Probably top ten on talent but he really didn't fight there that long. Wins over Nunn and Reggie Johnson stand out along with his draw (I thought he won) against McCallum.
863 has 2 very good and important points which pretty much sum things up for me. James had boatloads of talent. Roach said he was the best natural fighter he ever worked with. He was taught by Bill Miller from Kronk who was one of those old forgotten masters. Bill has James come to his house after workouts to watch the old masters like Charles Walcott Conn ect. James just didn't stick around long enough. Lack of discipline had him go all the way up to HW as we all know. Another observation of Toney is like Chavez he only really liked to spar in the gym and not much else even running!
That's a problem with divisional rankings. Should fighters who would like do well H2H, but soon moved to other divisions be counted? What about Ezzard Charles as a middleweight?
