1. Nunn 2. Jirov 3. McCallum 1 & 2 4. Reggie Johnson 5. Barkley Just outside: Prince Charles Williams Why? 1. Nunn was the best middleweight in the world (proven with the win over Kalambay) undefeated and a favourite to win. 2. Above his natural weight and thought to be way past his best against a naturally bigger fighter, he rolled back the years with a great performance. 3. I think his performance in the first fight was probably better and deserved the win more but between the two fights, against a top notch opponent, these were two of his best at middleweight. 4. Not necessarily a great performance but he showed a terrific mix of durability and determination to edge this one against a quality challenger. 5. Flawless title-winning performance that started to establish him as one of the very best fighters in the world at any weight.
1 - Nunn. Absolutely iconic. "I got him." Indisputable victory by knockout over an excellent fighter. 2 - Jirov. Also iconic? A big win over a bigger guy in a masterclass. 3 - McCallum. They were close, but it's McCallum, and it's not like scoring them for Toney is wrong. Legit wins in razor-thin decision fights. 4 - Charles Williams. Boom, baby. 5 - Holyfield. I know, i know, but it's Holyfield.
This got me thinking how deep Toney's resume is. I'd go Nunn, Jirov, McCallum 2, Williams and Barkley in that order. He was expected to be a routine defence for Nunn, who was considered the best boxer in the sport by some at the time. A huge achievement for Toney to stop a guy like that, in Nunn's backyard too. Jirov was the fight that secured Toney's legacy as a legit ATG for me. Up against the best cruiserweight in the world, Toney wore down a peak, bull-strong, superfit champion as the smaller, older man. The knockdown in the last round is one of my outstanding boxing memories. The first two of his trilogy against McCallum were both fights that looked like they'd been transported from the 50s. Just exceptional text book boxing with endless stamina and toughness. Williams was one of the toughest men in the sport, and although he'd come down in weight the way Toney spent the entire fight on the inside and finished him off with seconds left was awesome. I still see the Barkley performance as one of the purest displays of fist fighting I've ever seen. The last two just edge out the body punching demolition of an admittedly well past it Holyfield.
Thanks, man! Yes, the Littles win was impressive, particularly because he was against the clock on account of that nasty cut he received in the previous round. Love that performance.
In a weird way, his most impressive win is (I scored it for Toney) Samuel Peters or Rahman. Now to spin some perspective on things imagine if Marvin Hagler had fought a ranked HW in 1986-87 as a fat guy at the end of his career. James career is astonishing, Toney truly is a phenom and an inspiration.
Hagler was the size of a WW. Toney boiled down to 160. You would be better off putting Hagler against a decent cruiser.
