By Brent Matteo Alderson

In 1991, Top Rank promised the winner of a bout between two of their prospects a chance to fight Michael Nunn for the Middleweight Championship of the world.  And in January of that year the 21-0-1 James Toney beat the 18-0 Merqui Sosa by split decision on ESPN for the opportunity to fight Nunn in his hometown of Davenport Iowa on TVKO, then HBO’s Pay-Per-View branch.  At the time Nunn was 36-0 and making his 6th defense of Middleweight title and was considered by most to be one of the top three pound for pound fighters in the world. 

Toney hadn’t turn professional with an Olympic Gold Medal or any major fan fare, but he was well schooled in the art of boxing and had the hunger that is only found in broke, up and coming contenders and trained hard for the fight, which was obvious at the weigh in when the young man who used to weigh 200 pounds as a high school football player weighed in at a ripped 157 pounds, three pounds below the Middleweight limit.  On the other side of the coin, Michael Nunn was enjoying the adulation of his hometown fans and really didn’t take the bout that serious. He viewed Toney as an appearance fight, as a chance to earn a payday and pad his record until a lucrative big name match-up. 

There was turmoil in Nunn’s professional life. He had worked with the Goossens his entire career.  Joe Goossen trained him and Dan Goossen handled the business affairs and then a couple of fights before the match with Toney, Nunn bolted the Goossens and hired the venerable Angelo Dundee as his trainer. 

Ironically Joe Goossen did the commenting for the fight and if you get a copy of the fight listen to Joe and his very biased commentary.  Well the fight turned out to be a surprise.  Nunn dominated early and was gliding his way to a clear cut decision victory when Toney began to turn it on and start landing some solid shots on a not so in shape Nunn. 

Still time was running out, the fight was heading into championship rounds and Toney was letting his dream of a world title slip away.  And then in the 11th round he knocked out Nunn and was crowned the IBF Middleweight champion of the world.  Six weeks later on network television Toney defended his title against the talented number one contender Reggie Johnson with a razor thin split decision victory in a bout in which he suffered a second round knock down.  After the fight Toney proclaimed, “I want to be the Hagler of the 90s.”

Then to finish off the year he fought a unification fight with Mike "The Body Snatcher" McCallum, a 34-year old veteran and a man who had been avoided like the plague by the top fighters of his era. Mike came in with a record of 42 wins and a loss that he had avenged.  The two gifted middleweights fought a pitched battle that ended in a controversial draw with Toney having McCallum out on his feet in the last round. 

Most observers felt that the 23 year old Toney won the bout and Ring Magazine and the rest of the boxing fraternity acted as if Toney had. Toney was named fighter of the year and began telling everybody who would listen that he was a legend in the making.  The McCallum fight was supposed to have been a unification fight, but the Body Snatcher refused to pay a step aside fee to Steve Collins, the WBA’s mandatory contender who he had already beaten.

In Toney’s next fight he used diuretics to make weight and was out-hustled by journeyman Dave Tiberi, but was on the receiving end of a gift decision which was viewed on network television and consequently spawned a major senate investigation into the sport.  Toney re-dedicated himself and successfully defended his title two more times before moving up to dominate the dangerous Iran Barkley for the IBF Super-Middleweight title. 

After a slew of non title bout wins and three impressive defenses of his title he fought the undefeated Roy Jones Jr. in the fall of 94 and was completed outclassed.  Jones won every round and even punked Toney on a coupled of occasions with his surreal speed and agility.  After the bout Toney went crazy and threatened the life of his manager Jackie Kallen and called her a “hoe” on network radio.

From there things started to go down hill.  He lost to Montell Griffin twice and dropped a decision to Drake Thadzi and took a couple of years off then came back as a cruiserweight.  After a couple of years he hooked up with Dan Goossen who got him rated by the IBF which set up his fight with Jirov that ended up being his springboard to his successful venture into the heavyweight division.  If you get a chance check out his bout with Nunn and look at a 157 pound James Toney, and then look at him now. 

Toney is an all time great, a first ballot hall of famer, and the fact that he can be competitive with a world rated heavyweight with a body fat percentage of at least 30% is tantamount to his boxing skills and his greatness.  

Notes:

I thought Rahman won the fight hands down.

I’m getting excited about Mayweather-Judah.

Go UCLA, GO Bruins!

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