Tonight marks Chris Byrd's return to action following the brutal asskicking he took at the hands of the only true heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, last year -- four days short of a full year, in fact.
Byrd will face Buffalo-born Paul "The Italian Hitman" Marinaccio, who once fought and lost to Timor Ibragimov. His only other loss came against Ronald Bellamy (who started his career 0-0-4) years ago. He also has two draws against Quentin James, another one of those guys that were in the area and fought each other 250 times. Marinaccio later beat James.
Should be a Byrd routine victory, but 36 years old and was hammered last time out. We'll see how he looks in his comeback, and if he possibly has anything left for one more run at the top.
CHRIS BYRD
(39-3-1, 20 KO, Las Vegas, NV)
versus
PAUL MARINACCIO
(22-2-2, Cary, NC)