Was James Toney off-form or just outclassed vs Jones?

He was 'out-mobiled', if you get me. We shouldn't detract from the win for Jones imo. Toney's a pro who got ready for a fight and had enough time to do so.

 

PRobably was a bit weight drained, but probably was for Charles Williams and maybe BArkley(who was definitely drained having boiled down from his now natural 175) as well.

Likely doesn't mention it if he wins.



The main issue imo was his leaden predictable footwork...Toney's great technical skill is all from the waist up.Thus jones could not only beat him to the punch outright, but repeatedly turn him and dictate the range and pace of the fight as well.

and also for all the accusations of how he relied on his athleticism and was lacking fundamentally(mostly right of course)Jones also had a great ring awareness and generalship in his prime.For all the talk of him being "old school" and properly schooled, Toney has rarely come close to him in that regard.

 

Lora is spot on with the footwork, maybe my shitty 'out-mobiled' description was not very self-explanatory, but Lora has broken it down for you regardless.

 

James was definitely out of form, but that doesn't mean he would have won the fight had he been in peak form. As Lora mentioned Jones is to mobile for Toney. James wasn't the best at chasing a fighter down its not his particular expertise. Nonetheless, I am sure a in shape Toney would make this fight much more competitive. However, its Toney's fault he was out of shape and that's the story of his career, although he is a great fighter in my opinion he could have accomplished more but he showed up not in optimum condition so many times throughout his career to say if Toney was in shape is a big IF.

 

Drained to the max......... 168 KILLED Toney in 1994................ He was a 204 pound slob just "5" weeks prior to the bout in late '94...... The issue of "Weight" was the key factor in Toney's loss to Royale Jones in 1994........ Toney fought like a *****-whipped / drained bee-yatch........ 168 was BAD for J.T. in 1994........... WORD!!

MR.BILLhat

 

He was off form but he was outclassed and would have been outclassed anyway no matter what, IMO.

 

I think he did, although not at 168 obviously.

He looked horrible and was breathing heavily after throwing a low amount of punches, even though in previous fights he had landed well over 400. However Jones's style, with all his unorthodox moves and athleticism, would always present problems for the more flat-footed counter-punching Toney who preferred to have his opponents standing in front of him.

 

It was odd a Nunn Toney rematch didn't happen either, though that was likely down to Nunn being more interested in getting coked up by that point.

 

Supposedly Toney was on an IV leading up to the fight, extremely sickly and weak from being so weight drained.

 

Which coincidentally was also the case with Oscar De La Hoya against Pacquiao when he was a dead man walking.

 

Movement certainly bugs him.