Fantasy Fight: James Toney vs Andre Ward who would have won prime for prime?

It's a bit surprising that Barkley was the favourite. He was just the kind of fighter Toney was made to look at his best against imo. Even a tiny old Duran had showed how vulnerable Barkley was to skilled counter punchers. Seems pretty clear that a peak Toney would do the same x 3, but, hey, hindsight is 20/20.

 

Yeah, great fights. He totally lacked power at MW and above, though.

 

His win over Carl was great, especially as he'd fractured his hand in 2 places.

He beat Carl one handed.

 

That seems an exaggeration to me.

 

Barkley was a scary dude.

Didn't he pull a knife at the presser to try and intimidate James?

James was switched on and motivated when he respected his opponents. Which is why he was sharp against Mike, Reggie, Nunn, Barkley and Littles.

It's just a mystery to me that he wasn't in shape for Roy.

 

What a technician though.

I think he'd have beaten both of them.

 

I think Wards movement would trouble Ward.
Ward was very smart as was Toney. Maybe Toney slightly slicker but Ward was soild fundamentaly.

 

Barkley was scary, but James didn't scare easily.

You sure he wasn't in shape for Roy? Because that would be strange.

 

He struggled to make weight.

IMHO, even if James had been at 100%, the fight would have played out the same due to Roy's style. But he was drained.

 

There was always talk about his weight, though, as I recall. This was his biggest fight in years. Why not make it proprely in that if he could in the others? I understand him trying a shortcut against someone like Tiberi, but Jones?

 

He always had trouble with weight. He lived above a bakery at one point and was often undisciplined when he got to his mid 20's.

He also had weight issues in his 2 fights with Griffin at LHW.

He had to rush a lot of weight off for Roy in under 6 weeks. But it didn't follow his regular pattern, where he was motivated for big challenges.

Unless he thought Roy would be easy, it doesn't make sense. Because it was a good period for him. He'd recently beaten Barkley, Littles and Williams. He was in form.

 

The Williams fight was just months before and he looked great in that one.

 

Johnson was also a faster high volume southpaw. Nothing at all like Andre. Nunn was a 6'3" southpaw with excellent skills. Number 3 lb for lb at the time. As a 20-1 dog James knocked him out in his own backyard. McCallum is a tough night for anybody but Roy. Nunn and McCallum were on Wards level. Mike was a better fighter than ward, but a bit smalller and aged when James went to war with him.

 

Kovalev was pretty damn basic too. Everything he threw came straight. Hooks and uppercuts were pretty rare. I'd pick most swarmers with a decent IQ to wear him out.

 

They both were. James was a crack dealer as a kid. Not one to scare easy.