Prime Toney vs Prime Hopkins, who takes it?

Two old-school fighters facing each other. Could be a very intersting fight... at what weight would that fight happen? SMW? That was Toneys best weight, but Hopkins never fought at this weight (he could have tho...)

Toney by UD. A really prime Toney is nearly unbeatable.
But I think it'd be a boring fight tho, Hopkins is smart and knows he only has a chance if he stays the **** away from Toney, no inside rough-house tactics from him, he fights defensely and has a low punch-output. He can't really hurt Toney. He may win some rounds tho and make it competitive.
Toney's best when he has an aggressive fighter coming at him (like Barkley or Jirov), Hopkins won't do that but Toney will be a bit more active and aggressive, he'll show some magic tricks and that should be enough to win most rounds. This fight would not be a war (but boy would that be fun!)

 

Hopkins SD. If Toney was one dimensional and basic, then I'd have agreed. But he's way to crafty and skilled to get beaten convincingly. It would be similar to Toney's fights with McCallum, and thats very close, regardless of what the judges cards read.

 

:-( The over-rating of James Toney continues.

 

That isn't exactly true, the Jones fight is proof enough of that. It can be a close fight without being an SD. I think Hopkins gets the clear best of him. More versatile.

 

This fight wouldn't even be close. Nard would easily beat the **** out of Toney, no problem.

 

That is true. Toney wasn't anywhere near his prime for the Jones fight. You could say he was near his prime beforehand, but his performance was not a prime one. And trust me, Toney was weight drained to an absturd degree. After three rounds he was gasping for breath. Taking nothing away from Jones though, he dominated the fight convincingly. If Toney wasn't weight drained he'd still probably have got beat. But lets be fair in our assessment here, It's Toney v Hopkins in their primes.

Toney hardly won one minute of a round against Jones. He wasn't performing they way he should have been, and wasn't remotley competitive. Jones was obviously Toney's worst nightmare and he was the main the reason why Toney got shut out.

Anyone willing to disagree that Toney wasn't weight drained needs a reality check.

 

I was talking about Toney being too crafty and skilled to get beat convincingly from Hopkins, not Jones. Two fighters with different styles.

 

Another another thing. People should be more smart and specific when they take into account prime v prime match-ups. Hopkins was clearly going through his prime period as a middleweight, nobody would disagree with that I'm sure. So when Toney is matched against him, it would be Toney's middleweight days as well. Even though he was still pretty much in his prime at super-middleweight.


Example. Prime v prime, Hopkins v Duran. It can't be done. Match void.

 

Stop the ridiculous overrating of Toney.

a ''really prime Toney""was being soundly outboxed by Nunn before scoring a late KO. ''Really prime Toney '' also got a huge gift against Tiberi.

Toney can do little to nothing when he is forced on the frontfoot and has to come to you. If Hopkins chooses to fight on the outside there is little Toney can do.

EVERYBODY who did'nt fall for Toney's trick of coming to him had either huge succes against him or flat out beat him. Even Jirov in the 4th round of their fight when he chose to box at a distance was easily outboxing him.

 

No, I have to disagree. The version of Toney that fought Nunn and Tiberi wasn't prime. The Toney that fought Nunn was still a bit green, he had only fought 2 years as a pro. As for the late KO, Toney was being outboxed the first rounds, yes, but he scored two BIG rounds before the KO - that was no lucky punch, the tide was shifting in his favour.
And the Toney that fought Tiberi certainly wasn't prime, he was weigh-drained as **** and he had the flu. Yes, I think Tiberi won that fight, and I'm one of very few Toney fans to think that way, but JT should never have fought that evening in the first place. He wasn't in fighting condition, these days 9 out of 10 boxers would call the fight of, but Toney's too old-school for his own good. Did you even see that fight? If yes, you wouldn't say that he was in his prime then.

I think when we're talking about a prime Toney here, we should be talking about the shape Toney was in for his fights rather then a time-frame. Toney had some primes, and always some downtimes in between. Who was more prime, the Toney that fought Jirov/Holyfield or the one that fought Barkley/Littles ten years before that? Get my point?

I think we can say that from the Barkley fight to the Charles Williams fight Toney was on a roll, at SMW, and that was nearly two years after beating Nunn.
Toney was nearly unbeatable during that period at that weight, outside from another ATG in RJJ, in his prime, there was nobody that could've beat him period. Roy was superman that evening, and if Toney wasn't so weigh-drained in that fight I think it would have been much closer, there would maybe have been a different outcome.

 

Lights Out for BHOP

 

Hopkins is still the most over rated fighter to ever put on a pair of gloves, Toney is and was the real deal. Hopkins talks a great game but when the lights come on he is always cautious and horrible to watch. Everyone talks like BHOP was a beast when he was young, I have seen all of his televised fights and he was just a slightly quicker form of cautious and boring. The time spent being raped in jail probably made BHOP tentative a cautious. Toney in his prime was a much better fighter than the self proclaimed "Legendary" Hopkins. Don't believe what BHOP says, watch his fights and you will see a very good fighter but no were near great.

 

:good Well said my man!!!!

 

Toney.

 

Its Toney's fault they never fought. Toney's fat ass could never find a weight to stay at for long