Prime for Prime, Who Wins @ 168, James Toney vs Joe Calzaghe?

Toney easy, Calzaghe would eat rights all night.

 

Toney got lucky a few times at 160 and got a total gift decision against Tiberi. He also lost to Drake Thadzi and while his losses to Griffin are controversial, at least these were close fights. So stop pretending that Toney is some kind of unstoppable fighting machine. Calzaghe would crap on Tiberi and Thadzi. Toney needed to rally late and KO Nunn, because Nunn outworked him with his staccato punching. I watched that fight and it was quite clear that Nunn's constant punching confused Toney. What do you think Calzaghe's higher workrate with better handspeed than Nunn would do to Toney?

Calzaghe was a master of adapting and always finding a way to win. Toney lost a few fights which, based on talent he should have won.

 

Calzaghe would eat rights in the first 3 - 4 rounds, then adapt and his pace would take a toll on Toney.

 

You and me both.

 

This thread isn't about what happened when they faced guys who were stylistically nothing like each other (they never faced real approximations of each other). It's about how it would go down specifically between the two of them at 168. Calzaghe had his angles and his workrate, yes. Toney would still land, and land often and hard. Any competent set of judges would have to give him the nod (I'd agree that it's not too likely he'd take it out of their hands).

 

And all those poor *******s. :verysad

 

no! im a brit and its toney all day.

 

Toney had a good workrate. Not quite Calzaghe level, but he threw a lot of punches in combo. Despite being criticized for taking too much time off in rounds, when he let go, he usually let go in combinations (and with accuracy). I tend to not look too much into Compubox, but for what it's worth, he was at the top of lists for most punches landed, which shows you that he threw a lot of punches (he was accurate, but no so accurate that he could land all those shots and have a low workrate).

Toney was better @ 168 than @ 160. More consistent, and despite all the talk about him being so drained against RJJ, I think it was more a case of him running into a style nightmare against a guy with ungodly talent.

Calzaghe's quick hands, workrate, and ability to switch it up would make in interesting. Calzaghe had a tendency to leave himself open, and Toney would catch him with good hard counters. After this, Joe would probably switch it up and use more movement. Even in his younger days when he was lighter on his feet, Toney preffered countering guys who attacked rather than chasing down guys. Calzaghe's no dummy so he could try to do what's best to help him win.

I see a close Toney win.

 

calzaghe sd

 

calzaghe

 

what about everyone else douchebag

 

Toney all night Calzaghe would be more active but would rarely hit anything besides the gloves and the arms which only influence idiots and incompetent judges - thats right shots that don't land clean are not supposed to enter into judges scorecards but they always do anyhow all the crisp effective punches would be Toney's.

 

calzaghe runs into toney's beautiful counters. has success in the closing rounds.

toney UD.

 

As is usually the case people only pick the absolutely best characteristics and performances of their favourite fighters and fail to consider the other end of the spectrum. In this case, people have forgotten that Toney lost to fighters that out worked him twice (Tiberi and Thadzi - neither of which were on Calzaghe's level.) To say 'but Toney was weight drained!' etc... is unfair on Calzaghe, weight has consistently been a problem in Toney's career and the mental fortitude required to control that is part of the make up of a fighter.

On the other hand, we don't have many similar situations to put forward for JC, merely because his competition was so poor for the majority of his career. The times he has looked in trouble were against Brewer (who he proceeded to KO), Hopkins (who showed he was clearly still very effective by embarressing pavlik in his next fight) and Jones (an unpadded forearm for the KD...not sure how much difference that makes).

I think it would be close. But this post is mainly in response to the revisionists who could only come up with "HAHAhahAahha, TONEY KO 0.5, LOLZOMG!!11".

 

calzaghe on pts.

too fast and too busy. :bbb