Rank James Toney, Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins

He'd looked pretty good at the weight less than four months previously against Prince Charles Williams.

 

Inject Jones at #1 of the three. Toney and Hopkins are interchangeable for the #2 and #3 spot

 

I believe they both signed the fight in early September to be fought November 18, both stepped onto the same scale, using the same pounds and ounces... and it wasn't even close. Roy dominated him.

 

I got this straight from the wizards mouth; Bill told me that James would bust his ass during training and then be out with Snoop and Dre when he should have been resting his body. With that fight, James did it to himself.

 

Yes he did but that’s irrelevant. You can mess up making weight with a bad week, easily in a month… one piece of the equation is weight management (real weight) James was killing himself to do even that and the second part is the science of extracting fluid, a lot goes into it but James royally screwed himself over and had to “extract” a LOT. To begin with he was like Hearns in that he never belonged at his supposed “prime” weight… JT being 160lbs-168lbs… he was a 200lbs+ football player, like Hearns he fought often so he didn’t “blow up” (look what he was doing leading up to Tiberi) this time he let fame overrule and you can see on film and to me it’s obvious he’s a compromised fighter against RJJ.

 

Thank you Rockin for chiming in on this. You agree with don’t you? In with RJJ that’s a weight drained, dead at the scales effort l when I watch that fight I think “Is that actually Toney?” lol.

 

Alright Ol buddy Seamus you won’t budge, let’s drop it…I just suppose you just want RJJ to have his signature win probably his only “great” one intact, so badly that you don’t want to believe a guy famous for his weight problems lost at the scales with all the evidence… Id also suppose as badly as I don’t want to give Roy credit for beating my guy.

 

I believe he also beat some dude who had 20 defenses of the middleweight title. Let me check boxrec and I'll get his name.

 

I don't know, I had walked away before he had that fight. I remember watching the fight too and thinking wtf is with James. Bill never mentioned any weight trouble but it might have just been assumed. I'd say that him cruising out after training did him in. I did that one year in the Detroit Golden Gloves finals. The night before, I'm all restless and decide to go to a party instead of resting. I didn't drink at all, doe. This guy just cleaned my clock, I had nothing inside to fight it. Whether you're a world champion or not, we all learn the same lessons.

 

Now, now I don’t know the era, history or boxing as well as you Seamus but you aren’t talking about green as grass never fought anybody yet Hopkins are you? Because that’s not a great win and you don’t have to scrape the barrel that low in Toney’s stellar resume… Jirov, McCallum, Nunn are all much better wins to me.

 

Take a look at this @Seamus in replying to me I hope you don’t miss these posts, not in support of my position or anything silly I just think you’d want to read this, it’s not everyday we have a fighter who spoke with Bill Miller here.

 

Damn Rockin, when you say rest… do you think sleep can affect your chin that much or just the restlessness of it all? Emmanuel Steward said “James was never convincingly beaten” and I think he was of the same belief as a lot of people when it came to the RJJ fight, that wasn’t James Toney.

 

He was beaten against Roy.

Boxing is a full body work out, especially the fights. If your body isn't getting the proper rest it will not build from the days training. Doing this on the last few days of training is terrible. It wasn't the regular James up there fighting, it was a less than body double. Other than the body, your mind needs proper rest as well, to keep focused and keep sharp. You and I both saw that James was neither on that night. What could have been if.........

 

Yes, everyone has an excuse. And by the by, commitment in preparation is a key component to a great boxer. It's the same thing with Jack Johnson showing up slovenly and getting slapped around by Jack O'Brien. Only difference is that James couldn't have beaten that version of Roy on his best day.

 

Roy Jones
Bernard Hopkins
James Toney

Can see an argument for Hopkins ahead of Jones but Toeny is definitely last