a ?, about this toney green sparring session

I found this story by Doug Fischer I didn't see Danny Green's WBC super middleweight title shot against Marcus Beyer last year a fight the rugged Australian dominated in brutal fashion but ultimately lost by DQ after intentionally head-butting the German southpaw - and I didn't see Green's one-sided beatdown of Eric Lucas last December, when the durable Canadian was so savagely attacked round after round that his corner threw in the towel, but I know the "Green Machine" can fight. I also know that Green is as tough as they come. Green, 19-1 (18), proved it to Yours Truly and to everyone at the Wild Card Boxing Club with one bloody sparring session with James Toney that took place Friday, August 27. By going seven hard rounds with the former three-division champ who is now campaigning as a heavyweight, Green, the WBC's "interim" title holder at 168 pounds, showed that he can take a punch, deliver a variety of power shots of his own and press the action in the ring for an extended period. If and when Green is able to land lucrative matches against the likes of Joe Calzaghe or Jeff Lacy, I don't know if the Australian will beat the popular title holders, but he'll damn sure make them fight their hearts out. How do I know this? I finally saw a tape of Green's sparring session with Toney, a gym war that flyweight contender and witness Brian Viloria called a "classic that was worth paying to see". What I saw was indeed better than probably 75% of the fights I watch on TV or cover live, and although if I were to score the rounds like a real boxing match the Green-Toney sparring session would be as one-sided a contest as Felix Trinidad's recent pummeling of Ricardo Mayorga, it was also an exciting match up of machismo, much like the Latino showdown that took place on Oct. 2. It was the kind of hard, fast-paced sparring that had people at Freddie Roach's crowded Hollywood gym and other nearby boxing clubs talking for days; and this being the age of the internet, word traveled fast and far. By the end of the day the session took place, some of those who had witnessed it emailed their boxing fan friends and 'internet fight scribes' like myself with their first-person accounts. Within a couple of days a downloadable file of the sparring session was available on a boxing website and message boards were abuzz with rumors of just what had taken place in Hollywood. One week after Green and Toney went at it, the mainstream Australian media even reported on the gym war. I had indeed heard of the sparring session, as regulars from Roach's gym emailed me the day Green and Toney slugged it out. According to witnesses, Green did show up to the Wild Card gym two days in a row hoping to get in the ring with Toney (though nothing was officially scheduled as Toney's management had no idea Green was even in the country, nor were they looking for super middleweights for their fighter to spar with). "Green was in town with Jeff Fenech, who had a flyweight (Vic Darchinyan) that was getting ready for a title shot and was sparring with Isreal Vazquez," Roach recalled. "Green wanted to know if we had any work for him and I told him the only guy close (in weight) to him was James." Green's eyes must have lit up at the thought of testing himself against a man who has been telling the world for well over a decade that he is the toughest S.O.B. alive. But Toney failed to appear two days in a row (on one of the days he was attending a press conference for his upcoming fight with Rydell Booker), and according to Roach, Green got a little skeptical of Lights Out's hard-ass gym reputation. "He started asking me after the first day 'Is he gonna show today?' being kind of sarcastic," Roach said. "Green's a nice guy, but he's kind of cocky. On the third day I got a call from James and I told Green, 'James is on his way and he told me to tell you that he's coming to kick your ass'." Indeed, when Toney finally arrived, the "smack down" reported by the Australian media went down, but the other way. Here's an email from someone who was there: "Dougie, James Toney sparred with Danny Green today, that kid is TUFF. I've heard of him, but never seen him fight. He sparred with the Russian cruiserweight 2 days ago but it wasn't at the Wildcard, I don't know who won that contest. Israel Vasquez sparred with Jeff Fenech's kid that is fighting for the title on ESPN next week, he is a 112 pounder I think, but I don't know his name, they said it was a hell of a sparring match, but I missed it. Anyway, James played with Green, but he hit him with some hard shots, and Green took them, Green's offense looked pretty good too, but James wasn't really going after him, he laid on the ropes and counter punched, but man, the way James breathes when he is in the ring is enough to scare the s__t out of his opponents, I'm sure you've heard it. He still needs to drop some weight too, he is about 235 right now, Freddie wants him down to 215 by fight time. James was threatening to shoot the Aussies, calling them pussies, telling them to never come back, but Green was unfazed. After the sparring match Green waited for Toney to shower to shake his hand, and James told him, "Next time you talk s__t about me I'm going to f__k you up for real!" and he started talking s__t to him. He busted up Green's face pretty good, and I thought they may need to stop it, but he was tough. James