I feel Toney was a great fighter...simply fantastic 'old school' skillset. You could rightfully say that he didn't make the most of his career, and you wouldn't be wrong...but he was an amazing fighter, considering the weight classes he competed in, and the skills and overall TOUGHNESS he demonstrated...Opinions?
Great to watch imo , the usage of angles and subtle movements were realy a sight. Still a great fighter , especially for mythical h2h instances
My thoughts are that he's overrated. According to his fans, he never lost a fight due to anything but motivation. Apparently he got up for Barkley, but took Jones lightly. Makes sense. Also, according to his fans, Reggie Johnson must've hit harder than the Heavyweights he fought, as everyone says Toney's chin would be uncrackable at any lower weights due to the punishment he took at higher weights(the punishment he took being overrated as well). He was a very skilled fighter at his best, but I also believe he'd have always lost handily to a guy like Jones, would've lost to Hopkins, and a fight with Calzaghe is a close call.
Emanuel Steward was asked "rank these fighters in order pound for pound" he paused then awnsered "Toney, yep Toney" then Hopkins followed by Jones. IMO he's being biased based on his friendship with Jackie Kallen, who was a former Kronk publicist, and who later became Toney's manager.
Rugged, vulgar SOB -- I love his fighting style and his absolute toughness. Considering he started at 160, it was just amazing watching him tee off on Sam Peters in that first fight (even though he couldn't dent his chin).
He ain't no dave Tiberi, Montell Griffin or Drake Thadzi either.Or Reggie Johnson, or McCallum in the rematch....
Not sure if that worked here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq-hpl3nPjg Amazing fighter, may have beaten any man from 160-175 (except Roy Jones)
The Peter fight was the one I was going to mention, but aside from that, not the punishment people seem to think. Just because you're facing Heavyweights doesn't mean you're constantly taking hard shots to the jaw from the hardest of them. He faced guys like Ruiz, Rahman, shot Holyfield, etc. and didn't go down. So was Reggie Johnson at MW a harder hitter than those fighters? I've given my opinions on those other fights many times, so going over them again now would be redundant. Also, Nunn never tried to slug with Toney, he just got lazy as he always had a tendancy to do, and Toney caught him while down on the cards.