Schmeling stopped a lot of durable fighters. I'd certanly give him higher chance than most unskilled big brawlers from HW division.
You should know that it's well known robbery. Your point is fair, but your argumentation simply isn't.
I don't think that the given weight of the given fighter matters even 1%. I think of all the guys who might have knocked him out, Sam Langford the night he KO'd Joe Jeanette, also 200lbs, would be near the front of the queue. Schmeling very, very accurate, very good with any hint of passivity, and very consistent. Certainly won't insist, but that's my pick. I'm content it's a better one than Toney to beat Schmeling, which was the post I was responding to.
Add Joe Jeanette to this list of guys James would beat as HW. I'd say Langford vs Toney would be a back and forth very close fight. But as far as knocking James out you need to get him out of there with one shot. Because he's going to make whatever comes after it miss. I don't think Langford or Schmeling have that type of power. I think it's way more likely he goes to a decision with smaller guys. But a Tyson or a Lennox or a legit HW puncher could put him out in 1 punch.
Toney 2003 -2005 in my opinion beats - sullivan corbett fitz jeffries hart burns johnson willard sharkey carnera baer braddock johannson 50-50 v schmeling, coetzee, berbick loses to - charles walcott marciano patterson liston ali frazier foreman norton holmes weaver
Well within their league? Hmm? After moving to heavyweight in 2003 his record was 10-6-1 with 2 no contests.. 10 wins out of 19 fights. A win over the corpse of Evander he beat Fres Oquendo NC with Ruiz Draw and a NC with Rahman 2 losses to Peter and a loss at cruiser in 2011 to Lebedev That league ain't very high to say he'd beat Schmeling or a lot of heavyweight champs of the past
Your post gives me the feeling that you’ve never watched Toney’s second fight with Rahman, fight with Ruiz, and first fight with Peter. Jirov was also a quality champion who was roughly the size of Schmeling and Toney took him apart. They’re all on YouTube and decent enough fights. Toney wasn’t consistent or good enough for me to think he’d be a long reigning heavyweight champion back then, but I also think he’d have success and probably beat guys like the Dempsey who Tunney beat.
Dontay Wilder is the 1st fighter to pop in my head. No real jab, telegraphed and over commits to his right hand , bad positioning, his defense is throwing up his arms. No real threat to counter punch. Most skilled counter punchers in history ruined Wilder. Even a fat above best fighting weight one like Toney.