One of the jewels of his career in my opinion, but Toney's always maintained he was severely weight drained for that fight. Firstly, do you think the weight made a huge difference, and secondly, do ya reckon a 100% James Toney had the tools to pull off a win over that version of Roy Jones?
if toney comes in at his best, he dose better but doubt he beats a prime jones. they're both counter punchers but jones is flat out more athletic and fatser then toney so jones will always have a leg up on him.
Toney was making excuses.. even if he had come in at perfect condition, he would have gotten beaten soundly. MAYBE he would pick up a round, but the fact is that RJJ was at his absolute peak at that point and noone was gonna beat him that night. RJJ just dominated him so easily it was sick.
Apart from just being a superior fighter, Jones is the worst kind of style for Toney. I think it was rather obvious that Toney was drained, but it would have made little difference if he wasn't.
The preparation for the fight is part of the sport. If you are unable to get yourself into shape, then you deserve to lose and can't use it as an excuse. Period. Boxers never seem to be able to win - it's always the other guy who allowed him to win because of a mistake.. Toney got beat down and humiliated, so he is forced to make excuses. It's his own fault if he didn't properly prepare for such a huge fight.
No difference. James Toney's footwork was terrible compared to the rest of his game. He found it very difficult to get off, because he was never in the correct position against the athletically superior fighter. He also wasn't a natural when forced to be the aggressor, which he had no choice because Jones was so fast. Jones always had a huge styles advantage over Hopkins and Toney, neither ever stood a chance against Jones at his best.
