Toney did much better against Holyfield than both Chris Byrd and Larry Donald. I don't want to take anything away from Byrds and Donalds performances here, but where they (Byrd and Donald) ran and won boring decisions, Toney stood right in front of Evander and fought him to the punch, totally picked him apart and stopped him in round 9.
Toney is not just some lightheavyweight that lost to Drake Thadzi. Just like Mike Tyson is not just some HW that lost to Buster Douglas. Toney's an ATG who has 80+ pro fights, 600+ pro rounds against mostly good to great opposition from MW up to HW, never been stopped or being close to being stopped. Yeah he lost some fights he shouldn't have lost along the way, but if you look back at history, most ATGs have lost some.
toney is overrated at 168 ? at 190 ? even at HW , he fought a young and dangerous sam peter twice and wasn't stopped , hassim rahman and he wasn't stooped. how is he overrated ? roy jones beat him because toney was very much drained. a fight against a not drained toney would have ended very much differently . unlike jones , toney fought very good fighters mostly in their prime age and weight. that's why so many of his fights were close ? who did stop Reggie Johnson and Mike McCallum ? Steve Collins ? Roy Jones himself ? and that prime jones even fought much older and beaten versions of them also remotely from their best weights. and you can also remind the Montell Griffin fights , how roy did against him ? and in the rematch , roy's team made sure griffin would not be allowed enough time to prepare. jones and toney fought many mutual opponents and jones did much better against them , BUTT , he fought them This content is protected
It does'nt matter in my opinion because Holyfield was completely shot when Toney got hold of him, he was past his best since 1999, nothing against Toney great fighter got all his fights on DVD love watching him fight he's in my top 3 super - middleweights, but he came along at the right time in heavyweight, he would'nt of done well against the 90's heavyweights, he was at his best from middleweight to lightheavy.
A prime Tysons speed and combination punching would just have been too much for any version of Toney, that's clear. But I think a focused, in shape Toney, like the one we saw against Holyfield, would win a decision against 1997 version of Tyson. And both men would have exactly the same weight, reach and height, ironically. Post prison Tyson was still a good HW, but nothing compared to what he was prior to his imprisonment. He depended very much on his reputation and his punching power. Most of his opponents were still intimidated by him, because, after all, he was Mike Tyson, maybe even meaner and crazier than he was before prison, and of course because he was a KO artist - they feared his punching power. Holyfield wasn't intimidated by Tyson, he didn't fear him at all, he was mentally stronger than Tyson and therefore he exposed him (Tyson). Tyson, before prison, was a supreme athlete, but after prison he became a frontrunner and employed bully tactics. When those did not work, he couldn't rely on his skills anymore, like he could in the 80s, and he had to put his hopes in a KO. Toney, when focused, is one of the toughest muthaf*ckers in boxing. His chin is granite, and he takes body punches well. He's mentally strong, and just like Holyfield, he would not be intimidated by Tyson. Not at all. With Tyson not being the most mentally stable guy, the psychological edge would be on Toneys side here. That has always been Tysons achilles heel, guys that would not crumble before him, take his best punch, stand up to him and give him a fight - this has been the case from Buster Douglas to Danny Williams. Given Toneys extraordinary defensive abilities, Tyson trying to bully Toney and KO him early would be fruitless. Those thinking that Tyson could just plow through Toney and KO him easily are ignorant. Tyson would have to settle for a boxing match then, in hopes to land that big punch (that he wouldn't land against Toney, at least not flush like he did against Botha, and even if he did, one punch wouldn't be enough to stop Toney). Power is the last thing to bother Toney with. By the middle rounds, Tysons lack of success and Toneys counterpunching would get to him (Tyson), and he would give up the fight in his mind already, perhaps trying to resort to dirty tactics. I can see a relaxed and focused Toney outboxing a frustrated Tyson from the middle rounds on, taking a decision.
There is no doubt in my mind that Holyfield has been past his best since 1999, and probably even earlier than that. Arguably Holyfield was at his best as a CW. But Holyfield is also a very durable guy, who still beat the (admittedly terrible) Valuev five years after he got stopped by Toney (we know that Holyfield should have got the decision against Valuev). Of course Holyfield was 'past his best' when he fought Toney, he was maybe 70% of what he was at his peak, but he was not completely shot. And he was also past his best when he faced Chris Byrd and Larry Donald, but Toney still did better against a 'past his best' Holyfield than Donald or Byrd did.
What exactly was the deal with Holyfield's shoulder? It was hurt badly for the Donald fight, right? But okay for Byrd and Toney? He didn't fight Toney like a guy with a hurt shoulder.
Holyfield said he had his shoulder injured against Toney and against Byrd too. Same thing with his Ibragimov, Moorer and Ruiz losses. Before these fights, he always said he's fine and it's all healed up.
Toney was a natural middleweight, Tyson was a natural heavyweight. Based on this factor alone and Tyson's overall hand speed, I wouldn't give Toney more than 5 rounds if he lasts that long. Toney's head movement and inside fighting would score him some points against Tyson, but I don't think he has enough power to hurt Mike or slow him down. Tyson by KO well inside 10 rounds, and that's being generous.