James Toney vs Mairis Briedis who wins ?

Terrific match up.

I am giving a slight edge to Toney but i think it will be a split decision type. Toney was very good at taking away the right hand from his opponents. However, Breidis was relentless and also had a good left.

I think the hardest part of the fight for Breidis will be the first 3-4 rounds. Toney had a very unusual style, the philly shell, and i doubt Breidis faced many practitioners of this style either as an amateur or as a pro. Toney had an unusual mastery of this very difficult to master style. As such, i think Breidis would struggle to find openings in the first 3 or so rounds and Toney would have these rounds in the bag.

From there on, the fight becomes very competitive as Breidis finally starts to unload with big rights and Toney fires back with rights and lefts of his own. A very even fight between the more powerful man (Breidis) and the more defensively skilled man (Toney). Neither can knock the other guy out.

I think Toney will come on strong late after Breidis dominates the middle portion and Toney will nick a close decision. Fans would debate endlessly on who actually won.

 

Briedis dominates him.

 

Briedis

 

I like Breidis in this matchup. Toney no doubt turned in a masterful performance against Jirov in one of the best fights I have ever watched live but truth be told, Jirov was starting to slip a bit before that and weirdly was becoming one dimensional. I remember watching Jirov struggle a bit on ESPN against an old, fat Jorge Castro about a year before the Toney fight. He went from being a boxer puncher to a swarming overly aggressive fighter which I think Freddie Roach picked up on. One thing that never gets discussed is Roach knew Jirov's head trainer ( Thell Torence) very well from when they both learned under Eddie Futch. Thell really pushed Jirov towards that swarming, body punching style which was different from Jirov's amateur background style.

I think in Breidis, Toney would find an opponent who had more power than Jirov and the type of versatility that would trouble Toney. Plus, Breidis had a far superior chin and I don't think Toney could hurt him. I see Breidis winning a decision over Toney.

 

Toney for me.

 

I think Bredidis Toney was great but was past his best by the time he fought at cruiserweight and he struggled with guys with good jabs and footwork who can keep him at range while that's not Briedis usual style he can do it if he needs to like he did against Dorticos.

 

Breidis beats Toney on points, Toney will have his moments in the fight but I reckon Breidis wins a decisive points decision.

 

Toney would counter Briedis all day to a clear decision.

 

Breidis 115-113.

 

Briedis for me.

 

Briedis wins a competitive, but clear decision

 

Toney was erratic. But on form I would favour him.

 

Toney.

 

I'm going with Toney here.

By CW and HW he's relit a fire under his ass.

But if he shows up like he did at LHW he loses wide UD.