Hard to say, were either ever truly hurt ?I remember an interview where Eubank sad Benn, in the first fight cut Eubanks tongue so badly he was literally drinking his own blood.Certainly Toney ended up with more brain damage.
Toney was knocked down pretty hard against Reggie Johnson, and Eubank was pretty much out on his feet against Watson and could well have been stopped Had the tragedy happend.
I pick Eubank. Mainly because Toney had an incredible defense and as with Sweet Pea and B-Hop it gives the impression of a granite jaw. Eubank on the other hand wasn't exactly a defense expert and took a fair few shots his entire career.
Taking a one-sided beating from a hard-punching cruserweight while being completely shot proves the quality of your chin a little bit.
Hard one. Who suffered the most knockdowns? I haven't seen all of Toney's fights, i know he was decked by Johnson and Jones, any others? Eubank was decked by Watson, Benn (though he and many others claim it was a slip), Collins and Calzaghe i think that's it isn't it?
I was referring to the part that Toney had such great defense that his chin (like Whitaker's chin or Hop's chin) was protected from taking a big punches. Toney had better defense and got hit less in his prime than Eubank of course.
Toney an i dont think its up for debate. took it from middle weight up to heavyweight. being a shot former middle fighting at heavy an not being knocked out says it all. 86 fights without being stretched
Eubank took a lot of hard shots against Benn in their first fight and Watson in their second fight, one-legged against Calzaghe and when he became one-eyed against Thompson, but apart from those he never took much punishment in his career, certainly was rarely caught with two shots in a row (and was actually never caught with a range-finding left jab), such was his subtle reflexes. Toney took some hard clean head blows against Sosa and Barkley and got caught frequently against Jones, and he remained upright and got off the floor to win against Reggie Johnson, and took Peter's heavy blows although he didn't have a neck, had 100lbs of fat holding him up, and was chemically enhanced by then. He had chin and heart, no doubt. But Eubank for me. Some of the shots he took from Benn would've KO'd pretty much any middleweight it seemed, and Watson put everything into every punch for 11 rounds and didn't stop punching and landing! 210lb, ripped Thompson loaded up the right hand and Eubank couldn't see it coming due to his closed eye from the thumb, and simply would soak it right up and fire right back! Unreal!
Some fair points, but Eubank was out on his feet against Watson and i honestley beleive he would have been stopped if he had not produced that peach uppercut. He was certainly closer being stopped in that fight that Toney has ever been, and let's not forget James has taken punches from 210 and 240lb guys and he took punches at the highest level from 1990-2006. If i had to make a choice i've give the edge to Toney but it's very close.
It was far more to do with exhaustion; Eubank legs going a little at the end of the 10th (of Eubank/Watson II).
I don't know about that, Watson's punches were clearly hurting him, but like i said there's other factors to take into consideration Toney has fought at every weight from middle to heavy and fought top calibre opposition over a 16 year period and has never been stopped in well over 80 fights and has only been down twice to the best of my knowledge, Eubank was only down 4 times (although two of them were arguably slips) to my knowledge, ok i know Toney had a much better defense but still that is impressive on both counts
This is one of those I don't really know that there is an answer to. I agree w/ the above post that recognized Toney's superior defense as an assett that sometimes can be combined with what people call an iron chin. If I absolutely had to make a pick....I would likely lean towards Eubank. But in reality I think it would take either an enormous ammount of punishment to make either guy succomb late in a fight or a perfectly timed and delivered punch/combo to lay either guy out. I fall into the group that thinks a perfect punch can drop any chin rather than the group who thinks the perfect chin can absorb any punch! Either way I would call both of these guys among those with the best punch resistance in their era.