There was a point in his ringside interview where his hand was really shaking, don't know if he was doing it himself and there was nothing to it but it looked a worrying sign
Don't think he'll win it. He might even get put out in the first round. He's really far gone, about as shot as it's possible for an ATG in his mid 40's to be.
It was'nt his hand it was his leg that was shaking, and the way he was sitting made it look like his upperbody , its still concerning though Paul Smith called it restless leg syndrome , he reckoned Toney was fine as did Bellew on twitter how do you think he will perform ?
Have you watched the Lucas Browne fight ?, its on youtube , full fight , Toney actually did a lot better than it was scored , i scored it a draw I know he is near the end but i think there may be enough left to win at least one fight on Thursday night depending on the opponent, if he fight similar to the Browne fight then he might beat one of these guys
Ah okay, as you say though still slightly concerning. Well after watching his fight with Browne I'd say toney has next to nothing left. Personally I feel everyone he faces in this tournament will just try and outwork him, at this point I don't see how toney will win in this sort of format.
I think if he gets someone like Tom Little who is young and energetic and is going to throw loads of shots he gets outworked , though if there still enough left to slip and counter he could put him down, A slower older fighter like Sprott might suit him or the inexperienced Matt legg. Larry Olubamiwo would be dangerous and a hard fight and most of the americans would probably cope ok with Toney at this stage , though Jason Gavern sparred him for three years at the wildcard so he will know exactly what to expect its going to interesting viewing on saturday. He clearly thinks he will win it and keeps talking about three fights , i wonder if he realises he could be out after the first one ?
I'm been a massive fan of Toney for 15 years but Browne-Toney wasn't close to being a draw! Browne beat him up and left Toney with 21 stitches in his mouth and even took it easy on him towards the end of the fight. Toney clearly has brain trauma, dosen't matter if he is physically fit as his slurring of his speech and drooling is a sure sign the brain is slowly shutting down and his motor skills have been impaired, without full and prolonged recovered it will get worse. The fact that Toney still has punch resistance will just escalate the damage he is sustaining, infact it could take a fairly harmless punch and his brain could go into a seizure once and for all which would mean he goes into a coma that he may never come out of. Whoever allowed James Toney to take part in PrizeFighter should be ashamed of themselves. I thought the safety standards in British boxing were the best in the world but obviously this has shown they're just the same as all the other joke boxing commissions like Russia and Australia. I just hope James Toney is unharmed in PrizeFighter, the guy was a truly brilliant boxer in the 1990's and early 2000's but the jig was up during the Sam Peter rematch in 2007 when Peter did the Ali shuffle to mock Toney after giving him a sustained beating throughout the fight.
I did score it a draw but i am questioning my scoring now and ill re-do it tommorow night at work and post it on here , maybe as a Toney fan i am in denial and favouring him. I wonder why the need to carry on fighting , is it ego ? Money problems ? What ?
I think it's mainly money and probably some ego about trying to recapture past glories but at 45 years old that's not going to happen especially as he dosen't have the discipline and work ethic of Bernard Hopkins. I think it was his two fights with hard punching Sam Peter especially the second one where his speech became slurred. Toney in good shape should have been a Light Heavyweight at best so taking big bombs from a 240lb heavyweight like Peter really had a longterm effect. This video was the sparring just before his first Sam Peter fight in 2006 and probably the last time Toney still had a his magic and didn't slur his words. His sparring fights are great and very intense, infact better then most of his actual pro fights. [yt]?v=nM0MsURLAuA[/yt]
You make some great points it really is amazing he still wants to fight at 45. Does Toney have a huge family to take care of or something , where did all the cash go ???
He's got a wife and about 3 or 4 young daughters so i guess boxing is his only means to feed them, also he's probably made some bad investments although he does appear to have some money from the cars he drives and his flashy lifestyle. He did declare bankruptcy a few years ago so it's to say whether he's broke or just fighting for ego and past glories now.
Yeh i remember hearing something about a huge tax bill , In recent es news videos he has been going on about having 2 tv shows and a line of nutritional produts coming out and also a boxing promoton thing with 3 other ex boxers , so it seems he is pro actively trying to make a bit of dosh. I would imagine back in the day the huge entourage were always expecting a handout and a lot of money got drained that way. So if Toney wins prizefighter , what happens next ? Just what if he puts in his best performance in years and actually shows he has something left ? Will he get a shot at a bigger fight ?
The fighters in the Heavyweight PrizeFighter are terrible this year that i wouldn't be shocked if he won. Not sure any of the British heavyweight would need or want to face him, not the winner of Haye-Fury, Chisora is looking at Pulev next and Joshua is still too raw. Maybe Price could see him as a good comeback opponent or the loser of Haye-Fury but they're the only guys who bring any money. Toney can't get licensed in most of the boxing states of America so i guess he'll target young upcoming Heavies in Europe for a payday.
Toney vs Price would be interesting , i cant see him fighting in th UK again after this though I would say that the American team have better fighters than the UK team