By Dave Wilcox
It seems James Toney is finally going to try and make good on his promise to “knockout all bums” and win the Heavyweight Championship when he steps into the ring against John Ruiz at a site and date to be determined.
The conventional wisdom is that James Toney is the man who will finally rid us of the evil John Ruiz and once and for all put him (Ruiz) out of our misery. Almost every Boxing guy I respect, believes that Toney is in fact the savior of the Heavyweight division and indeed will “do a paint job” on Little Johnny Ruiz. I think I’m the Lone Solider on this one, I actually think Ruiz will do what he always does. He will annoy the hell out of me. He will make me regret spending fifty bucks for Pay-Per-View. He will make me despise him even more than I did after watching his last “fight”. And of course, he will again win and retain his Title. As much as it pains me deep into my soul to admit such a thing, I truly believe it to be the truth.
James Toney (68-4-2, 43ko’s) is an old school fighter. He and Bernard Hopkins are the only current fighters that I would consider old school throwbacks. Boxing would be a better place if Toney wins this fight, but what’s better usually doesn’t happen. Toney’s advanced age of 36, combined with fighting out of his natural weight class will spell doom for him in my opinion. On top of that, he has been dealing with constant injury for a couple years now. Bottom line is that he is not a true Heavyweight. Sure he beat Evander Holyfield, but if we are honest with ourselves, almost anyone would have beaten Holy that night.
John Ruiz (41-5-1, 28ko’s) is everyone’s whipping boy for good reason. He fights dirty, he holds, he hugs and then has the nerve to talk trash after his “wins”. Some of the Ruiz comments that I have read would make George Carlin proud. “Everyone in the division is afraid to fight me.” And “I’m the man in the division.” are only a few of his laughable quotes. I pray to the Boxing Gods that I am wrong about this. In fact, if there is a God, I’m sure he is betting on James Toney.
Let’s break the fight down. James Toney will probably come in weighing around 220 pounds. His height is listed at 5’11, but I think that is giving him the benefit of the doubt. His advantage has always been his tremendous counter punching ability. He likes to slip and roll with punches and loves to fight inside his opponents. This was very apparent during his Cruiserweight clash against Vassily Jirov. In the fight of the year, Toney counter punched Jirov to death and was able to outlast Jirov for the victory. That, in a nutshell is how Toney would prefer to fight. My issue with doing that against John Ruiz is that Ruiz won’t let Toney work inside. He will tie up the smaller Toney anytime he comes inside.
Roy Jones, Jr. was able to run and box against Ruiz and that would be the style needed for a smaller man to beat the “The irritating man”. Although I have a great deal of respect for James Toney’s boxing ability, he is not a runner. He will try to fight and knockout Ruiz. I can see Toney getting frustrated in this one. This fight will be fought on the inside for sure, and I think Ruiz will do usual hug and dance routine. Ruiz will come in weighing about 240 pounds and at 6’2”, he will use all of his weight and size advantages to try and wear down and frustrate Toney. When it’s all said and done, I think he will do just that and win a 12 round decision over Toney.
Wouldn’t it be fun if James Toney did win? I think that’s why many people think, (or is that hope?) Toney will win. The post fight presser would be more exciting than the fight I’m sure. Good luck Mr. Toney, I will hope to be proven wrong on this bold prediction. I just hope I don’t see James Ringside at a fight. He might beat the hell out of me. Wish me well, I might need it.
Keep punching