Toney Vs McCallum 1

Agreed, tons of fine skill. I enjoyed De La Hoya - Mosley 1 for similar reasons.

 

It was close but clear for Toney.

 

One of the great fights due to the combination of skill and action. Barrera vs Marquez and Marquez vs Vasquez are similar great fights that come to mind. Seems like a while ago since we saw a really technical war, though.

 

One of the greatest trilogies ever. The first two fights could have gone either way but the third was a clear win for Toney. McCallum is my favorite fighter of all-time and Toney is in my top five. Between the two of them you have 50 years of pro fights without either man ever being stopped. Aside from them both being great defensively they were tough as ****ing nails!

 

I scored it in 2020 for the What Fights Did You Watch/Score Today thread. My report:

James Toney vs. Mike McCallum I on Dec. 13, 1991, from the Convention Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, for Toney’s IBF middleweight championship.

Tony, 25, was 28-0-1 (20) and weighed 159. McCallum, 34, was 42-1 (34) and weighed 157 3/4.

This was really, basically, a unification fight except that the WBA stripped McCallum of their strap because his side balked after agreeing to step-aside money to make Steve Collins wait and then the WBA stepping in at the last minute to up the ante and try to force McCallum to pay an even higher premium.

(Collins, for his part, contested for the vacated crown in April of 1992 and lost to Reggie Johnson for his trouble. Julian Jackson was the WBC champ at this time.)

Round/Toney/McCallum

1. 9-10

2. 10-9

3. 10-9

4. 9-10

5. 10-9

6. 10-9

7. 9-10

8. 9-10

9. 9-10

10. 10-9

11. 9-10

12. 10-9

My card: 114-114

Official cards: 115-113 McCallum, 115-112 Toney, 114-114 even

Split draw.

This is the Sweet Science at its finest. McCallum is so crafty and works that jab and those subtle body punches so well. Toney lands the bigger shots and does most of what damage was done but isn’t quite as consistent.

There are four to six rounds in this fight that you can easily argue either way depending on what you like. It’s just a marvelous display of skill.

BTW, the commentary on this TVKO PPV bout is pretty lousy — it’s one of the Goosens (Joe?) and Marvelous Marvin Hagler and a play-by-play guy (Len Berman, not sure) and they spend half the fight talking about how McCallum is breathing hard and failing to notice it’s because he’s out-working Toney — James fights in spurts and whether his mouth is open or not (as McCallum’s was) if he’s not punching I don’t see why it matters that the other guy ‘looks’ tired.

Also of note, this bout drew a crowd of just 4,308 for what was billed (up until the last minute) as a middleweight title unification. Sad.

If you haven’t seen their trilogy, I urge to you watch it. If you have, watch it again. (G)

 

Here’s my card and thoughts on the fight from a few years back:

James Toney v Mike McCallum 1

1 McCallum (bit busier, nicer flurries)
2 Toney (stiffer jabs and edged the exchanges)
3 McCallum (busyness and accuracy)
4 Toney (best punches of the round)
5 Toney (slower round - close but Toney landed the best punch although he chased Mike around the ring for much of it)
6 McCallum (pretty even on the exchanges but McCallum was busier with his niggly jab)
7 Toney (story of the fight so far, McCallum the busier, Toney landing the harder clean punches)
8 McCallum (close and tough to score. Again, Toney landed well in the exchanges but McCallum landed more and landed well too)
9 McCallum (good round from Mike - outworked and outhustled Toney. Toney landed probably the best shot of the round near the end but still not enough to take it)
10 Toney (Toney tries to put McCallum's lights out in the first 45 seconds of the round then looks puffed out and lets Mike back in before getting the better of the exchanges towards the end)
11 Toney (close - McCallum stepped off the gas a little and Toney made more of the round and got the better of the exchanges. McCallum not hurting Toney)
12 Toney (big round for Toney - hurts McCallum with big combinations twice in the round. Mike shows a great heart (and chin!) but the biggest round of the fight and it's Toney who closes the show)

Toney 115-113 McCallum

Toney 7-5 in rounds

Some further thoughts on my scorecard and the fight. I’d watched this one a few times before but never scored it.

McCallum overall was the busier fighter but Toney carried the bigger threat with his punches. McCallum was building up points with his jab but in the exchanges it was Toney who scored better overall.

