Marcel Cerdan vs James Toney At MW

Have you ever picked a modern fighter?

 

Yes.

Is Toney still modern ?
He fought at middleweight about 30 years ago and prided himself on being an old school 'throw back'.

Fact is, I thought Toney lost to Tiberi and struggled quite a bit in his greatest middlweight win against Nunn (who I think was already fading), and barely beat an aging McCallum.Cerdan had a couple of DQ losses and a couple of legit losses (one where an injury due to a bad fall was a blatant factor) in over 100 career fights. He looks better to me than Toney as well.

 

Oh, I wasn't judging your pick here BTW, I just can't ever remember a time you've picked the guy who came later.

I'd call Toney modern. In fact, I tend to call most fighters from the start of the 'television era' modern.

I tend to agree that Toney gets overrated at 160, but most people would struggle with Nunn. He was absolutely brilliant. And 'barely beat' is a bit of a stretch IMO, I had that like 9-3 Toney last time I watched it. The guys who Toney struggled with famously, are the ones who moved off and out-boxed him. Cerdan doesn't look to have that kind of style on film IMO. I'd also pick both of those guys to beat any Zale, and especially that one. Questioning Toney's opposition and results is a bit rich compared to Cerdan's.

 

Well, I read this thread and already saw that certain posters wasted no time in ripping at Cerdan's achievements and dismissing his opposition. So I redress the balance by pointing out Toney's midddlweight resume has glaring weaknesses too - if people want to be equally critical.