By Jim Amato

I.B.F. heavyweight champion Chris Byrd will put his portion of the title on the line against once beaten Serguei Lyakhovich. The bout will be on the July 23rd Madison Square Garden card also featuring a W.B.C heavyweight eliminator between former champion Hassim Rahman and the talented Monte Barrett. 

There was speculation that Byrd was going to face James Toney after James was judged the winner over W.B.A. titleholder John Ruiz. Now in light of charges that Toney had illegal drugs in his system the W.B.A. has ruled the bout as a No Contest. In all likelihood the title will revert back to Ruiz and Toney will draw a stiff suspension. With Byrd now tied up Ruiz may face the winner of the upcoming W.B.O. title clash between Lamon Brewster and challenger Andrew Golota. 

Another option may be for Ruiz to meet the winner of Byrd and Lyakhovich. Also undefeated Calvin Brock, fresh off his win over Jameel McCline has to be considered a viable contender.

As far as Lyakhovich challenging Byrd...Serguei is 22-1 with 14 knockouts. He's a big strong guy that can take a good shot. He was hit hard on more then one occasion in his victory over Dominick Guinn and stood up well. Guinn's got some power. Ask Michael Grant who was creamed by Dominick. Serguei also packs a pretty good wallop as he hurt Guinn several times during their bruising battle.

I recently talked with re-known trainer Kenny Weldon who is associated with Lyakhovich. Ken is real high on this kid. That tells me a lot. 

 Byrd is a hard guy to fight with that style of his and he's tough too. He stands up under punishment a lot better then he is given credit for. To beat Byrd you have to pressure him. You have to walk him down, cut off the ring and force him in to exchanges. You can not let him dance and pick his spots. If you do he'll make a fool out of you. 

I'm sure Lyakhovich will come in with a plan of attack designed to take Byrd out of his game plan. If Serguei can enforce his will on Chris, this could be a very interesting fight.