Toney vs Leonard@160 Hearns@160 Hagler@160 Hopkins@160 Trinidad@160 Calzaghe@168 Ward@168 Foster@175 Qawi@175/190 Holyfield @190 Patterson, Marciano @HW Toney and his adversaries are well prepared and coming to win. It's a tough lineup I know
Beats Leonard Loses to Hearns Loses to Hagler Beats Hopkins Beats Trinidad by knockout Loses to Calzaghe Beats Ward Loses to Foster by knockout Loses to Qawi Loses to Holyfield Loses to Patterson Loses to Marciano by knockout
Agree almost entirely except I reckon he destroys Calzaghe at his best. A defensively lapsed, volume punching pressure fighter is meat for a super slick, skilled and sharp counter puncher like James......unless he's half fit or weight drained as he was in the Tiberi fight. Then Joe out works him to a UD. If it's both at the top of their game I'd go for James every time. The guy had mad skills, durability and generalship.
I have the same comment than the previous poster. In my opinion, he beats Calzaghe. Against Quawi at 190 pounds, it is an even matchup.
I dont think marciano could knock him out, atleast not to the head, He is too inaccurate, his pet punch was the right and toney would roll that shoulder and counter with his own right, marciano would get countered again and again, he may even be stopped on cuts. I cant see Marciano getting stopped unless its the doctor, but i dont see him landing enough to put toney away. Even if he gets a "suzie Q" in, no way he knocks out toney with one punch, marciano weighed 190lbs. Even if he wobbled him with one punch i dont think he would finish him, Toney is too slick. Im sure he would bust his arms and body up badly but james was a warrior he would hold up about as well as possible. it probably goes to the cards its 50/50 IMO because marciano had a tremendous workrate.
I do think toney would school hopkins badly, b-hop is one of my 6 or 7 favorite fighters but toney would just be completely unintimidated and professional, would keep working. no way hopkins "hypnotizes him" and his "ambushes" would go very wrong in my opinion, toney had faster hands and was even slicker especially in the pocket. The only advantage hopkins would have is ring IQ but toney was so nonchalant he might just plant himself on the ropes instead of following bernard into his traps. Hopkins had much shorter reach as well
Despite James' skills, he hated to fight 3 minutes a round. Joe would give him no rest, no breaks and negate a lot of his cuteness by not allowing his space and time to set up. It would be a close battle for sure.
Plus he's a souhpaw and has quicker feet, which would negate some of toney's defensive ability because calzaghe would be able to attack from much more advantageous angles than most of toney's opposition
Both Nunn and Mc Callum were better fighters than Calzaghe. Who has Calzaghe beaten who was even remoteley in Toney's class?
Hopkins, however i am not a calzaghe fan at all and would not have scored many rounds for him in the hopkins fight just because i do not consider most of his work, although it is plentyful, as clean and definitely not effective punching. I simply pointed out some stylistic advantages that calzaghe has over toney
I don't think that Nunn and McCallum were conclusively better than Calzaghe. Toney's whole career can be defined as inconsistent, whether it be fight to fight or within rounds. He's a guy who liked to coast. And that's the wrong mentality to bring to a Calzaghe match.
In all honesty I haven't watched too much of Calzaghe, just a little bit of his Jones and Hopkins fights but not a lot.
Your question was who, that calzaghe beat is in the same class as toney and IMO Hopkins has just as much class or "greatness" as toney if not more, now if we're talking ability then prime toney is better than 43 yr old hopkins
