Background

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

Boxing training

Boxing training is the training method that boxers use in order to get more fit for their sport. This training method is often cited by medical doctors, boxing trainers, and writers as one of the most spartan forms of sports training.- Training :...

 her.

Her brother Antoine once lost to Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones, Jr. is an American boxer. As a professional he has captured numerous world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions...

 in a bid to win the world's Middleweight title, and her other brother, Chris

Chris Byrd

Chris Cornelius Byrd is a retired and former professional boxer. He is the former WBO and IBF heavyweight champion. His nickname is "Rapid Fire".- Early life :...

, is a former heavyweight title holder.

Tracy Byrd enjoyed athletics since she was a young child. She excelled in high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 as a basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

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

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

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

Pro 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

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

s in professional fights number two and three.

Her fourth fight, a rematch with Chase on January 28, 1997, took place just outside of Flint, in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

. 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

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 (the fight was held in Indio, California

Indio, California

Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border...

), 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

International Female Boxers Association

The IFBA was formed in February 1997 with its main endeavor to promote distaff species boxing throughout the world as a genuine, professional and athletic competition. It is ascending to the foregoing of boxing by leaps and bounds boasting skyrocketing television ratings...

 world Lightweight champion, in Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....

.

Byrd retained the title on October 24 with a fourth round knockout of Bethanny Payne in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by 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

KO Magazine

KO Magazine is a popular United States boxing magazine. It was first published in 1979, to compete with The Ring.During the 1980s, KO Magazine, nicknamed "The knockout boxing magazine", ran some popular features, such as a round-by-round section where the most important fights were described punch...

. 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

Laura Serrano Garcia is a Mexican boxer.Serrano began boxing at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma Nacional in Mexico City, where she was studying to become a lawyer. She wanted to lose weight and stay in shape. She applied for a professional boxer's license in Mexico...

 of Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

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

Tunica, Mississippi

Tunica is a town in Tunica County, Mississippi, United States, located near the Mississippi River. Until the early 1990s the town was one of the most impoverished places in the United States, semi-famous for the particularly deprived neighbourhood known as "Sugar Ditch Alley", named for the open...

, for the WIBF

Women's International Boxing Federation

The WIBF is, along with the WIBA, IWBF and others, one of the more recognized world championship fight sanctioning organizations in women's boxing. The organization is based in Miami, Florida, and is not associated with male boxing's IBF.The WIBF was formed in the middle 1990s. It is presided by...

'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

Ignacio, Colorado

The Town of Ignacio is a Statutory Town located in La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The population was 669 at the 2000 census.Located within the boundaries of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, the town is the capital of the Southern Ute Indian tribe. It was named for their...

.

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

Isra Girgrah , is a world champion female boxer. The Girgrah family is of the old, high society, families of Aden, Yemen. They trace their roots to the northern Yemeni mountains of Al Bayda governorate. Isra, at the age of 3, moved to Canada with her family in 1974 and began boxing there in 1994 to...

.

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, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

.

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

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

's Belinda Laracuente

Belinda Laracuente

Belinda Laracuente is a women's boxing competitor who hails from Puerto Rico. Her nickname is Brown Sugar.Laracuente's debut as a professional boxer came against Karen Nye, whom Laracuente beat...

 drew (tied) in an eight rounds non-title bout held at Coconut Grove, Florida

Coconut Grove, Florida

Coconut Grove is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami, Florida in Miami-Dade County, United States. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, South Dixie Highway and Rickenbacker Causeway to the north, and Biscayne Bay to...

.

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.

External links