watching some James Toney fights today and I can't believe I never came across such a blatant robbery before! 117-111 was right on the money, it seems Toney just couldn't handle the strength and aggressuion of the bigger man. I know there are stories he was drained and dehydrated, but he stayed at MW for another year. Had Tiberi been given the decision he deserved, what could he have gone onto achieve?
yeah I've been reading some interviews with him. he said his only stipulation was that he came out as champ for the rematch since the two judges who scored for toney weren't licenced so technically every licenced judge scored in his favour.
I would say that he had as good a career as he could have, if not for the outrageous decision against Toney. He was rightfully a big underdog against Toney due to facing lesser competition and having been beaten in his only step-up against Tony Thornton. While not possessing a great amount of speed, power or skill, he made up for it with a work ethic that Toney certainly lacked in their fight. He fought his best fight against Toney, and it should have been one of the big upsets in middleweight history. Instead it went down as a robbery. Retiring was probably the best option for him, as he was probably never going to repeat that kind of a performance, with the surprise/upset factor taken away.
It was a BS robbery. Tiberi at his best was a bottom level top 10 guy. He just had the will and punch output to outwork Toney.
Tiberi was unlucky to drop the Toney fight, some would say he was robbed... But there comes a time no matter how bad the decision, and there have been worse in boxing, you stop crying and start fighting again. How good was he? OK, nothing special. How good could he of been? I suspect not all that; the best thing he ever did to increase his kudos amongst boxing fans was not fight again. Personally I think he would struggle against any top 10 Middleweight of the time.
Agreed, Dave Tiberi could have had a rematch but instested on being the champion. Boxing has and will always have bad decisions. The result is often a rematch. This would have been no diffrent. I suspect that Toney would have won but at least Tiberi would have the chance to prove the result was not a fluke. It probbly was.
I side with Tiberi on this: you shouldn't have to beat the champion twice to become the champ. That's not what the rules say, and there was really no disputing that he beat Toney by a mile. And what's to say he doesn't get robbed in a rematch?
I think at the very least, the judges being unlicenced should have forced a change of result to a no contest. One man fought the fight of his life and got shitcanned and went into retirement. It's a sad situation. Maybe toney would have won in a rematch, judging by the first encounter I wouldn't bet on it.
