Respect. It would make the perfect Christmas gift for an underappreciated, God-fearing, undersized, overachieving heavyweight like Chris Byrd. It's ironic that the elusive southpaw from Flint, Michigan, will get his opportunity to become a better known fighter and a major player in boxing's glamour division by fighting another God-fearing, undersized overachiever -- Evander Holyfield. The two Davids among the Goliaths of the division will fight for the vacant IBF heavyweight title in Atlantic City this Saturday.

Holyfield, the southern gentleman who doesn't know the meaning of the word quit, used to be as under appreciated as Byrd is now, but all that ended when he fought and beat Mike Tyson in 1996. Holyfield learned then what Byrd will find out should he win Saturday night -- to be the man in the heavyweight division, you must beat the man, even if "the man" is no longer the man.

Does that make sense? No?

Well, that's just the way it is in wonderfully wacky world of boxing.

Here's an example:

Holyfield won the undisputed heavyweight title in 1990 by knocking Buster Douglas out in three rounds, but he was still viewed as a blown-up cruiserweight in the early '90s as far as most boxing fans were concerned. Douglas was the man who beat the man -- Tyson -- but the public still viewed that upset as an aberration and "Iron Mike" was still the "real man".

Even when Tyson went to jail and Holyfield defended his unified belts a few times, casual fans and the general sports media insisted that he was an undersized overachiever who feasted on the likes of 40-something former champs George Foreman and Larry Holmes. The critics thought he was "exposed" by Riddick Bowe in late '92, but Holyfield came back to beat 'Big Daddy' and regain a portion of the title.

However, despite becoming a two-time champion and defeating a skilled, powerful big man like Bowe, Holyfield still had to beat a no-longer "Iron" Mike Tyson before he was completely embraced by the American public.

Even Lennox Lewis, the current WBC title holder and the universally recognized heavyweight champion of the world, had to beat both Holyfield and Tyson before the American public grudgingly accepted him as the best big man in boxing.

While both Holyfield and Tyson are definitely past their primes, the 'Real Deal' is still considered dangerous as evidenced by his third fight with John Ruiz (a draw that most observers believe he won) and his recent technical victory over Hasim Rahman. But more importantly, next to Tyson, Holyfield may be the most well-known heavyweight in the U.S.

If you sit down next to a guy watching collage football in a sports bar in Troy, Michigan or Springfield, Missouri and start talking to him about Lewis, Ruiz, the Klitschko brothers or David Tua, he'll either look at you funny or grab his beer and move somewhere else in the bar.

If you bring up Evander Holyfield, they still may not want to talk boxing, but at least they will know who you are talking about. That's why even though he's pushing 40, he's still "the man". If Byrd can fight his fight and make Holyfield feel his age he might finally receive a little bit of respect from the casual boxing fan.

"Right now, respect is what I really want to gain," Byrd told MaxBoxing from his training camp in Las Vegas, where he and his wife Tracey recently moved. "I already have it from boxers and people who really follow the sport, but not from the media or from the general public."

It's easy to understand why Byrd's fellow fighters respect him.

After winning the silver medal in the '92 Olympic Games in the 165-pound division, Byrd turned pro weighing only 169 pounds, well under the light heavyweight limit. He did not reach 200 pounds until his fourth pro bout, and he has never weighed over 218 pounds, but Byrd has been one of the few heavyweights willing to face all of the division's monsters.

Like Holyfield, critics said he didn't belong in the heavyweight division after he was stopped in brutal fashion by the feared Ike Ibeabuchi in 1999, but like Holyfield, Byrd refused to listen to his detractors and disappear. Also like his accomplished counterpart, Byrd continued to challenge himself.

"I've always wanted to be like Evander Holyfield," Byrd said. "He's the reason I'm a heavyweight. He was the champ back when I was in the Olympics, and he and Pernell Whittaker, another idol of mine, were there to watch the boxing in Barcelona.

"Seeing Holyfield there as the heavyweight champ and knowing that he was also in the Olympics as a light heavyweight inspired me. I was always a nervous amateur, not one to mix it up much, but once I turned pro, I was willing to fight anyone. Why? I wanted to be just like Holyfield."

And to Holyfield's credit, he accepted this fight even though he publicly sated that Byrd was the one guy he really didn't want to fight en route to his goal of being the undisputed heavyweight champ once more.

Can you blame him? In the past two years, Byrd has fought and frustrated the heavyweight division's giants, spoilers, and its homerun hitters.

In 2000, Byrd traveled to Germany to fight both Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. He beat Vitali, the older and bigger of the two Goliaths, in a stunning upset that garnered him the WBO title. Byrd lost the fringe title to the more talented brother, Wladimir, who pounded the smaller man for 12 one-sided rounds. Byrd spotted both men more than five inches in hight, eight inches in reach and close to 40 pounds.

