James Toney as a heavyweight

Not long after he became MW champ, early 90s, Toney said he would be HW champ by 2004
In my opinion he got to big. At 215 he was still fast and skillful.

 

It was ultimately his work ethic that let him down.

He was capable of beating Rahman and Peter, but he dropped the ball at the crucial moments.

 

agree with this. and his size was always gonna be an issue...made himself big enough to be in the weight class but not big enough to do any damage.

he also couldn't give much of a **** other than peter 1 and holyfield

 

The Fres decision was a travesty.

And I thought Peter took both fights.

Would have been interesting to see what he could have done at 210-215, in shape and non-roided.

Oh, and by the way, suspecting that most of the heavies out there are juiced is not the same as testing dirty.

 

I guess he would have edged the Rahmans and Peters, but sooner or later he would have ran into a Klitschko's jab.

 

interesting about the first peter fight. i scored it for toney but it was certainly less one sided than the blowout sequel

 

He looked like the Michelan Man at heavy but his skills got him some decent wins. I actually thought Jones's win over Ruiz was more impressive than any of Toney's wins at heavyweight. I think he was best at Middle and Super Middle. Jones carried the weight well and didn't go over 190 lbs. Toney should have fought around 210 at the most but really ballooned up.

 

I thought Peter took him both times.

Toney wasn't exactly a mobile kind of fighter below the waist. I don't think the extra weight hurt too much for his basic skillset.

 

He may have achieved it illegally but Toney did ok at heavyweight for a blown up man way above his natural limit. His run was better than the one fight gimmick Roy did.

 

In my opinion an impressive little run. The knockout of America's Sweetheart, Evander Holyfield, was dazzling. He did what Tyson couldn't do....and don't blame it on age. Beating Ruiz, Oquendo, Rahman...no easy feat at all.

 

Seriously, I really want a round by round scoring from anyone who thought he beat Oquendo.

 

I actually think we missed the best of Toney at heavyweight.

Whatever condition Evander was in, Toney looked spectacular against him, and Holyfield pushed some of the also-rans at heavyweight close long after that fight.

When he snapped his achilles tendon sparring for the McCline fight staright after Holyfield he ended 35 years old, a year out, and rumour has it 300lbs.

He was still naturally gifted, but he never looked the same when he came back.

 

These were all controversial decisions, but if Toney had been better conditioned he would have been more busy, and more active late in the rounds.

That would probably have been enough to make the difference.

 

I thought he beat Peter first time.

If he had trained better , he'd find himself back at Cruiser weight.

His conditioning wasn't really a problem.

He had better stamina and work rate than a 25 year old Sam Peter.

 

I think that his conditioning was a problem.

For example against Rahman he had the fight in the bag, then he faded down the line.