Chris Byrd's 40-pound drop to the light heavyweight division at age 37 didn't go how he wanted it to, and in light of his performance on "Friday Night Fights," it is clearly time for the former two-time heavyweight titlist to turn his gloves in and move on.

A motivated, strong, and in-prime Shaun George was way too much for the ex-titleholder, knocking Byrd down in the first round and twice in the ninth before Byrd told referee Jay Nady to stop the fight in that ninth round, giving George a dominant TKO win against a man hoping to find a career rebirth with a newly conditioned physique that failed him when the test came to pass.

It was pretty obvious from the get-go that this was just plain it for Chris Byrd. Floored in the first round, you could tell that he just wasn't himself anymore. His losses to Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin in recent years were very predictable; at his age, he had too long extened his natural physical capabilities by fighting bigger, stronger men in the heavyweight division.

But his swan song was something else. An unheralded fighter with obvious physical gifts but several flaws that have kept him at the level he currently resides, George (17-2-2, 8 KO) manhandled Byrd with counter and lead right hands, punishing him with ease as the fight progressed. In the middle rounds, Byrd was at least able to marginally slow George. But in the end, he ate one shot too many without dishing anything back, and a brutal fall in the ninth on the first knockdown separated his shoulder. He was taken to the hospital after the fight.

And it was a fight that, despite the conclusion, saw Chris Byrd go out on his shield. No one will mistake Byrd for a mix-it-up warrior, but he was always very tough. He'd have to be to fight those guys he did. Both Klitschko brothers, Ike Ibeabuchi, David Tua, Evander Holyfield, and others found themselves in the ring with Byrd, who always refused to back down or give up on himself. Even though he probably did the best he could do last night, it was not enough. Or even close to enough.

All kudos to Shaun George, who was simply much, much better than Chris Byrd. With any luck, George could find himself main eventing another ESPN2 card or on a bigger undercard sometime soon. A fight I'd like to see to test him would be one against Chris Henry, who recently lost a competitive bout to Adrian Diaconu. George has fought mostly at cruiserweight, but he looked very comfortable and very strong at light heavyweight.

For Byrd (40-5-1, 21 KO) this has to be the end. His lean, trim physique was enough to keep me wondering what could have been had he fought at 175 pounds for his career, but he did not. He was a heavyweight, and he was a good one.  And he was always a good guy, never caused any controversy by complaining about losses or claiming he was drugged or any of the other crap that we hear from other fighters. When he was beaten, he was beaten, and he left it at that.

In fact, at one point tonight, ringside commentator Brian Kenny said that Byrd came over to he and co-commentator Shannon Briggs and said, "I look like crap." He understood it was a lost cause, but he never stopped trying.

On the undercard, Jin-Hoo Kim upset veteran Koba Gogoladze with a first round TKO, dropping him with a short counter shot reminiscent of Vic Darchinyan's loss to Nonito Donaire, and stopping him just moments after Gogoladze got back to his feet. In the TV opener, junior welterweight prospect Ruslan Provodnikov stirred the memory of Kostya Tszyu with a six-round unanimous decision over an extremely game Brian Gordon in a hell of a good fight, a six-round shootout. Here's looking forward to seeing more of Provodnikov, and more of the gutsy, double tough Gordon, for that matter.

Chris Byrd was knocked down three times (once in the opening round, twice in the ninth) and was totally dominated by the right hand of younger, stronger, quicker Shaun George, losing by ninth round TKO.

The undercard featured Jin-Hoo Kim scoring a first round TKO upset of Koba Gogoladze, and a hell of a six-round fight won by Ruslan Provodnikov over a very game, super tough Brian Gordon. We'll have much more on the card tomorrow here at Bad Left Hook. For now, we send our best wishes to Teddy Atlas and his wife, Elaine, and we also hope for Chris Byrd to retire from active competition. A proud man, a stand-up guy, and a tough SOB. But this was it.

It's not often that a 37-year old former heavyweight champ who hasn't scored a notable victory in years gets attention for main eventing a Friday Night Fights card against a journeyman.

Then again, it's not often that that 37-year old former heavyweight champ is dropping nearly 40 pounds to fight again, either.

Chris Byrd's journey from heavyweight down to the 175-pound limit light heavyweight division is a pretty special thing. The man who first won a version of the heavyweight crown in 2000 over Vitali Klitschko is back in action in Las Vegas on May 16th, trying to extend a career that had hit the wall at heavyweight.

In today's game, the 210-215 pound heavyweight is at an extreme disadvantage. Byrd has boxing skill for days. He's savvy, he's always seemed a step ahead in the mental game, and he knows his limitations, save for his second loss to Wladimir Klitschko, which was a bizarre error in judgment that found the light-hitting Byrd attempting to go toe-to-toe with a much bigger, stronger man. The end result was predictable.

Today's light heavyweight division, however, might be just the thing for the Flint, Michigan, native. Byrd (40-4-1, 21 KO) will test his new physique against 29-year old Shaun George (16-2-2, 7 KO) in the main event on ESPN this coming Friday night. George is not going to show us exactly what Byrd might have left in the tank, or what he'll really look like at 175, but it's a tune-up, and it's a little test for Byrd to see how he feels competitively. George hasn't actually made 175 pounds for a fight since 2004, as he's campaigned mostly at cruiserweight over that time.

Byrd, who is said by all who have seen him lately to look fit and ready to rumble, will win the fight, even if he isn't sharp. We could come away thinking that Byrd should just hang 'em up and move on with life, but he'll win the fight. He's too accomplished for someone like George.

What if he looks great though? Then all of a sudden, a new old man is ready to jump into the mix in boxing's version of the Senior Tour. It's a competitive and somewhat thriving division, to be sure, and calling it the "Senior Tour" is not really me taking a swipe at the fighters. But let's face it -- Joe Calzaghe (36), Bernard Hopkins (43), Glen Johnson (39), Antonio Tarver (39) and Roy Jones, Jr., (39) are still among the division's top names. Clinton Woods is 36, and even Zsolt Erdei is 33. The only real young lion the light heavyweight ranks have is 25-year old WBC titleholder Chad Dawson.

What it will all come down to, really, is Byrd's conditioning, stamina, and what happens to his punch with age and the weight drop. Whether he ever had a heavyweight punch or not (and he did not), that's been his division. Most said for years he'd have been better off at cruiserweight, but he's decided to take it even a step further. Since all accounts are that he's quite comfortable at 175 pounds, that makes you wonder how good he could've been as a light heavy all these years. After all, his career started with him weighing in at 169 pounds to fight Gary Smith back in 1993.

How will his reflexes be? George isn't going to overwhelm Byrd with speed, but Byrd's been seeing guys like Klitschko, Alexander Povetkin and Paul Marinaccio in recent fights. He's been sparring with cruiserweight titleholder Steve "USS" Cunningham, but sparring and fighting are two vastly different things, as everyone is aware.

Could he handle the hand speed of Joe Calzaghe, Chad Dawson or even a faded Roy Jones at this point in his career? Does he have the stamina to go 12 rounds with someone like that? Does he have the legs? Does he have the wind?

We won't find out on Friday, but should he win impressively, we will before too long. Byrd will not only never cause anyone to quake with fear, but the chance to beat a former heavyweight champion (and not a one-off like Jones) will be too much for a lot of the division's top guys to pass up.

It's a risky, bold, and admirable move by Byrd, and I salute his efforts. Clearly, the end of the line had come for Byrd as a heavyweight. Not only does this move get people talking about Chris Byrd again, but it could legitimately add five years to his career.