iv been alway skeptical of toney, H2H never rated always felt that lesser know fighters at 160 and 168 would have too much for him H2H but having spent some time watching his defences in the early 90s you have to give the man some praise he was only a kid when he beat Nunn and nunn was being likened to ali and leonnard but toney destroyed him albeit trailing behind on the scorecards, he then went on to defend the title 3 times in the same year against reggie johnson (only 6 weeks after he won the title), dell'aquila,mccallum, im sure most middleweights from 160-168 over the last 10 years wouldv walked out with a couple of losses on there records had they fought the level of competition toney faced in that year(i doubt many fighters wouldv beaten Nunn,mccallum or even johnson) iv seen all his fights he had that year and i had him 3-0 on his defences i scored the johnson fight 115-113 for toney and i had him winning against mccallum by 2 rounds, i'm sure his position as an ATG would have been stregthened had benn,eubank,watson,Kalambay,julian jackson and harrol graham decided to fight him i think his legacy as a fighter occured early in his career and i feel those fights would have made him greater
ESB on the whole is not very friendly to James but there is an underlying respect. You can't deny the legacy he's put behind him.
He's got talent and heart no doubt. He's also a tasteless,nasty,bullying,trash speaking,loud mouthed *****. Unfortunately the latter cancels out the former for mine.
Campaigned from middleweight to heavyweight, 83 fights, 72 wins, never been knocked out...never been seriously hurt from what ive seen. Demands respect. Will any real top class boxer ever fight 83 fights again?
He's an old timer and I seriously respect him. Would've held his own with the likes of Charles, Marciano and Walcott in the 50s such is his natural talent. Not great H2H at Heavy though and has inconsistent patches (his lightheavyweight tenure for instance) but when on his game he was truly sublime.
Looking back it was strange to see the fight with Johnson. Toney became known for having a real good chin, and he was hurt badly in that fight. That fight also showed how good of a fighter Reggie Johnson was. I had the fight razor close. I think Roy Jones fight against Johnson is vastly underated considering how good Johnson really was. As far as Toney he gets mad respect from me. A true throw back type fighter. Just would have liked to see him stay in better shape, he would have done a lot more.
A great fighter. He deserves respect. He could have been even better had he not been on a mission to eat his way towards 250 pounds. He was a brilliant fighter in the early 90s, for sure. I think James Toney's brilliance shows us how good Roy Jones Jr. was.
johnson was also hurt a couple of times too, i gave johson the first 3 rounds and round 9 he didnt do much in the rest of the fight he built and early lead and failed to capatalise towards the end, i guess u can say both guys looked tired and lathergic but toney was landing the better shots IMHO, as for reggie johnson havent really followed his career closely i always thought of him as one of those flash in the pan fighters who shone briefly
He fought everyone close except Roy Jones really, and fought some good solid fighters. He was right up there with all of them even though getting the loss on the majority of close fights.
He is/was a throwback in terms of style and ringcraft in that his game contained skill-based facets that have been largely forgotten these-days. Superb when on his game and one of the few modern fighters who could/would have hacked it in the old days, but limited nonetheless in the sense that particular styles would have always given him trouble ie good lateral movers and pure boxers. I think he would have struggled a bit with Graham, and lost clearly to someone like Kalambay. He also got the benefit of the doubt in a few controversial fights early in his career and was the benefactor of arguably the most heinous scoring crime in modern boxing. A very good to great fighter, but an irritating twat in terms of his personality.