The 2003 version of James Toney who beat Vissili Jirov versus the 1986 version Of Dwight Muhammad Qawi who pummeled Leon Spinks. Who would you pick?
Qawi was a fighter who although could win decisions, preferred to take down his opponents via stoppage or KO. This is isn't going to happen against even a shot Toney. As for skill and the ability to outwit your foe, Toney in my opinion is the better technician and smarter fighter.. While neither of these men were prime during the periods that were listed, I think James would prevail in a close and probably unimpressive decision victory.
Although I agree this fight is going the distance, I think Qawi with his Frazier like bobbing and weaving pressure style would cause Toney to work very hard for this victory, and put Toney's sometimes suspect conditioning to the test, especially if it is a 15 round bout. I see it as a 1 or 2 point bout that really could go either way.
Fair enough, and as I said it would probably be a " close and unimpressive victory for Toney", but your counter statement of it being equally close in favor of Qawi, basically says the same thing.
For me, Toney's best weight was 190. He's simply a slicker, better fighter than Qawi and would land too many counter rights as Qawi came in. Toney by wide decision. Whoever said Toney's conditioning was suspect is wrong. He was at physically strongest yet still quick and slick in the 185-195 range. Toney never belonged at 160 or 168.
Qawi by decision. He would force Toney to fight at a pace he couldn't sustain. Yes, yes, I've seen the fight with Jirov, but we all know Qawi would put more on his shots and sap Toney's strength more, and Qawi wouldn't be there to be hit the way Jirov was. Toney was always best when his opponent let him dictate the pace and pull his admittedly educated tricks. Qawi would be too physical with him, and wouldn't let him rest, all the while putting the hurt on him. Bad, bad matchup for Toney. The exact style you don't wanna see if you're his braintrust.
