168 James Toney vs Canelo?

A fighter’s resume doesn’t have to be great. It’s how they’d have matched up stylistically.

Benn had beaten Barkley quickly, but Toney’s performance against Barkley was still very good. He was super sharp that night.

Toney vs Canelo would have been a great fight.

 

It could well be. I think it is up for debate, but Williams was coming down in weight from LHW and Toney was in a real tough fight in that one. I think this is why I strangely pick Canelo in this one where I wouldnt favour him against many of the other past well established SMW champs.
Sort of a styles make fights thing

 

Why not? Toney Canelo can box well when he has too and Toney wasnt light on his feet. Nunn was doing a good job in outboxing Toney in spurts (not that I am comparing Alvarez and Nunn because they were very different), Tiberi was able to outfight Toney in spurts.

 

I agree

Are you not aware of where Barkley was in his career at that time?
When a fighter is faded, other fighters can look good against them. Say for example Bute against Johnson

I think it would be also and I could make an argument either way, just slightly favouring Alvarez at the moment

 

Toney without doubt

 

If we are allowing for prime, motivated, kept-away-from-Burger-King James Toney (which, to be fair, is a pretty big concession) James Toney knocks Canelo's lights out. One of the most skilled to ever lace it up.

 

The Milkman Toney schools Alvarez....Toney would have turned him into a Strawberry Blonde ...

 

there is a version of toney that beats this version of canelo yes

 

Barkley was doing okay at the time. He’d recently beaten Hearns again.

Toney was razor sharp.

The win against Tim Littles was also very impressive.

 

Toney in some ways is like a bigger and more aggressive Floyd Mayweather, and we all saw what Money May did to Canelo. Toney smokes him

 

Canelo doesn't have the footwork nor the work rate to trouble Toney who is much more skilled than him. Canelo has a terrific chin so it goes the distance with Lights Out taking a clear decision win.

 

Canelo is too stationary, and Toney is too good fighting off the ropes

 

A fit Toney does almost everything if not everything better than Canelo. He's better defensively, better counter puncher, better chin, better work rate, better stamina, naturally bigger man etc.

Would be competitive though, see a close fought fight but in the end Canelo just doesn't throw enough to beat Toney on points.

And as others have pointed out you need better footwork and movement to get off first and get out of range of the counter to beat Toney and that just isn't Canelo. Canelo isn't going to beat Toney at his own game or by pressing him like he does with most opponents.

 

You're picking one of the worst versions of Toney in the Tiberi fight, we all know he didn't train for that fight.

Also Tiberi threw over 900 punches in the fight with Toney, when has Canelo even thrown anywhere near that, no way he out works Toney like Tiberi did, he simply doesn't have the gas tank to throw at the pace he'd need to to even out work an unfit Toney who threw over 700 punches in that fight.

As for out boxing Toney from range which is the way to beat Toney, Canelo is shorter with a shorter reach, he really isn't an out boxer who fights from range, he can fight on the back foot when an opponent comes to him but against the bigger Toney he'll need to press because Toney won't need to press, he'll just plant himself and make Canelo come to him.

 

That's a lazy comparison. A drained Canelo was very competitive with a still prime #1 P4P Mayweather taking him the distance and getting a close MD.

We all saw what Roy Jones Jr did to Toney. The scorecards were much wider in favor of RJJ over Toney than Mayweather over Canelo. The version of Toney who showed up against RJJ gets destroyed against Canelo and probably stopped.

Earlier versions of Toney would do better against Canelo. SMW Toney doesn't really have the work rate to beat Canelo. Canelo would slow him down to the body and slip a lot of Toney's punches. Toney is very slick but so is Canelo. The problem is Toney has never really fought anyone with the kind of skills Canelo possesses. Toney can make ordinary fighters look silly with his slickness, but slick vs slick is a different story. Toney would probably underestimate Canelo and end up losing because his normal slick tricks wouldn't work against Canelo. At SMW, Canelo would time Toney and figure him out, counter him and win a fairly competitive UD.