James Toney was a bit before my time and being from the UK, I haven't seen a lot of him but have recently been hearing a lot. What are some of his best performances/fights? Bored and could do with a Sunday YouTube session.
His performance against Iran Barkley was punch-perfect. His fight against Holyfield is well worth watching too - one of his last great performances.
The Evander Holyfield fight is great , though Holyfield is past his best , its still a very good performance by James, lots of his fights are really good to watch and he always tried to entertain the crowd and do some funny stuff
You should check out where his title run began, against Michael Nunn. After being out-boxed in the early going, Toney starts turning the tide around the 8th with some excellent body-work and finishes it with a highlight reel ko.
Check these ones and you'll have a pretty good idea how good Toney was: McCallum I (great battle between two of the best technicians of the last 30 years, Amazing fight) Nunn (Where it all began,seeing Toney remove the smug of Nunn's face in his hometown is priceless) Barkley ( Overall Toney's best performance even though Barkley wasnt at his best IMO.Counterpunching at its best by Toney) Jirov (counterpunching and inside fighting masterpiece against a tough and determined undefeated fighter) Holyfield (Toney's best fight at HW, even though its against a badly faded but still capable version of the Real Deal its still an impressive performance,even Holyfield was impressed saying that he didnt thought it was possible to stand there flat footed and make him miss like Toney did that night).
An in shape and motivated Toney was one of best ever. He had all the tools and if he was at his best he was probably they ONLY guy who could have beaten RJJ at his peak. definitely one of the last old school fighters