By Jim Cawkwell
These are desperate times. The allure of the heavyweight championship, supposedly the greatest prize in sport, was not enough to prevent Vitali Klitschko, a mediocre fighter at best, from abdicating it and millions of dollars in favor of political ambition. Our collective lamentation of this was pitiful not because of the loss of Klitschko, but for the continued exposure of the heavyweight division’s sheer desolation. Enter James Toney, exhibiting a throwback style no longer lost to flickering film and black and white snapshots, but brought into living color and much needed in a division struggling to maintain a sense of itself.
Due to his perceived illegitimacy as a heavyweight, James Toney’s success in the division might be seen by some as a mockery of its tradition. Being thirty-seven-years-old and hindered by his decreased dimensions in the era of the super heavyweight, Toney is no savior, but no sideshow either as his unrelenting and often tasteless bluster might imply. Vocally unbearable as he is, his presence as a fighter amongst today’s heavyweights is nonetheless a privilege, however short lived it proves.
He is a virtuoso forced to perform alongside students, but the school from which Toney graduated is a far cry from that of his current peers. Any admirer of the noble art is rightly repulsed by the “smash-and-grab” mentality evident in such fighters as Samuel Peter, Lamon Brewster, and Hasim Rahman, Toney’s opponent this Saturday night. Rahman was the opportunist aptly placed when lightning struck Lennox Lewis for the second time.
Nothing more.
In all but natural size, he is inferior to Toney, yet is charged with the task of putting Toney in his place. Indeed, it is Toney’s performance that will discern the rightful order of things. Rahman has never faced a fighter of Toney’s caliber before, and after Saturday, whether by retirement or good sense, he will never have to again.
Critics emphasize Toney’s ever-increasing girth, but while it is certain that he is no inspiration as a physical specimen, with his legacy secure, whatever points he has to prove are to himself.
I venture that there is not a heavyweight active today that can live with Toney’s intricate blend of defense, counter-punching, and ring generalship. Furthermore, there is not a heavyweight that Toney cannot handle, whether he is adequately conditioned or not.
Not only have we just witnessed one of the greatest solo performances in modern boxing from Joe Calzaghe, but we were reminded by Jeff Lacy also of the folly of placing too much trust in a fighter’s power. Rahman has strength and enough power to engender some of that misguided trust, but is just as well known for his indiscipline and increasing disinterest in a fight that is not unfolding to his desire.
Even against Lewis, Rahman’s will began to desert him before that one golden opportunity presented itself. The odds against such an opportunity arising because of a miscalculation on the part of a master technician such as Toney are astronomical.
Rahman will aim to impose his jab and follow with his main weapon: his right hand. His style is the manifestation of a series of learned procedures aimed at accentuating his strengths, while Toney’s fighting ability is ingrained within him, and appears as an expression, a seamless adaptation to the nature of his opponent’s intentions. There aren’t enough plans for a fighter of Rahman’s basic style and dulling speed to cope with a fighter of Toney’s complexity.
The first time Rahman happened upon a championship, Don King not only had a few hundred grand in a duffel bag, but a series of no-hopers in tow to aid the prolonging of Rahman’s hold on the title.
Court action forced Rahman into the fight that separated him from the gold then; this time he’s walked straight into it. Recognition as a former champion that lost championships in the first defenses of both of his title reigns will be a dubious honor for Rahman, but where fame cannot be acquired, infamy will have to do.
These are desperate times indeed when HBO offers the fight for the world heavyweight championship for free. The benefit of this is that a far greater audience will have the chance to see the fight, moreover, Toney’s performance. Whether he is a real heavyweight or not, Toney is very much a real fighter and one that the public at large should get to see.
This generation of heavyweights have proved to be inadequate students of the sweet science, and though his personal manner and physique fit none of the role model criteria, perhaps Toney can inspire someone out there with what he does where it counts: in the ring.
From the style of James Toney there are lessons to learn, and those that aim to disprove his teachings in the ring will find that their education comes with a much higher price.
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