By Scoop Malinowski

He’s the IBF Heavyweight champion of the world but somehow he’s having a hard time finding challengers who want a shot at the richest prize in sport.

That may be a first in boxing history…that a world heavyweight champion has been so avoided. Chris Byrd is so good and so hard to fight, that that’s the strange reality right now. Potential fights with Roy Jones, James Toney were discussed but never materialized. Byrd won the vacant title last December against Holyfield and had to wait nine months to make a first defense. Though he won a close decision, Byrd wasn’t himself in that fight with Fres Oquendo, as he attempted to employ a much more crowd-pleasing aggressive style. But Chris Byrd got to the top by artful boxing, slick counterpunching and agile defensive moves.

Arguably the best American heavyweight right now, Chris Byrd took time out with Boxinginsider.com to discuss what he learned from the Oquendo experiment, his desire to fight both Klitschko’s again, the future of the heavyweight division and much more.

Boxinginsider.com: What’s next for the IBF Heavyweight champion?

Chris Byrd: “Oh man, I mean, I want both Klitschko brothers. I’ll fight Wladimir, Vitali. I want to fight Vitali. He’s the hottest guy in the division right now. And everybody’s on him. That’s who I want to face. The big fella.”

Boxinginsider.com: Is Vitali expressing any interest?

Chris Byrd: “It’s difficult when you’ve got Don King as a promoter, you’ve got Universum with them. They don’t get along. Negotiations would be kind of hard. But I think eventually, we gonna do this. We gonna fight again, for sure. If I keep winning, if he keeps winning, we gonna fight again.”

Boxinginsider.com: Who’s next? I hear Tarver…

Chris Byrd: “Yeah, I hear Tarver. Monte Barrett. That’s the only two guys. This is like the most exciting week for me. Because this is like the first time in my professional career that I’ve got a possible, a possible TWO guys that wanna fight! So I’m like goin’ crazy [smiles].”

Boxinginsider.com: That’s a surprise, Monte Barrett…

Chris Byrd: “He had a good fight with Joe Mesi. People thought he won. I give him a chance to fight for the title. I’m excited. When they told me that, I’m like, Someone wants to fight me?!?!

Boxinginsider.com: Who would you say could become the next dominant heavyweight champ if Lennox Lewis retires?

Chris Byrd: “Nobody. For the heavyweight division, it’s an exciting time for the boxers. Because on any given night, you can be the heavyweight champion. And that’s why I think, for a long time, there’s not gonna be a dominant guy out there. It’s really an even ground with a handful of heavyweights though. All the ones that are coming up, they’ll have their time, but I don’t think that they’re ready yet.”

Boxinginsider.com: “Who do you see winning a potential “Fight of the Century” between Hopkins and De La Hoya?

Chris Byrd: “I don’t pick fights anymore [smiles]. But I can break down the styles. Bernard Hopkins is a hard guy to fight. That’s one thing about him, he can fight inside or outside. He can bang it out like he did with Keith Holmes. Or he can box like he did with Felix Trinidad. So he can give you so many styles that he’s difficult for anybody. And De La Hoya…speed is king. Outside Shane…when you go with speed, it’s hard to beat him. ‘Cause he can throw five or six punch combinations that you can’t get away from.”

Boxinginsider.com: Who do you see emerging to become the next era of pay-per-view superstars, now that Jones, Lewis, Tyson, Holyfield and Oscar will retire within a few years?

Chris Byrd: “Oh man. You got…you never know. You never know who comes up and who leaves. I mean, Floyd Mayweather is the top guy right now. When you look at him, he’s got the talent to be a pay-per-view draw. But he’s not a household name yet. If they keep marketing him right, starting right now, he can be a major star in boxing. But outside that, you got Mayorga. But he’s got to win fights. We don’t know too much about him, only the two wins against Forrest and the loss to Cory Spinks. We don’t know if in the future if he will be a pay-per-view star.”

Boxinginsider.com: Now about your last fight. Did you change your style against Oquendo?

Chris Byrd: “Oh yeah. I tried to be aggressive, always coming forward. That’s not my style of boxing. I could have stayed in the center of the ring and slipped punches and countered him all day long. And I’m like, Let me change it up a li’l bit. And it backfired on me, big time. And you won’t see me do it again. I’m a counter puncher. And you didn’t see me counter punch at all. I was going forward. I was trying to make that fight. I tried to show the fans I could fight…I could fight going forward. I’ll fight with anybody. I weighed in at 211 with all my clothes on. When I got in the ring I probably weighed in at 202. I mean, really small. Fres weighed in at 230. I’m like a li’l guy. I can punch. And I showed people I could go forward and make a fight. If ya’ll say I can’t, I can. But in boxing, it don’t look good. It’s not my style. And everyone asked me, What were you doing in that fight? That’s not typical Chris Byrd. And it wasn’t. And my wife chewed me out afterwards. She said, Why are you doing this? Why’re you trying to please everybody? Do what got you here. That’s what you need to stay with. And that’s what I’m going back to. I’m not doing that anymore.”