never really tried to hurt him though. - JB" This is a fairly accurate account of what happened, although in my opinion, Toney did put some snap on his punches and did attempt to hurt Green on more than one occasion. The Aussie simply refused to back down, which may explain Toney's nasty attitude after the session. Here's one more: It seems Green didn't want his stablemate, Darchinyan, to hog all the action with Vazquez, the IBF's 122-pound titlist. And the "Machine" showed that he could get down and scrap as hard and fast as the little guys. For the first round and a half, Green boxed Toney from the outside, bouncing on his toes and firing off hard one-two combinations. Toney was forced to charge forward behind a stiff jab of his own, which set up some hard right uppercuts that snapped Green's head back. By the middle of the second round, Green was pressing Toney to the ropes and getting off with hooks and crosses to the body and head, many of which were blocked or rolled with. Both men mixed their punches well. Toney scored with uppercuts and left hooks to the body, while Green blasted back with double hooks to the head and rights to the body and head. By the third round, Toney was parking himself in a neutral corner and inviting Green to shoot off his best punches (an invitation the smaller man gladly accepted), however after a minute of absorbing every punch in the book, the bigger man would answer back with jabs and right hands that jarred Green back on his heels. "Jeff Fenech, I pitty you, boy! How dare you come in here callin' me out!" Toney yelled at the end of round three. In rounds four and five, Toney once more parked himself into a corner and barked insults while taking the best shots Green could muster. Toney fired back when he felt like it - some punches were mere swats, others had real snap on them. Although at times Toney looked sort of like a big grizzly bear playing with a fish that he was about to eat, Green began to make adjustments while on the inside and slip and duck under some of the bulky heavyweight's counter punches. In rounds six and seven, Green's nose spurted blood all over the observers standing ringside, but he continued to throw punches in combination that would have knocked out most 168 pounders, while Toney snarled "You're a cheese champ; a paper title holder!" "James gave (Green) a beating - he was all busted up and I think his nose might have been broken - but that Danny Green, I'll tell ya, he's got a lot of balls. I'll give him that," said Roach, a former featherweight contender who was known for his heart and relentless attitude in the ring before becoming one of today's most respected and sought-after trainers. Green's trainer, Jeff Fenech, a former three-division world champion who was recently inducted into the hall of fame, was also known for his courage and his aggressive 'take-no-prisoners' fighting style. Maybe that's why the sparring session was allowed to last seven rounds despite the obvious size disparity between the two fighters. Neither Roach nor Fenech want to see anyone seriously hurt in the ring, but both men will give a fighter the benefit of the doubt as long as he's willing and punching back - and that's just what Green did for seven rounds. Green, who looked no more than 180 pounds, could not match Toney's skills, physical strength or punching power but this gym war wasn't about working with one of the game's best technicians and learning the finer points of pugilism - it was about Green testing his toughness against one of the better, and toughest, champions to come along in the last 20 years. Mission accomplished. Green knows he can hang with a heavyweight contender, one of the best fighters, pound-for-pound, on the planet and one of the best super middleweights ever. Green would have fit nicely in the 168-pound mix during the '90s, when card carrying tough guys in both the U.S. and the UK - such as Toney, Nigel Benn, and Steve Collins - held versions the 168-pound title.

It was a joke. Green obviously wanted to get in the ring with Toney, and JT thought it was funny so he obliged. Just watch the session. Toney practices laying of the ropes, slips and blocks almost everything, Green wails away on him, and one in a while Toney lands a counter shot that snaps Greens's head back just to let him know what would happen. Anyone who looks at this as being anything more than mild entertainment doesn't understand what they watched. Just another day hanging out at the gym. This stuff happens.

according to freddie roach green went to the wild card looking for sparring and was told the only guy available was toney, so he starts calling toney out in the middle of the gym! toney did'nt show for a couple of days but when he did, green got in with him. i think green had a lot of balls doing it, i spar with a guy 20lb heavier than me and it bloody hurts!

well obvoiusly but y would he use green to sparr for a heavyewight fight??? now thts jus gay. toney has a mouth thts it. he eats to much fuckin donuts

Toney beat the living shit out of him. He was mugging and talking shit to the camera and Green was trying his hardest. I gained alot of respect for Green though after watching that. He's a tough SOB forsure.

This happend maybe between 6months and 1 yr ago. It was when he was getting in shape for the Booker fight. And if you don't think that Toney could have literally murdered Green at any time your CRAZY!