Both as a crusierweight and all time? I think he should have either never gone up to heavyweight. Sure he beat Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz (decision overturned), but I think despite showing that he is still a very skilled boxer. Over all the weight is not ideal for him. Having stayed at cruiserweight in my opinion would have been the better move. After being a world champion at 160 & 168 he had a bad period at 175. He did manage to win the USBA light heavyweight title. Crusierweight brought new life into the career of James Tony. Colmating with a win over the highly regaurded Vassiliy Jirov for the IBF belt in 2003. Had he remained at crusierweight and defended the IBF belt his career might have looked like this. May 1 2004 vs. Kelvin Davis May 20 2005 vs. O'Neil Bell * Augest 26 2005 vs. Sebastiaan Rothmann Jan 7 2006 vs. Jean Marc Mormeck Nov 26 2006 vs. Krzysztof Wlodarczyk May 26 2007 vs. Steve Cunningham * Dec 29 2007 vs. Marco Huck Dec 11 2008 vs. Tomasz Adamek * Feb 27 2009 vs. Johnathon Banks July 11 2009 vs. Bobby Gunn * Could beat Toney. At cruiserweight I think Toney could beat the above. He would have trubble with a few of them but I still think he would beat them. Also that is a very strong group of cruiserweights. I thin to say the least he would rank higher all time had he stayed at crusierweight.
i agree, it's safe to say he'd place higher all time if he'd stayed there. his work at heavyweight, impressive for his size, hasn't really added to his legacy. a win over a shot as **** holyfield and disputed loss to limited sam peter is not on the same level as amassing the resume above. i think he's beats all save adamek , who out works him and bell is 50/50 based on a dedicated body attack. i think mormeck is the most talented of the bunch at his best but his aggressive tendancies would walk right into toney's hands, who'd counter him to oblivion. even if he loses to adamek or even bell but beats the rest it would enhance his legacy far more than his heavyweight stint
He only had one fight at cruiserweight to my knowledge so it's hard to gauge where he would have ranked, but he did put on a classic performance against Jirov, there should have been a rematch cause the fight was extremely competitive.
higher than his ranking at hw. but i think juan carlos gomez also had a good chance against him , and maybe also johnny nelson. the cruisers are lighter , but i don't think are much weaker. than tua , tyson , klitschkos yes but no weaker than chambers , byrd , ruiz , who are fat cruiserweights , byrd even a fat lightheavyweight if not less even. the cruisers also have an obvious tendency to be faster , trimmer and in shape . that's also bad for toney. we did see him lose 3 times at 175 , so , great chance also at 200. you could also consider afolabi and guillermo jones.
The posible opoent list is based on the IBF tittle that he won from Vassiliy Jirov. It is only a sugustion wich is why afolabi and guillermo jones as well as juan carlos gomez were not included.
Hard to say, just by staying at 200 pound he would have guaranteed staying in better shape so that would help but his heavyweight run seems underplayed to me, RJJ gets a lot of credit for one win over Ruiz, Toney beat ruiz holyfield rahmann, arguably peter. Ok none of them are brilliant heavyweights but its still impressive for a former middleweight.
Am I alone in thinking Toney underachieved for a fighter of his talent? There is a lot of padding on his record, IMO.
He has periods of inconsistency (at LHW especially) but he's had a good career. Some ATG's have got patchy records, but and Toney is a genuine 'old timer' IMO. With his skillset you could chuck him in at most eras on his best day and at any of the weights he fought at he'd be able to hold his own. Not win nessecarily, but hold his own no doubt IMO whatsoever