Which small fighters could replicate Toney's performances if they got obese?

Tony Galento

 

Very few men Toney's size had Toney's durability.

 

Good thread. Such a unique feat and certainly no-one stands out. You'd need good "heavyweight" durability and loads of technical skill.

I'm going to throw out a name here. Jimmy Ellis was still fighting within a haircut of middleweight when he was just a few months off 25.

I believe this merits discussion.

 

James is a special case in this regard. He had the defence, style (no legs needed) and the durability to do this unlike any other even the most rugged MWs couldn’t follow this act because unlike James they’d be forfeiting their biggest advantage. I believe Archie is your best choice, he may exceed James actually... though we never saw him plump.

 

Maybe a Gene Fullmer. tough hombres like a Dick Tiger or Monzon. I'd also put Hopkins as a possibility. guys like the last 3 get by on their boxing savvy to accomplish it against the bigger and slower and poorer conditioned heavies. You would want a heavyweight plodder so the footwork and mobility edge is there. The heavies are also a bigger target for those guys.

Like mentioned above, Jimmy Ellis sure pulled it off. And Chris Byrd was a 165 pound olympian that chose to move up to heavy to start his career. There sure is a limit to their ceiling of course, but they can pull it off for 1 night.

In the land of multiple belts, it can be done much easier. Toney and Jones were hardly getting in the ring against the best champions at that time. And we are not talking about title defenses/successfull run of defenses. that is entirely different than a rise to the occasion type victory over a heavyweight. The other factor being the heavyweight getting in less than top condition against a middle and figuring an easy night's work and badly underestimating the opponent===I think that happens as well to get the upset in 1 or 2 bouts.

 

It's hard to really know until you see someone actually swallowing heavyweight shots and/or having enough technical defensive ability and reflexes while overweight to either avoid or take the edge off of hard punches imo.

 

Chris Byrd was a natural Middleweight that in my opinion was a better heavyweight than James was. I often wonder what kind of career Chris would have had if he would have campaigned at 160 or even 168 in his prime. Would he have beaten Bhop or Calzaghe? We will never know

 

I always wish him and Chris Byrd fought, that would have been interesting.