I'm assuming this is at 160??? If so Hopkins is my guy WITHOUT HESITATION, Hopkins's was always gonna show up in tip top shape, and ready to roll unlike Toney who took a big dump in the ring against Tiberi because he wasn't focused, and got rolled.. The more consistent. disciplined guy always wins in my book And without doubt it's Nard.. Hopkins was the harder worker and I don't recall him ever getting lazy and fat, can't say the same about JT.. Hopkins UD..
They were supposed to fight in 1993 at middleweight (Hopkins was Toney's mandatory), but James couldn't make weight anymore and moved up to super middleweight where he destroyed Iran Barkley for the title. (Then Jones and Hopkins fought for the vacant belt and Jones won.) They were also supposed to fight in 2003 at cruiserweight (after Toney beat Jirov). But Hopkins wanted twice as much as Toney, even though Toney was going to be defending his title. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/may/21/sports/sp-boxing21 At the same time (in 2003), Roy Jones was in talks to defend his WBA heavyweight title against Evander Holyfield, but Jones didn't want to give Holyfield what Evander wanted money-wise. So, with Jones and Hopkins being difficult, Toney and Holyfield decided to fight each other. And Toney won easy. At middleweight or cruiserweight, I'd have taken Toney.
I got Toney, at middleweight, cruiserweight or any weight for that matter. I can't picture Hopkins getting away with his bag of tricks against a James Toney.
Funny thing about these guys is I could not stand Toney's attitude early on and yet loved the guy the fatter and older he got. The opposite is true of Hopkins for me. His bag of tricks were full of bullshat!
Perhaps Hopkins and Toney should fight now at a 250lb catchweight. Although I'd favour Hopkins now due to Toney being weight drained :yep
Really a pick em fight. I think if they met in 1993 for the middleweight title Toney if he comes in and displays top forum he beats Hopkins via hard fought decision. At pretty well any stage in their careers that they could've met would've been a competitive fight.
I'm going with B-hop.. Middleweight was his best division and a 36 year old former Jr. Middle named Mike McCallum troubled the hell out of Toney in their first two of three bouts on defense and body punching alone. In fact I'm still not sure who deserved the nod in those first two meetings. Hopkins has been largely criticized for his poor opposition at 160, but then again, I don't recall too many of the big stars itching to get in the ring with him either. It wasn't until he started getting up there in years that Oscar and Tito decided to try their luck with him and look what happened.
I feel if Toney and Bhop met at middleweight it would've been similar to the fights with McCallum just not quite as action packed and Toney again just slightly getting the better of the action. I felt Toney deserved the nod in both his fights with McCallum at middleweight. They were very competitive high speed chess matches but Toney just seemed to always be a step ahead landing the better shots. McCallum landed more but never seemed to bother Toney much at all who always seemed to have an answer with good counters. McCallum still had a lot left in his first two meetings with Toney these fights for me really solidified Toney's ability to hang with any of the great middleweights when on top of his game.