I didn’t make any rounds even, although some were close. How you scored the fight depends to some degree on how you measure effectiveness - do you like McCallum’s pointscoring but less hurtful shots or Toney’s bigger bombs? In fact, sometimes I scored the rounds differently than that. I gave Toney the 5th because he landed the biggest punch of the round but McCallum the 9th even though Toney again landed the biggest punch. The difference was that McCallum bossed the 9th and already had earned the round at the point Toney landed whereas the 5th could have gone either way but Toney’s punch made the difference on my card.

Toney winged his right hand a lot but managed to maintain his balance so that even when it missed he was well positioned to throw a follow up hook. McCallum landed some lovely combos and some good clean shots but Toney never seemed rattled by anything Mike threw at him.

McCallum’s general conditioning seemed slightly better than Toney’s, who wanted to take occasional breathers (most notably in the 10th when he looked spent after the early onslaught). But Toney managed to take the final three rounds on my card, including a big final round which made him the winner imo. Still the balance between the busier more consistent output of McCallum against the more sporadic but effective punching of Toney meant a draw seemed fair and a rematch inevitable.

A scientific boxing match of rare quality that broke out into a fight frequently, it was a pleasure to watch again.

 

Great technical masterclass, so good that this is the fight that I advised my lad (who’s just joined his Uni boxing gym to watch- and learn). I remember being glad it was a draw, although I thought Toney won it- as I liked his bigger shots in some of the closer rounds (which was most of them). The only thing that marred it was the pro-McCallum commentary, by Ian Darke, usually so good, but, as an example, after the 10th round, which was close and I thought Toney edged it, he claimed “you’d have to be wearing a mask not to score that for McCallum”, Gary Masons card (118-113) for Mike was equally baffling.

 

Scoring wise I sometimes have it a draw and sometimes have Toney edging it with a point or so. Think I had Toney just winning last time I scored it.

The rematch I always felt McCallum should have gotten the decision in, though.

 

One of my favourite fights, watched it a few times. Great fight, great fighters.

 

I watched this again a few weeks ago here was my write on it, just a few things i felt Toney looked the slightly better fighter overall. And had the biggest moments in the fight by far, but sometimes McCallum would steal rounds with his extra workrate, it's also very weird that i never had either fighter winning more than 2 rounds in a row.

James Toney vs Mike McCallum 1

1 McCallum
2 Toney
3 McCallum
4 Toney
5 McCallum
6 Toney
7 McCallum
8 Toney
9 McCallum
10 Toney
11 McCallum
12 Toney

114-114 Draw

I've haven't seen this fight in years and this is the 1st time i've actually sat down and scored it properly, but i have to say i loved this fight. Probably one of the highest skilled high paced technical fights ever real artistry beautiful fight.

What's funny about this fight is i don't think i've ever scored a fight with both men never winning 2 rounds in a row, my scorecard must look really weird but that's how i saw it.

Overall it did appear to me that Toney did slightly have the better of it, with his cleaner and much more effective punches especially with the right hand which was his money punch. And he did have the best moments in the fight hurting McCallum in rounds 10 and 12, especially the 12th round where it looked like McCallum was ready to go at the end.

But at times McCallum would outwork Toney with his jab and body punches, and although i do like quality over quantity. In some rounds McCallum just landed too many punches overall for him not to be given those rounds.

I would say finally the draw is probably one of the most legit draws i've ever seen, certainly nothing wrong with this fight being scored a draw as it was very close. But like i said it did appear Toney did have the better of it overall, but looking at my RBR i scored it a draw so there you have it.

 

How can you outwork somebody if you only land 4 more punches overall? Also, Toney landed many more hard shots. Mike was lucky to get a draw in this one.

 

Well i don't know what the punchstats were and they aren't always accurate either it's just some guy pushing a button. But from my eyes i see McCallum outwork Toney in some rounds with his more consistent jab and occasional body punches, Toney certainly had the bigger moments in the fight and landed the eye catching punches with the big right hands.

I agree Toney appeared to look slightly better overall in the fight, but when i scored it on a RBR basis i had it a draw. I can see 7-5 for Toney or a draw i think 7-5 for McCall would be a stretch, but overall i think a draw was a pretty legit draw for once.

 

Seems pretty fair to me. I myself scored it 7-5 Toney.
How did you score the 2nd fight?

 

I've seen the 2nd fight but never actually scored it, I plan on watching it soon. I'll quote you again here when I score it.