Personally I have an issue with both as well as the toney "got whooped by Nunn" comment. It's a bunch of bolonge
For some bizarre reason, James gets no credit for the Nunn win as he was behind on the cards at the time of the stoppage.
Because he doesn't know any other Middleweights. I wouldn't even bother arguing with him. Mendoza also has an odd hatred for Jung Koo Chang, and has 'debated' (got schooled) about his fight with Zapata for 8 years without watching the fight once, which would take around 45 minutes. I see Toney is now the next fighter on his weird hit list. Just put him on ignore. He is a troll, and not very good one.
He had Nunn broken down and completely took over the fight at the time of the stoppage. It was an extremely impressive win for such a young fighter
I respect what you’ve typed. Again, of course they benefit fighters and your theories may have been correct. Again, my initial point was to show that Mendoza had exaggerated his opinion. Toney was an exceptional fighter. It wasn’t just PEDS that prevented him from getting knocked out by world level CW’s and HW’s. It doesn’t matter what your opinion of the Peter fight is. If you’d have found a former MW who wasn’t exceptional and who was out of shape, and you’d have put him in the ring with a guy like Samuel Peter, then whoever the guy was would have been absolutely destroyed. There’s no PEDS that would help an unexceptional, mid 30’s, out of shape former MW against a world class HW. It wouldn’t have been possible. Toney was flawed but also a great fighter.
Skill level was off the charts. Toney's skill level when he was focused and in shape was top notch, on that ATG level. I've watched-studied this sport for over 40yrs. I haven't seen many that had the skill level of a focused and in shape Tony. Indeed. He was as good as he thought he was. He biggest issues were his lackadaisical mind set, where in Some occasions he seemed to think he only had to show up on fight night and he would win, never wanting to put in That HARD WORK, That separates the true ATG's from the very goods. Also, his problems with his management was a big issue. Toney could easily be in the top ten of Middleweights in history, possibly top five, if he was consistent and dedicated, he was that skilled.
Once again, I have no issue with your opinions above. But his skills were the main reason that he could compete with those guys. He was an exceptional fighter.
Let's be realistic though, without steroids James Toney would be much smaller. How do you reckon a 160 pound Toney would have coped with Sam Peter, for example ?