Middleweight Fantasy King of the Hill 7/12- Hopkins vs Toney

I see what you did there!!!!! Outrageous!!!!

 

I was distracted by the upcoming England-Mexico Round of 16 battle and hit the wrong option.

I feel shame

 

All sorted my man!

 

Toney wins by decision. Hopkins competition at 160 is not that impressive and he lost twice to Taylor. I see Toney as the more skilled and talented operator prevail in a close fight.

 

Back 2003, Toney vs BHOP was really close to being made at Cruiserweight. BHOP was really struggling to make 160 and was considering jumping to catchweight fight with JT at 190.

Regarding this mythical matchup, I like BHOP's all around skillset and cerebral mindset just little but more. I think he uses his legs and doesn't stay inside too long against the great counterpunching of Toney. Folks like to reference BHOP's close losses to Taylor like that means something. BHOP had been at Middleweight for years at that point and was struggling to make 160 with his nearly 40 year old 6'1 body. I guess Toney gets a pass for Tiberi?

 

You never know and anything can happen; both excellent fighters, but I would make Hopkins the slight favorite to eek a close and possibly controversial decision.

 

just imagine Toney in there and not Taylor. It would not even have been close

 

The Toney that fought Mike McCallum the forst time would have beaten that version of BHOP. What's your point? Let's put the best version of BHOP in with the Toney that lost to Tiberi. How do you think that goes?

If we are talking the best version of both, I'm taking BHOP. He was the better/more consistent middleweight. For the record, I'm a big fan of both. Just because I think BHOP would win, doesn't mean I don't like or respect Toney.

 

I guess my point is styles. The fighter Hopkins fought that is most similar to Toney is Taylor. And he lost twice.

The fighter that Toney fought that is most similar to Hopkins is Mc Callum. An he won. Mc Callum was about the most complete fighter I ever saw. I do not think Hopkins was quite as good as Mc Callum. For me, this is an indication.

I take your point that Hopkins was not in his prime against Taylor. Yet he was still very good and in top shape. He went on to accomplish great things after that fight (like destroying Pavlik). He aged like a fine wine, Hopkins did., reached his prime at 35. Taylor was arguably his best opponent at 160. So for me that is an indication.

The Tberi fight is out of it completely. Toney was close to a heart attack after 2 rounds. Nobody takes that fight seriously. Not to speak that Tiberi and Hopkins have little in common.

 

I don't see any similarities between Toney and Taylor at all other than natural talent. They had way different styles. James is easily one of the best defensive fighter's that ever lived and he was a natural counter puncher. Taylor was very offensive minded and a boxer puncher.

BHOP had to practically kill himself to make 160 when he fought Taylor. After Taylor, he jumped all they to 175 and completely skipped 168. He looked drained against Taylor and the fact he went on to not only beat but dominant Tarver, Pavlik, Cloud, Roy Jones etc. Kind of proves how much making 160 affected him against Taylor. I also believe Taylor was one of those guys that had a short prime and was injured in the ring. He has had tons of out of the ring issues consistant with CTE.

Truth be told, James stayed at 160 for too long as well. Folks forget that James was a 200 pound star football player when he was in high school. 160 was not a division he was going to stay at for long and it showed.

 

Steak and Blade have some good posts.

I suppose that you could make this argument: the best possible version of each, and Toney might have a small edge. But in real life, you'd probably put your money on Hopkins because he was more consistent a performer. That begs the question of whether under "Classic rules" where a unicorn version of a fighter is the version that counts, I should have voted for Toney instead.

 

You know there's an agenda when importance is placed on Taylor. Also, the massive majority of ringsiders had Hopkins winning fight 1.

 

surprisingly this is turning out to be Hopkin's most one sided victory yet. Will James Toney be able to mount a comeback?

 

It's definitely a close fight imo. Even though I think BHOP wins, I wouldn't not be surprised if Toney found a way. Both are atg fighter's and Toney has showed more than once that he can find a way to win when down on the cards. The Nunn fight showed us that.