toney wil have a massive advantage on standup so winning via ko on a stand-up will not be that surprising IMO. now, if lets say he manages to get a takedown on randy and pulled a submission or ko randy via gnp, then i will be impressed that he was able to do that considering the length of his training compared to a guy like randy. same could be said w/ randy. if he sub's/ gnp/ UD toney, i'll be glad to see him win but it won't surprise me a bit. but if he catches toney on a stand-up and KO's him, that will definitely impressive in my books.
"This sport is doing awesome. We'll be compared to boxing forever and that's probably not going to stop after this fight. There'll be some other boxer that's going to step up and say he's going to knock everybody out. The sport's going to continue to do what it's going to do whether I win this fight or not. Obviously, I'm preparing to win and doing everything in my power to win this fight. James is a dangerous guy. There's no doubt about that. It's still a fight when we get in there, but it's a mixed martial arts fight - not a boxing match." -Randy Couture
you should join my eric crumble fan club. and maybe James was on the shitter when he was doing that interview. That would explain his incoherent rambling during phone interviews.
I kind of doubt he would intentionally say 2. Are you sure it wasn't 12 or 20? We all know he's a fatass, but I don't think he's dumb enough to reveal he's lost a mere two pounds the entire training camp. In fact, I think that's ****ing impossible if you're doing even basic training in camp for more than 4 weeks and you have as much excess weight as Toney to only drop two pounds.
James is gonna surprise a lot of you guys. It's a shame he didn't take training in Boxing as he is in MMA b/c that's all James needed. I think this new found appreciation to preparation knowing the challenge a new sport prsented and the guy he's up against will translate to a better conditioned James toney in a cage or Ring. Randy better be on his "A" game b/c James will be on his. And he does't want to stand there with james b/c it will be LIGHTS OUT!.:yep
James got no fear in this new thing...this cage.. james understands this guy is not going to want to stand and "strike" with him... james got his ground game working now...something that mercer thought wasn't necessary...before he really got down with the sport.. toney has been getting huge help. and whatever shape he comes in... (most of these interviews are old)... no fear... and a ready to stand with the man... who is going to pitty pat jab before attemping a takedown.. when he tries to do that.. james is going to hit a ducked charging head ...maybe 4 times before he drops someone of his old age as well....super abs won't mean **** when you get hit
wait...mother****ers... just you wait... james is crunching them 4 oz joints in his hands.... couture aint gonna wanna box... he's going for legs... if you think james aint sharp...wait for that uppercut.
Why do people always say that these fights aren't relevant unless it's top mma guys against top boxing guys? If lousy boxers lose to lousy mma guys and mediocre boxers lose to mediocre mma guys, then why would it be any different with top of the food chain boxers and mma guys? And seriously, when some people discuss this they consider only two or three top guys (Pac, PBF, Haye etc) to be good enough at boxing to represent it and claim that all of the other guys that have actually tried it (Skelton, Toney, Mercer) are so bad at boxing that they can't represent it at all. No top boxer in their prime is going to risk life and limb and money to try mma, so it's an easy claim to make that will never be verified. These fights don't come down to who the tougher guy is or who the better athlete is, they come down to the fact that grappling techniques are much more high percentage then boxing techniques and so if you're going to be much much better at one thing, it's much better for you if it's grappling than punching or kicking. It's this (and not who is "tougher" or any of that ****) that gets proven in these fights. The only chance that a boxer has of winning is if the mma guy stands right in front of him a la Mercer/Sylvia.
He looks tubby but so does Big Country. The cardio, stamina and condition will be there. It's not a beauty pagent which is good for James.
Addie is bang on. If Couture gets KTFO it is going to look horrible for mixed martial arts. I think everyone on this forum is also a boxing fan: just imagine if Couture entered pro boxing and beat James Toney in his first fight. Imagine what Dana White would say. People can talk all they like about stand-up techniques being effective in the cage and boxers having a good chance. That is very true. But all casual sports fans will see is two old boxers in Toney and Mercer beating two former UFC heavyweight champions in their debut fights, and draw their own conclusions.