Who was the better fighter: James Toney or Floyd Mayweather

And as far as looking at the History of Boxing .. FM doesn't do nearly as well in the 30's - 50's, and in early 80's ( against the Fab 4 ) .... Would have been great to see FM fight 100 + fights with those brittle hands and little power against the tough guys .. He would get thrown up against the ropes and mauled ... Would love to see Floyd try and deal with Hearns' jab and power ... it's laughable to me

 

Yeah, that would've been a great name for Mayweather's resume. How long were they at 140 together?

It's not an ATG resume post-2006 but it's far from poor. He followed Oscar up to 154, then stopped an undefeated Ricky Hatton. Massively outboxed one of the premier boxers of his generation, JMM, after a two year layoff, winning every minute of every round. An unprecedented schooling of a master boxer. Humiliated the bigger, younger Canelo (absolutely deserves an asterisk for the bs 152lb catchweight but at the end of the day does anyone really feel that it made all that much of a difference?). I think that the Canelo win will look more and more impressive over time, unless Golovkin ruins him. He had legit wins over post-prime Hall of Famers Shane and Cotto. Respectable resume for a 30-something lower-weight-class fighter whose physical prime was in the 130s.

It's more that Floyd's skills and boxing intelligence leant themselves more to longevity (after all, he switched his style up quite a bit over time), but fair enough.

 

And ....... I know I'm probably going to get blasted for this but what the hell. When I think of FM, I think of Joe Calzaghe. Both undefeated, both brittle hands with less power, AND both their ultimate goal of winning the fight by outpointing their opponent. However, they did this in completely different ways. Where FM had the best defense, speed, strategy, and stamina over his opponents. Completely different was Joe always throwing the more punches with both gloves, keeping the pressure on. Both fighters ended up outpointing their opponent and winning every fight. I think there has been 15 fighters that have retired with the no loss. Why can't we put Floyd there with a Joe Calzaghe ( 46 - 0 ,, beating Hopkins, RJJ, manfredo Jr., etc. )

 

Post 2006 he beat the guy that beat Kostya plus DLH, Mosley, Cotto, Canelo, Pac and Maidana. Several of these guys were p4p ranked at the time whether you think they were past it or not. And then we have Castillo and Corrales before that. Kostya would be a very nice addition to that list, but he wouldn't change it completely.

I think it's doubtful that Toney's list of wins is that good, and Floyd damn sure didn't lose to the likes of Griffin (maybe he was unfortunate to lose both those decisions, but you could on the other hand say he was fortunate to get the wins over Johnson and McCallum) and Thadzi or needed a gift against someone like Tiberi. In fact he didn't lose at all.

 

I think Floyd is one of the best promoters in the history of the sport .. he was greater because he maintained focus, condition and attitude through out his whole career .. like him on not indie the ring he was terrific .. Toney was exceptionally talented but less disciplined and a bit of a head case .. I happen to think at his best he was an amazing fighter .. even an all time great ..

 

Kosta was the man at 140. He'd be an outstanding addition to Floyd's resume.

McCallum, Nunn, Holyfield > Floyd's resume.

 

JMM ate his way up two divisions and Floyd was well overweight. Farce of a win.

For a big guy like Canelo, staying at 152 was huge.

Cotto was a decent win. Shane was 18 months past his last great performance.

 

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And you had a probablem with Floyd's opponents being past their best? McCallum was 35 or 36 and Toney didn't even deserve the win imo. Nunn was deep into a partying life style according to many and he also probably had a hard time to make weight, since he never fought at MW again. Holy was shot and carrying an injury.

And then of course, there's Toney's losses.

And if Floyd's record is so ****, who in this century has a better, apart from perhaps Pac?

 

Toney

Toney

 

He's never been knocked out but he's one of the most punchdrunk fighters ever, and has been for many years already.

How is he a career middle ? He was middleweight for the first 4 years of his pro career only, he moved up age 24. By the time he fought Sam Peter he was a full-'roided heavyweight. One of the most 'roided boxers ever, he even failed some very passable tests. 'Roided to test positive at fight time.

 

Floyd won titles in 5 different divisions. Toney won his first at 160 and was "fighting" in his 5th division at Heavyweight. I wouldn't say Toney won a heavyweight title.

 

Career Middle as in he started at that weight. Sam is still a legit HW. In no world other than yours is he not.

 

JMM.