Actually, I think you make a very good point here. Louis had slipped considerably, I will concede that. Walcott impresses me in the 3rd fight, where he wins the title. I thought they both good pretty good in that first fight.
Toney did not have one punch Knock out power, as big +bad said, and the division was far from weak, as someone else said. Weak?? Boxing was still at a peak, and there were many more fighters bxing as pros at time.
Marciano is not pressing the action enough and not throwing enough punches, things that were the essence of his success.
BUT, Marciano won them all, regardlesss of the how, right? Marciano changed his fighting style dependent upon who he was fighting. Whether the change was for better or worse, he beat them all. So in the end his chosen style prevailed. Maybe he needed a couple of eastside experts to inform him on how to win a fight? I doubt it...
The thing is, however we want to regard Walcott - as a great fighter, a good fighter, or merely as a caretaker champ in a weak era - his accomplishments against opposition over 175 pounds - or even 168 - CLEARLY puts James Toney to shame. Walcott may have fought Louis when Louis was old and had slipped, but Toney fought a 40 year old Holyfield who didn't even deserve to be ranked. I thought Toney looked good that night BUT Holyfield was no opposition at all. A shot fighter.
I was not talking about this matchup. I think it'd be a snorefest, to say the truth, with neither fighter proving their superiority over each other enough to come up with a clear winner. As a boxer, Toney was clearly better, but this is style matchup that won't allow him to show his best qualities, in my opinion. Walcott knocking Toney out isn't happening either, he doesn't have the precision and the punchrate to catch Toney with several clean flush punches in a short time, and he's not knocking him out with one or two punches, Toney's chin is too good for that (better than Walcott's too, but Toney doesn't have one-punch KO power either to stop Joe).
If Walcott caught Toney with the kind of punch that KO'd Ezzard Charles, I think Toney would be KO'd too.
1) It's hardly happening, they fought a combined total of 51+ rounds, Walcott was able to land such precise flush punch only once. 2) Toney has a proven better chin than Charles.
i enjoy watching the holyfield fight. becos in the beginning holyfield came out very aggressive, he didnt look shot until he got shot in rounds 3 and 4. also at the end of the fight he said toney was too good too fast and a step ahead. by watching this fight you could easily tell that toney would have whooped holyfield in his prime too. holyfield was throwing punches, just that toney would counter and make him pay HEAVY! he hurt holyfield badly that night, both physically and mentally. its amazing how toney's confidence got to evander that night. also if he was soo shot then how did he manage to fight for a world title and hold his own 4 years later? toney beats holyfield everytime.
toney was knocking guys out until he got to the heavyweight division. matter of fact, he did knock some journeymen heavyweights out. in the middleweight division he was deadly but he concentrated more on speed imo, until he needed the power and really sat down on his shots. in the super middleweight division he had a beautiful blend of speed AND POWER. same with at light heavyweight although it seemed he wasnt punching with great power at LH. but when he moved to cruiserweight, with all that weight, and speed, his punches became heavy, thats why he had more than a few 1 PUNCH KNOCKOUTS AT cruiserweight.
--------------------------------------------------------------- Victim of the boldest robbery in modern heavyweight annals was 33-year-old This content is protected , the 10 to 1 shot, who licked Louis convincingly in 15 rounds and then was frisked of the title by the stunning decision of the judges. -Joe Williams, New York World This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Which, obviously, was a provocation to those who thought Walcott was going to be an easy winner. Nothing could be further from reality.
