Conteh a few good wins, but nothing really super great........ Wins over: "Terry Daniels, Vince Rondon, Chris Finnegan & Yagui Lopez" are very good, but lotsa' 175 pounders can top them wins........ James Toney's resume SMOKES Conteh's overall, and he's had twice as many fights as well.... John Conteh was basically washed up by age 30, while Toney was reinventing himself...... Toney was better............ I do have "Saad M. vs. Conteh 1" on tape........ Saad W15 Conteh........ MR.BILL
I see styles being very important here. Toney vs Marvin Johnson, that's the kind of fight Toney can take. Leslie Stewart. Certainly Lalonde. I even think he could give Qawi a damn good run (Qawi probably outhustles him). But Conteh, with that size, good movement, and that really good jab. Toney sets traps that Conteh doesn't even need to **** with. Keep it on the outside, jab, move. I think Toney needs to take all the chances in this fight and that's not his forte'. Prince Charles Williams? Point taken. That's a damn good effort. I'll revisit that fight. I still view Conteh like a Donald Curry. Short prime, but a complete badass during his prime.
I agree with Power-puncher........ Toney was actually weak as a Middleweight...... And he was 206 five weeks before his 168 lb. title fight with Royale Jones in Nov. 1994...... Toney came into the fight with Jones basically eating his meals through a straw three days prior to the weigh-in...... Now, aside from that bull****, I thought Toney looked very good at 190 against Jirov in 2003........ I was even impressed with Toney at 217 for Holy later in the same year........ Toney is a true ATG fighter, while Conteh is merely good....... WORD! MR.BILL
Considering you left out arguably his best win against Ahumada, and his wins against Lonnie Bennet, Rudiger Schmidtke, Len Hutchins, Tom Bogs, etc., I don't think that's a very fair post. And by the way, we're not talking about Conteh vs. any Light Heavyweight, we're talking about Conteh vs James Toney. Which one of Toney's Light Heavyweight performances can top the above? Either way, watching the fighters and assessing their strengths and weaknesses is a better indicator of how a fight between the two will play out than to look at their records on paper. You should try it, if capable. If you bring into consideration his career at 160 and 168, maybe. At 175 and above, and particularly at 175 (considering that's where this matchup is taking place) his career is underwhelming at best. He certainly didn't show himself to be the quality of a young Conteh during his days there in the eyes of any unbiased observer. Conteh was a great talent ruined by his life outside of the ring. You could argue the same for Toney in some ways, but not at Lt. Heavy, not from what he showed. Given the stylistic matchup, I'd wager Conteh has this one in the bag, even if you disagree that he was the better fighter.
Nah, Bill, Toney can't hang with these kind of fighters at 175. He hung around and was good a lot longer than Conteh was, but that's more relevant if you are comparing fighters for all-time rankings or whatever.Not for a head to head. Toney was at his lowest ebb at 175.
I think it was mental; not physical....... Toney by 1996 was hiring and firing handler's left and right...... Toney was in a dazed and confused point in his career at 175..... He did look good in hammering Freddie Delgado at 179........ I have that somewhere...... Christ, Toney was thought to be washing out or done with from 1997 thru 2002.... That's 5 years of limbo........ To come back and kick ass at 190 and 217 against "Jirov and Holy" in 2003 is awesome........ Also, Toney and Conteh were not truly wicked whackers with the mits, they were schooled technicians...... But, both could punch when they had to........ MR.BILLbbb:hat
Conteh beat Yaqui Lopez with basically one hand (his left). That fight is a masterclass in using the lefthand, equal to what Spinks did to Qawi (and Spinks had the luxury of showing Qawi the jinx plenty).
Conteh for me, when he was peak, he was a very,very good 175pounder, and could box, and brawl as needed.