In 2001, Byrd defeated dangerous spoiler Maurice Harris and then took on the murderous-punching David Tua in order to earn the mandatory challenger position within the IBF.

"Those two fights were the toughest of my career," Byrd said, "but I was very concerned about Mo Harris when that fight was made.

"When I tell people that, they look at me funny and ask why would I be nervous of a guy with that many losses on his record. They ask that because they don't really know boxing. If they knew boxing, they'd know that when Harris is right he can beat anyone in the division. He beats most guys with one week's notice. He had two months to train for me.

"Beating him was a great confidence booster for me before I fought Tua."

After beating Tua, Byrd wanted to prove his mettle against Lewis, but the big Brit abdicated his IBF title rather than face him. There was no outrage from the U.S. sports press and little was written about it within the boxing media as many boxing scribes chose to focus instead on the announcement that Lewis would fight Vitali Klitschko in defense of his remaining WBC title next year.

Byrd's a devout Christian, but the diss from Lewis got under his skin enough to make him talk a little trash.

"Come on man, don't be a coward. Fight!" he said. "If I'm such an easy fight than knock me out and make $10 million. You're not going to make much more than that fighting Vitali, who I already beat.

"Larry Holmes once told me that when he won the title he wanted to fight everybody -- even guys who were unknown -- because that way the people would never doubt that he was the real champ. Holyfield was the exact same way. He fought difficult guys like Michael Moorer, because he didn't believe in ducking anyone.

"Lennox Lewis can't say that he's better than me or John Ruiz until he beats us."

Even though Byrd's already proven himself to be one of the top five heavyweights in the world under Lewis, he points out that most of his accomplishments are dismissed by his critics.

1. He was criticized for the way he fought Ibeabuchi. They say he layed along the ropes too much and probably deserved the brutal fifth-round stoppage.

2. He received almost no credit for beating Vitali Klitschko. He didn't really win, the critics said, the older Klitschko quit.

3. He is mocked for saying that a foreign substance clouded his vision during his one-sided decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko in 2000. Shut up and accept the loss, scold his critics.

4. There was no recognition for beating Harris to climb to the top off the IBF rankings. Harris, the critics said, was a glorified club fighter.

5. He was not viewed as a true no. 1 contender after he befuddled David Tua for 12 rounds. Tua, the critics said, had already been out-boxed by Lewis and it was clear that he couldn't handle boxers.

6. He received next to no support by the public or the sports media when Lewis decided that he was not worthy to fight despite earning the IBF no. 1 contender position. Lewis, the critics said, could not make any money fighting the soft-hitting little man.

The legion of Byrd's nay-sayers have failed to realize many truths in his up-and-down struggle to make it to this Saturday's title challenge, according to the man himself.

Here's the "Byrd's-Eye" view:

1. The same Ike Ibeabuchi who stopped him in five rounds would have likely knocked out both Lewis and Holyfield in FEWER rounds as he would not have had as much trouble hunting them down as he did Byrd.

2. Byrd FORCED Vitali Klitschko to quit when they tangled in Germany. The older Klitschko had an insurmountable lead on the biased scorecards, fighting in his adopted home country. All he had to do was avoid Byrd for three rounds, but he knew the little man was gunning for him and took the safer route.

"The bias in that fight came from the U.S. press," Byrd said. "They had Vitali winning almost every round. If you talk to the German press that was there, they'll tell you it was 5-4 [in rounds] for either man."

3. People who criticize Byrd for his decision loss to Wladimir, the more skilled and athletic of the Klitschko brothers, should realize that the 6-foot-1, 208-pound man took the best shots of the 6-foot-7, 245-pound man for the FULL 12 rounds without being knocked out or quitting.

"I don't care what anyone says," said Byrd. "I went 12 rounds with those big shots coming down on me and I was blind in that fight."

Even the anvil-like chin of Ray Mercer wilted under the relentless assault of Klitschko's punches. Can Lewis go 12 rounds with Wladimir? That remains to be seen.

4. Harris may have a lot of losses on his record but those were from his days as a teenage journeyman at light heavyweight. He is still the purest spoiler in the division. The 6-foot-4 speedster with power almost defeated Derrick Jefferson in a crazy brawl and shocked heavy punchers like David Izon and Jeremy Williams.

5. The version of David Tua that he beat was a healthier and in-shape version than the sluggish, pudgy Tua that Lewis beat. And unlike, Lewis, Byrd stood right in front of Tua and battled him in the trenches.

6. Rather than face a pure boxer for the first time in his career, the heavyweight champion did the very same thing that Riddick Bowe and Mike Tyson did to him in the '90s -- he dumped his belt in order to avoid a potential threat.

Byrd's detractors -- as well as the fans of Lewis, the Klitschkos and Tua -- can disagree with his take on all of these fights, but they cannot deny his place among the top heavyweights in world if he beats "the man" of the division.