James Toney - Discuss his career and legacy.

I have a lot of respect for James Toney - as a fighter at least

Unlike cheating old snaggletooth

Always enjoyed watching him. His defensive work is sheer artistry, and to compete from middleweight up to heavy is testament to that, and his incredible chin

Please retire

 

I've watched that fight on DVD more times than I'd like to admit. My favorite is the look he gives the judges after Evander finally hits him with a decent shot, sometime around the 7th. Absolutely classic.

I've also watched it enough to realize that for whatever reason, an aggravated injury or just inability to adapt, Holyfield had no defense for James's right hand, and this wouldn't have been enough to necessarily walk all over the division. Obviously fighting a giant like either of the Klitschko's or Valuev would have been an insane physical challenge for the 5'10 (maybe) natural middleweight/ supermiddleweight. But I'd have gladly donated to his cause at 2-1 or 3-1 odds if he could have kept his weight down and kept himself conditioned. His tremendous skill and chin would have made these great fights.

 

Damn his movement and that right hand are ****ing magic! Toney was born to box

 

Well, I leave this one to ESB's venerable historians, but you won't see a more clinical beatdown than the demolition he administered to Iran Barkley.

 

You're looking for Michael Nunn, Reggie Johnson, Tim Littles, Tony Thornton, Mike McCallum and of course the 1 sided beatdown over Barkley that was not ever done in such a manner over a fresh Barkley.

A very impressive resume, really.

Also he should have 2 wins over Montell Griffin, IMO.

Couple that with his win over Jirov and a few other marks, such as being competitive at HW, he's a stand out and can be underrated at times....

However, let me state that I am on the same page with Sweet Pea on that he turns from magnificent to totally beatable depending on the style he's fighting.

It's ridiculous that he dropped losses and poor performances to subpar fighters, it's also ridiculous that he lost 11 rounds to 1 essentially to Roy Jones, but that's a styles thing.

All in all, I'd rate him as top 60 material.

 

You feel that he should've done better?

 

For his level of skill and talent? Absolutely.

Hopkins won 4 cleanly off of Jones. Styles, of course, but Toney could have done better than to get embarassed nasty like that.

 

Like you said.. styles. If Toney were to ever rematch Jones he probably wouldn't have let Jones make such a fool out of him, but realistically I think Jones would always beat him by a wide margin.

 

Its funny that you praise James Toney who puts on sub par and lazy performances continually but diss Mayweather every single day on this site:huh

atsch

 

This content is protected

 

Toney beat a prime, undefeated Cruiserweight champion (Vasily Jirov).

Great win. :yep

 

Toney at least had a likeable personality and boxing skills to go with it. Not liked by everyone, but I don't think anyone will say he lacked a sense of humor, or had moments of Red Foxesque hillarity.

Toney was every bit as good a counterpuncher from the inside as anybody I have ever seen. He one natural gift, and that was his chin.. He wasn't a big puncher, he wasn't very fast, he was almost purely cerebral, WITH a meanstreak in him that allowed for some seriously dogged fights. If Toney had some punching power, we would be talking about one of the greatest knockout ARTISTS to ever step into the ring..

On the inside, Toney's mastery makes Floyds look like a joke.. That Floyd has so many natural gifts is to his credit.. His defense is a different type. I like to call Toney an inside/ambush fighter.. Able to slip punches, eat punches to dish out punishment as well as anyone.. If anything, he fought with a refined, throwback technique.

 

lights out is a master, defensively and overall ring smarts. I likened his defensive wizardry more than pbf and other defensive masters out there, what made me like it was he was able to carry and execute perfectly even though at a large weight he's carrying. That is the downfall though, his lack of discipline. He sure has the best discipline inside the ring but outside, too much burgers and fries:yep

In fact, RJJ was very much praised for getting a title at HW beating ruiz but I think toney should get more praised for beating Holyfield and that supposed to be win against ruiz(if not for the drug test). In fact i had him winning against rahman and the 1st peter fight.

btw, that post fight interview against jirov was one of the worst post fight interviews all time, toney sure acted like a ******:rofl i couldn't understand a single word