Bernard Hopkins vs James Toney: Why did this fight never happen?

It could've happened in 1993 when Toney was the IBF Middleweight Champion and Hopkins was his #1 IBF contender. But Toney couldn't dry out and make the weight anymore. He moved up to Super Middleweight and took Iran Barkley's title and vacated the middleweight strap. And Hopkins fought for the vacant IBF belt against Roy Jones and lost.

It also could've happened in 2003 right after Toney won his cruiserweight belt off of Jirov. Toney and Hopkins were going to compete in a "catchweight" fight that was scheduled for August in Los Angeles and would be televised by HBO PPV. Toney was supposed to get $2.5 million and Hopkins $3.5 million, but Hopkins wanted more. At the same time, Roy Jones was trying to decide whether to defend his newly won WBA heavyweight belt against Evander Holyfield. Holyfield wanted more than Jones was offering.

So Toney and Holyfield got tired of bargaining with Hopkins and Jones, respectively, and Toney and Holyfield just decided to fight each other. And Toney won.

That was about as close as they came ... once in 1993 and a decade later in 2003.

 

Yeah I remember that one. The fight was discussed to take place at 190 for Toney's IBF strap- Hopkins ducked Toney after it became clear Toney was quick to agree to fight him. Hopkins then made some money excuse and flew to his aunt on vacation. Toney moved up to heavy and faced Holyfield which at the time was seen as the more difficult fight.

 

There was also talk of them somehow meeting in 2003. But that was never likely.

 

Good post. But Hopkins wasn’t in anyway seriously considering fighting James in 2003.

He was all talk.

He was calling out the JMW’s to come up and fight him in 2003.

 

From my understanding, they actually had agreed to the bout in 2003. Hopkins was gonna jump from 160-190 but then started changing terms in the agreement so Goosen said to hell with it and had Toney jump to heavyweight. Toney had been planning to go to heavy after Jirov but a Hopkins fight opened up for him. Then it was gone.

The stars just never aligned for them. Hopkins was a late bloomer and really didn’t have much fanfare in the 90s and Toney’s stock was fairly low after the Thadzi loss and they were already a couple divisions apart.

It would have been a very brainy fight. I’ll take Toney’s best over Bernard’s but I rate Hopkins career higher, much as I like Toney and loathe Hopkins.

 

I remember being at the height of my boxing interest when this was mentioned and really wanted it to happen. Now, in retrospect, I realize how many times this happened to us boxing fans and it saddens me.

 

In 2003, it was gone because Hopkins was all talk. Like I said, he made some money excuse and flew to his aunt on holydays. To be fair, it would have been a big jump from 160-190 pounds.

 

Your recollection is correct, it would still have been an interesting fight in 2003.

 

Probably fun press conferences and a tactical fight. Toney was a little more talented but he didn't always bring his A game. Bernard and James both were hard to hit square in the head.
I think Hopkins may have won a decision in an ugly fight. His desire to win, mental toughness and willingness to do whatever it takes to win, even avoiding going to Burger King during training.

 

Who knows? One thing I am not sure about is how well Hopkins would have taken Toney's punch at 190 given that we saw him hurt on several occasions at light heavy

 

Yea I was thinking of them as middleweights at 190 you may be right.

 

I heard they were going to fight at heavyweight but James could no longer make heavy.

Toney went on the 14-day diet and all he lost was 2 weeks.

 

They were neverrated high in the same division at tyhe same time aside from when B-hop fought Roy the first time and after losing that his stock fell and there was no interest in a Toney v B-hop fight, Toney fought Roy who beat him instead at a higher weight, by the time B-hop move up to super middle, Toney hadn`t been a champ in years and had lost to Griffin at 175.
The Ring magazine in the April 1994 issue.
Title Vacant

1. James Toney
2. Michael Nunn
3. Chris Eubank
4. Nigel Benn
5. Tim Littles
6. Darrin Van Horn
7. Frankie Liles
8. Tony Thornton
9. Antoine Byrd
10. Vincenzo Nardiello

Title Vacant

1. Roy Jones Jr.
2. Gerald McClellan
3. John David Jackson
4. Reggie Johnson
5. Julian Jackson
6. Thomas Tate
7. Lamar Parks
8. Bernard Hopkins
9. Vinny Pazienza
10. Otis Grant

 

The Ring magazine in the April 1993 issue.
Title Vacant

1. Michael Nunn
2. Iran Barkley
3. Chris Eubank
4. Victor Cordoba
5. Nigel Benn
6. Tim Littles
7. Darrin Van Horn
8. Tony Thornton
9. Frankie Liles
10. Frank Nicotra

Title Vacant

1. Julian Jackson
2. James Toney
3. Reggie Johnson
4. Roy Jones Jr.
5. Mike McCallum
6. Sumbu Kalambay
7. Gerald McClellan
8. Lamar Parks
9. Bernard Hopkins
10. Thomas Tate

 

The Ring magazine in the May 1992 issue. Don`t know why Benn`s name is in this list twice.
Title Vacant

1. Michael Nunn
2. Iran Barkley
3. Chris Eubank
4. Victor Cordoba
5. Nigel Benn
6. Nigel Benn
7. Darrin Van Horn
8. Lindell Holmes
9. Tony Thornton
10. Merqui Sosa

Title Vacant

1. James Toney
2. Mike McCallum
3. Julian Jackson
4. Sumbu Kalambay
5. Roy Jones Jr.
6. Steve Collins
7. Reggie Johnson
8. Lamar Parks
9. Segundo Mercado
10. Gerald McClellan