Why was James Toney so fat in the Roy Jones fight?

He shrinked down to skeletor, similar as Morales and Hopkins in Middleweight (was a weight-bully there).

 

I remember reading somewhere that in his training camps that he would be at for months at a time, the maid they hired to clean up the place would find burger wrappers in his bed.

 

I've read somewhere that he was 200lb football (NFL?) player in high school.

When he started training to box he was told he'd need to make middleweight, and did. But as others have stated would blow up between fights.

And as someone else has already stated he was over 200lbs when he started camp. So camp was a fat loss camp.

When you have to work that hard in camp to make weight, everything else comes second.

 

James "Lets Eat" Toney

 

Toney wasn't fat for the fight. It's become folklore like Henry Cooper's glove was replaced against Ali.

Jones-Toney was just one of the first times HBO decided to check the weight of boxers on the day of the fight (after the rule change that moved weigh-ins back to the day before a fight).

After the rule change, nobody had paid much attention to what boxers were actually weighing on the day OF the fight.

They were 'shocked' to learn Toney had put on 14 pounds since the weigh-in and weighed 182. Actually, shocked was an understatement. It was HUGE news.

Who would be shocked today if a Super Middleweight put on 14 pounds after the weigh-in? Absolutely no one. Hell, Welterweights put on that much after the weigh-ins now.

What happened was Toney-Jones was one of the first fights that exposed the notion that moving the weigh-ins back to the day before the fight was NOT beneficial. HBO didn't know what they were looking at. They were stunned.

Truth is, all it showed was fighters (like Toney) were drying out to make weights they wouldn't otherwise be able to compete at.

Now, it's so commonplace people got NUTS when a fighter like Canelo insists that a boxer like Kovalev has to actually weigh 175 when the bell rings for a fight.

They think it's insane a boxer should actually make weight for the actual fight. If he does, he's obviously DRAINED. Because NO ONE (except heavyweights) actually compete at that weigh they weigh in at.

Fans, commentators, etc. have made a 180-degree turn.

If that fight took place today under the same conditions, the big story would be Roy Jones HADN'T put on enough weight before the bell, not that Toney had. Jones had only added 10 pounds (which was lost on the whole story HBO was pushing.)

When Toney performed poorly, he blamed it on the weight. But Jones had added nearly as much weight as Toney had. It was just a great performance by Jones and a poor one by Toney.

 

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Because ‘Burger King Burger King Yo’

 

Tony wasn't fat for that fight. he looked a little soft against Jones who was always shredded at that point in his career.
The problem for Tony was really that his training camps were weight loss over a short period. Although Tony was a great talent he was less than optimal in discipline with food. which probably reflected in "off" nights where he didn't peform to expectation.
This is why I don't buy the modern nutrition argument laid out for modern fighters automatically being better than the older timers. As it relies on individual discipline. the fact something is availible doesn't mean that everyone applies it. People like Toney. Fury. Hatton and Pudding are good examples of this.

 

He needed to answer the age old question "who ate all the pies ?"

 

double cheeseburger with onions and large order of french fries covered in hot sauce and ketchup

washed down with a large dr. pepper