James 'thin' Toney is remembered for his success at middleweight and super-middleweight divisions. As his career progressed, he gained notoriety for being a bloated, blown -up version of himself and was seen more in his later career as a shadow of himself. But if you consider 'fat' Toney's work at cruiserweight and above, I think it deserves some appreciation as usually bloated fighters tend to struggle when they move up in weight class (Duran maybe an exception). Not only did Toney compete as a highly ranked contender at cruiserweight and heavyweight, but he also had some memorable fights - especially the one against Jirov. He managed to win the cruiserweight title beating Jirov and was declared champion against Ruiz at heavyweight, which was annulled due to failing a drug test. All of this at an advanced stage of his career. Does fat Toney deserve more accolades? Or was he simply taking advantage of two weak divisions?
I think his accomplishments at the higher weights are a bit underrated. just because he was a 5ft10 former middleweight. which other modern day middlweight would be able to do that?
Considering that he said, in the early 1990s, that he was going to be heavyweight champion by 2004, yes. His gaining weight was not accidental- he overdid it, but it was deliberate.
5ft10 might be a stretch! - I can’t think of any former 160lber from the 60s or so onwards who could beat Rahman, Peter’s, Jirov, Ruiz and a lot of those big guys. In my head Hopkins, Toney and Jones are a trio and I think even Jirov would’ve overpowered and pummeled those other two. Toney had a style that didn’t seem to me as if it required any adjustment based on a guys size, reminds me of how I imagine Ezzard Charles would’ve been.
I wouldn't say he is underated as a heavyweight, I just prefer watching him when he was younger because aside from his excellent counterpunching ability, he was very explosive and athletic at 160/168. I also really enjoyed the period at Cruiserweight into the Holyfield fight where he wasn't drained from trying to make weight and he still had some snap on his punches. The Jason Robinson fight and of course the Jirov fight were outstanding performances of guy climbing in weight and beating really solid and dangerous fighters. Once he got up in the 230 and above range, he just wasn't as sharp but still was able to beat high end competition that no middleweight since would have closee close to doing.
When he was around 217 he was pretty good at heavyweight, but as you say once he got over 230 he looked ridiculous. I thought some of his later fights showcased how bad the division was.
I think he gets his fair due for these fights. Especially the Jirov fight is considered one of his great performances. I also scored the first Peter fight for him.
I think if he had actual wins over Peter, Rahman and Ruiz, he would be rated very very high. But how do you rate those fights with all the stuff that happened ?
How many 5'10" natural middleweights could get fat then be competitive at heavyweight? What he accomplished at heavyweight is pretty impressive, really.