With James Toney now making yet another comback one ahs to wonder, can he hold his own with the top heavyweights in his division? Basiucally to me, this comes down to the above question. Are speed and defence able to defeat reach and power?

Maybe..personally I feel reach is overrated.

With James Toney now making yet another comback one ahs to wonder, can he hold his own with the top heavyweights in his division? Basiucally to me, this comes down to the above question. Are speed and defence able to defeat reach and power?

it depends on the fighter

i thought it would be more reach and speed then power and def

toneys defence is one of the best in boxing, and he's quicker than most heavyweights (if not all of them), so speed and defence.

James Toney's best attribute is how comforatble he is in the ring. Sure, that's a product of experience & confidence....but it ultimately is what brings him success.
He's so relaxed....he sees what's coming, avoids it, & counters....& doesn't get tired doing so.

If an opponent knows how to use thier reach advantage it would give Toney problems. Toney likes his opponents to be close to him so he can duck and slip thier punches and counter with his own.

I will say speed and defence , Power you cant depend on,you see it over and over again, the power boxer looks for the KO win, but doesnt always come (Barrera vs Hamed) and Reach is very over rated, more than 1/2 of the boxers who have the reach dont know how to use it

The question of reach,power, and defence IMO is based soley on the fighters body type. Tyson was short in reach so he had to compensate in power and defense. On the otherhand, Ali had a very long reach and used that to his advantage. A young Ali had a great defense in his ability to slip, duck, and clinch a fighter when he was about to unload punches. Unfortunetly, an older Ali just covered up and took most of the punches.

With James Toney now making yet another comback one ahs to wonder, can he hold his own with the top heavyweights in his division? Basiucally to me, this comes down to the above question. Are speed and defence able to defeat reach and power?

I've always liked speed. If you're quicker than your opponent, it negates so many advantages that they might have had over you. And speed helps with almost everything, including defense whereas power and reach are basically offensive tools.

I am the biggest proponent of smaller guys beating bigger guys in matchups. I've always been on the side of Louis, Dempsey, and Marciano beating the likes of Lewis, Foreman, and Tyson. However, Toney is lacking something all of those other smallish heavyweights had, punching power.

Toney has never even a huge puncher at MIDDLEWEIGHT, and now we are expecting him to hurt a durable heavyweight like Vitali? If Vitali can go toe to toe with Lewis and Sanders, two of the biggest punchers in recent boxing history, he will look indestructable against Toney.

I like Toney, but he is too small, too old, and carries too weak of a punch to upset Vitali. I think the fight will be entertaining and may even go the distance due to Toney's superior skills, and Vitali's lack of one punch KO power, but I just can't imagine Toney winning unless Vitali comes to fight unprepared and in horrible shape.