I'm not saying Toney is going to run a train on the UFC's best heavyweights, but he will always have a punchers chance going in. With 4 oz gloves, Toney can end a fight with one punch. Especially against guys who never took a big punch without falling asleep right afterwards.
Any1 that knows anything about MMA will tell the best background to lay the foundations with is in Wrestling.. I honestly think Toney seen the massive shot Mercer put on a former UFC champ in Silvia and thought ''**** I CAN DO THAT,MERCER IS A PUNK''.. Toney has always been bat**** crazy...I dont think he will amount to much in the cage but i do know you need a little bit of CRAZY in you to be a success in the Octagon.. Toney sure as **** has plenty of that..If nothing else..
I know for a fact if he faces some1 like Randy Couture he will not be taken lightly.. And will most probably be bullied on the ground until its stopped.. Though will admit Toney has a serious punchers chance in any fight..
I like Toney's chances in a Couture fight. Randy must possess the single greatest in ring intellect in MMA - yet Toney is just as smart in boxing. Randy is always a sucker for a right hand and that is James' bread and butter!
Mediocre wrestlers can come in and beat mma fighters with their wrestling. The mediocre boxers that have come into mma and done anything at all (Chris Lytle, Marcus Davis) did so because they vastly adapted their boxing game with kicks and years of grappling training. If there's one thing that mma has shown with absolute clarity it's that large body moves like throws and takedowns are much more efficient and likely to work than small moves at moving targets like punches. If you took twins and had one who became a state champ wrestler and one who because a state golden gloves boxing champ and then taught them mma for a year and had them fight, the wrestler would win 95/100.
I respect James Toney. Toney vs McCallum was the first PPV fight I ever ordered, and it was well worth it. Toney evolved into the most accurate counter puncher of my time. If anyone ever misses an attack on Toney, and he is in punching distance, he will make them pay. If a quick combo can end the fight, he is capable of delivering it. Now let's look at the issue that is going to get him defeated by most top fighters, his size. BJ Penn and James Toney are very much alike in the balls department. They are willing to face anyone no matter how big. Now just pretend they were equal in their mma abilities. Competing at 170 is a challenge for Penn. Toney is small enough to fight at 170 if he were not obese. Just think of the challenge it would be for Toney to compete at heavyweight even if he were on Penn's level skill wise. Now realize that he is not on that level.
how on earth can people say toneys stand up is better than 99% of fighters?? the guy is a boxer not a muay thai specialist!! there are strikers in mma who would make him look like a fat baby in there with standup alone! kickboxing is a much more precise and technical form of striking than boxing, toney has no knoweledge of how to utilise his legs.
oh good, we needed another toney thread. seriously, one out of shape former champ boxer with a big mouth waltzes into mma and you would think its the biggest thing to happen in mma by looking at the threads.
I dont c nothing wrong with him trying to fight in the MMA **** if he feels like he can compete go for it. If he looses no one could say oh MMA fighters are better than Boxers to totaly different sports only a small few could compete in both and be a real good fighter.
Or defend against elbows, knees, leg kicks, a muay thai clinch :-( Not to mention he is ****ing short, fat and old
Toney WAS a world class boxer. Lesnar was a monster athelete in his prime with large physical advantages over his opposition. Toney is 41 years old and has large physical disadvantage in relation to any decent ufc fighter.
I think they're refering to his punching, obviously nothing else. With that said, he is still very dangerous.
People are intrigued because he's the first ACTIVE, world-class boxer to switch over. I'm not gonna lie, I'd like to see how he does myself. I think he'll be very competitive.