Meh! Hopkins. Toney was the greater natural talent, though. Great as he is, Toney should have achieved a quite a bit more than he has.
Posters who say Toney has a better resume and better win/wins - Tell me who these better wins were against please Do people also ignore that Toney has failed tests also?
Unbeaten Michael Nunn, I rate very highly. I also rate the Jirov win up there with Hopkins' win over Tarver and Pavlik. He also has McCallum and Reggie Johnson that were good wins. Both were beat by a young Jones around the same time, Hopkins still ranks quite a bit above him, but both are greats IMO.
wins over Iran Barkley, Nunn, Holyfied ( Seniors tour), Jirov as well as McCallum are all formidable arguments vs BHOPS resume...
Gutting they missed each other over the last 20 or so years, would have loved to have seen them fight. If Toney lived the life like Hopkins and kept his weight down, we'd have possibly seen it happen.
Then your opinion is tainted lol Bernard Hopkins is a Phenom a man that defies age defeats the odds. He is head & shoulders above those others
Yes, Hopkins will rank higher "all time" based on his achievements but Tony will always be known as the greater fighter.
You have to say Hopkins ranks higher as he consistently did it at the highest level since his domination of the middle weights. Both are highly skilled boxers and skillwise, are around the same. But natural talent i'd have to give the clear edge to Toney. Hopkins was all about hard work and pure dedication, a perfect example of a sportsman, whereas Toney was the polar opposite. But boy was he skilled, he was one of the best fighting in the pocket.
The weight difference wasn't an issue and wouldn't have stopped them facing off. Hopkins had signed to fight Toney in 2003 and jump up 3 weight divisions to do so. But Don King tried to cut Hopkins guaranteed purse by a million, despite them having already signed a contract agreeing the sum. Hopkins thought he was getting shafted, which with King was probably true, so withdrew. Would have been a great fight, real shame it never happened.