James Toney vs Evander Holyfield Thoughts

I ask because Toney wasnt schooling Nunn, he landed a big shot that crumbled him late.
A lot of the scared intimidated and LH chatter about Spinks came about after the fact, after Tyson had completely demolished him. Spinks had proven himself quite well as a heavyweight before facing Tyson.

 

You do realize that:

a) Toney struggled badly with Nunn, while Tyson annihilated Spinks in the most abhorrent fashion possible;

b) Although there was no p4p ranking yet, Spinks would definitely ranked in the top3.

 

False. That is a commonly believed myth, which you will see is not true if you watch the fight. Toney didn't land a big shot out of the clear blue sky to turn around a fight he was losing, this was not Jackson vs Graham. Toney had won the 3 rounds leading to the stoppage, he had already turned the fight around by then, he was the one coming on strong and dictating the fight before he landed the decisive punch.

 

Your point (a) is like criticizing Duran's win over Leonard because Duran "struggled badly" with Leonard! To win a close, hard-fought, epic fight is not always a bad thing, some of the greatest wins and performances from history have came by fighters battling through adversity. To lowball Toney's win by saying he "struggled badly" with Nunn is silly - most people expected Nunn to win without too much of a struggle, and Toney overcame Nunn's physical advantages to win a brilliant fight. He showed a hell of a lot more than Tyson did in putting a terror-stricken Spinks out of his misery.

(b) The heavyweight version of Spinks was in the top 3 fighters in the world in the mid-late 80s?? Pull the other one. His performances at heavyweight do not come close to justifying that, Spinks never looked particularly good at heavy.

 

One of the several reasons why Toney's win is unquestionably better.

 

Except for his massive cocaine addiction. would it have been Spinks last fight had he beaten or even been competitive with Tyson?

 

I don't think Holyfield would ever have looked great against Toney. Sort of like Mayweather/Mosley in a way - brawler stuck against somebody with a difficult-to-crack defence and left not really knowing where to start. However, Holyfield at his peak did have an adequate jab and big work-rate, together with a near-unbreakable chin and swarming style that may have seen him outwork Toney to a D.

 

Yes but his career started to really fall apart after the Toney fight. I know it was a significant loss, but I dont remember the fight even being close. Toney was getting his pants boxed off.

 

x2 Toney was beating him up from around the 7th-8th imo and went for broke in the last 2

 

No he wasn't, Nunn did go onto win a belt at 168, lost it nearing his 31st birthday, not that unusual to drop off at that age

 

Nunn got a gift to win his 168 belt.

 

Didnt know that, maybe his first defeat shattered his confidence then, or maybe he just let himself go. Nunn certainly had the ability to come back from that defeat if he applied himself

Did anyone see Nunn-Rochigiani? It was an SD in Germany, hardly the fairest place to get a decision, was it a fair result?

If he won he could have got a Jones Jr fight, I always thought Nunn would give Jones his stiffest stylistic test