the silence of James Toney

This is true, Toney turned down 1.5 Mil $ to fight Wladimir Klitschko in 2006. Toney never denied it. This should have been Wlads first defence of his newly won IBF belt.
But you have to put things into perspective:

When Wladimir offered Toney this title-shot, Toney was the mandatory #1 challenger for the WBC HW belt. Toney would have made just as much, if not more money, if he fought for the WBC belt. He had a guaranteed shot at the WBC champ - either Hasim Rahman or Oleg Maskaev. That's the reason why he turned down Wlads offer - he wanted to get the WBC belt first. That's hardly ducking.

Wlad then chose to fight Calvin Brock instead.

The Rahman-Maskaev fight got delayed, and Toney then fought Samuel Peter while waiting for his WBC title-shot - and we all know what happened then (Toney got robbed big time and lost his mandatory status). In hindsight, it was very dumb of Toney to fight Samuel Peter to stay active - he risked his mandatory status with the WBC for nothing. He should not have fought at all - but you know, this is Toney, and he just wants to fight. Toney then got his ass whooped by Peter in the rematch, and has been on a downhill slope since.

Since then, Toney has called out both Klitschkos numerous times, but they were not interested in fighting him anymore. This was understandable to a degree since Toney wasn't a top HW anymore. There is no doubt that Toney would have fought the Klitschkos in a heartbeat then (even tho I believe he couldn't have beaten them after 2004) - Toney certainly didn't duck the Klitschkos. Toneys promoter Dan Goossen said this year that he tried to make Toney-Wlad or Toney-Vitali happen for years, but that they weren't interested. Toney even spoke to Wlad face to face one year ago in LA - shaking Wlads hand and telling him 'yo champ, we need to get it on - don't duck me'.
Toney surely wants the fight. But he's not in a position to demand it anymore. That's the reality. The Klitschkos have better options. The only thing that I don't understand is why Wlad fought Hasim Rahman as a late replacement instead of Toney in 2008 - after Toney made Rahman quit only some months prior.

As it stands, Wlad didn't duck Toney, and Toney didn't duck Wlad either. Toney never ducked nobody.

I'm sure that Toney would still take a title-shot against either Klitschko in a heartbeat at this very point. Wlad is desperately looking for a name opponent for december, but since Toneys marketing value is at its lowest ever, I do not think Wladimir is even considering him as an opponent for his december fight.

 

James Toney is silent because he only wants to fight big names. But the Arreola, Klits, Povetkins, Hayes do not want to fight him because they are afraid of Toney's style may made them look bad.

Toney will never get those fights (in fact he has never in the past) and he does not want to get back in line because he has become somewhat dellusional over hsi legend status.

 

Toney-Oquendo was a close fight that could have gone either way. The scores reflected that.

In my opinion, both fighters showed a terrible performance, but I had Toney ahead by one point. At least Toney was trying. Oquendo didn't come to win, so he didn't deserve to win. Just like he didn't deserve to win against Chris Byrd, Evander Holyfield or Mormeck..

 

Mormeck / Oquendo once, but I mean Toney / Oquendo 5 times. He didn't deserve to win, even when I put on my biased glasses for Toney on that fight I always have him losing narrowly

 

I had Toney up by one or two points.

It was a close fight not a robbery in my opinion

 

I'd like to correct. I hate people with big mouths who cannot back their words up. I'm sure any weight lower than HW, Toney won't have any problem, and I give him any credit when he bitches about the opposition there, because Toney is great and has a lot of skill and really beats the opponents credibly. But at HW, he should think twice before saying any meaningless things. He'll never clean up HW, he'll never beat Klit... I wonder at this stage TODAY whether he would do anything meaningfull in boxing??

 

This is one of my scores of the fight, I take notes on them, and provide some of them (I shut out the sound because ringside was very biased towards Oquendo):

Round 1: Oquendo 10-9

Both men got rocked once, but Oquendo stayed busy behind the jab.

Round 2: Toney 19-19

Toney being the aggressor early and going nicely to the body and slipping punches, there was a nice counter too on the ropes. Oquendo didn't do much but jabbing

Round 3: Toney 29-28

Crisp jabs and nice counters from Toney clealy being the aggressor, one very hard one the moment Oquendo swung wildly. Oquendo like round 2 tried to stay behind the jab

Round 4: Oquendo 38-38

Toney again pressing the action, Oquendo landing more jabs, jabbing to the body landing two good hooks. Toney less busy than previous rounds landed one good shot near the 3/4 of the round.

Note: Oquendo holds Toney even not being in danger when Toney lies on the ropes (good counter position for Toney in round 2).

Round 5: Oquendo 48-47

Jabbing from both men with Oquendo landing more. Oquendo landing a few hooks even though not with power (bounceing off Toney), they did land. Oquendo holding and hitting after break, landed a good hook in one off these clinches.

Round 6: Toney 57-57

Very busy beginning from both men. Oquendo stayed behind the jab landing some and a left hook. Toney landed a good left and then a nice right hook near the end of the round stunning Oquendo

Round 7: Oquendo 67-66

Both men jabbing, Oquendo landing 2 good right hooks + holding each time Toney get too close and hooking after clinches. Toney not as busy landed a few good jabs.

Round 8: Even (because of deduction) 76-75 (Note: Oquendo docked a point for hitting Toney 2 times behind the head, he got warned three times but the second time he didn't hit Toney after stunning him but got warned)

Oquendo landing a few crisp jabs (a little more snap than previous). Toney landing a few good ones too. Oquendo landed a good shot wobbling Toney but failed to follow up pushing Toney (ref came in between). Oquendo jabbing again, landed a right hook. Toney jabbing but not landing anything meaningfull. Oquendo docked a point, fight aggressively near the end trying to steal the round.

Round 9: Toney 85-85

Toney less aggressive landed a good right hand. Oquendo with a good right but less hard than Toney's. Toney slipping punches + nice counter right. Both men jabbing, Toney outlands Oquendo ducking + slipping punches

Round 10: Toney 95-94

Both men jabbing but Toney hard counter jabs right after getting hit by one. Toney slipping some + countering sometimes. Good counter left from Toney while Oquendo was coming in. Oquendo jabbing landing some to the body, Toney slipping some.

Round 11: Oquendo 104-104

Toney comes forward, Oquendo jabbing landing some + holding Toney to prevent him from doing omething meaningfull, Oquendo hooked after clinches (very Ruizesque). Oquendo jabbing Toney in the corner. Oquendo landing 2 good hooks, Toney backing off on the ropes (he doesn't seem that hurt but was stunned a little bit). Oquendo pressing the fight ending the round with a right hook.

Round 12: Oquendo 114-113

Oquendo started with a hard right hand. Both men landing some jabs with Oquendo landing more and some hooks in between. A few jabs to the body by Oquendo. Toney landed a few jabs but was outlanded by Oquendo

Oquendo 114-113!! It is very close but each time I had Oquendo take the nod.:good

 

That, or he is out there spending some of his paycheck

 

I'm sure that if Toney would call out the Klitschkos now, you would make a thread about him being a delusional braindamaged hasbeen that should keep his mouth shut and retire..

 

Toney won the first round. He rocked Oquendo with a right hand and was the agressor. The feather fisted Oquendo never rocked Toney in the first round. Put the glasses on next time. So, that means 114-113 Toney.

 

Only in the second fight, the first one was a close one :good