuente debuted as a professional boxer on 12 February 1997 in a match against Kar ...

drew (tied) in an eight rounds non-title bout held at Coconut Grove, Florida. Byrd has a record of thirteen wins, seven losses and one draw, with four wins by knockout, she has not been knocked out as a professional.

Championships and accomplishments

*2001 IFBA Intercontinental Super Featherweight Title *1998 IWBF Lightweight Title *1997 IFBA Lightweight Title (1 defense)

Professional boxing record

References

External links