H2H: Peak James Toney v Peak Joe Calzaghe

each man to there own sweetpea but I think this fight would be won on ring intelligence and for me toney is the boss in that department hes very good against southpaws too countering after the lean with the right hand right down the pipe have you watched calzaghe vs salem that guy just stood there hardly moved and hardly threw punches joe turmed into a superslapper stood in front of him and teed off on whatever he could he and studying his fights thats what he tends to do against this type of opponent

 

Something that always happens here is people only consider one of the fighters at prime. Calzaghe before his hand injuries could bang, see Sheika and Mitchell fights.

Hard to call a winner, maybe a SD that could go either way.

 

in fact after that fight joe even said he hates counterpunchers and he knows he looks like crap against them he prefers people to come to him

 

In the same way Winky Wright forces the fight by being the aggressor of sorts by moving towards opponents, Toney does exactly the same thing. Both fight flat-footed, but are generally moving towards opponents to force a response. They then counter. Their styles are clearly ALOT different, but they both force the action so to speak.

Calzaghe absolutely likes to square up and throw punches (bring the backfoot more forward to make it easier to throw with both hands). Now that doesn't mean he isn't fast on his feet, but that does mean he's sometimes off-balance. He simply overwhelms his opponents with hand speed. That will not happen with Toney because that's Toney's bread and butter.

Next time you watch Toney, watch how he cuts off the ring and ALWAYS moves to intercept his opponents and force the action. He always does it. The man does not stay planted if his opponent is out of range (unless he's out of shape). But yes, it's his upper body movement is what wins him the fights once he's in range.

 

I would agree to that, though many had McCallum winning the fight.

I'd like to add though that Toney was only in his early twenties, and that IMO he was actually a natural LHW (fat issues aside), but like many young adults was still growing in muscle mass at that stage.

 

It might have already been pointed out, but although he didn't technically have a loss in that period he should have lost against Dave Tiberi.

He also had a draw against 35 year old McCallum although I guess there's no great shame in that, McCallum was still decent, but I actually thought McCallum won that fight as well.