Chris Byrd/Bernard Hopkins v James Toney. The fight I wish happened.

James Toney disrespects Hopkins every chance that he gets to remember his name. He always wanted to fight him but it has not been reciprocated by Bernard.

 

Just imagine that match up. Who would you favor?

 

It's a shame. Them and Jones Jr were all natural light heavyweights, but they missed each other by fighting in different weight classes. Byrd and Toney went up to heavy and Bernard went down to middle. We miss a lot of good fights that way.

 

Toney a few years ago and probably now. Toney knows how to fit in the pocket and due to size and stamina it's his best defense and offense. Bernard will move only so much before he just stands there and tries to play the same game but it is not his original style like Toney's is. Toney would feint him and strike all night like he did against Peters.

 

Hopkins and Toney were all signed and set to fight in Aug 2003 but King played his usual games and despite them having guaranteed purses contractually agreed to, he tried to renege on this agreement and dropped their purses.

Toney agreed to reduce his purse by a million but Hopkins refused probably because he's been screwed over before by promoters and he was the one jumping up 3 divisions in weight and it wasn't worth such a risk for just $2.5 million.

Such a shame it would have been a great fight for the purists.

 

That would have been great a fight at that time. Toney was always willing to face the toughest opposition.