James Toney goes to war part 2

http://www.boxing-memorabilia.com/images/toney1.jpg "I think James Toney's got some real problems-you take away his bad boy bluff and, well, who is he then? What you got left?" -Roy Jones But then everything changed But then everything changed. A day later, on 20 November 1994, James Toney went out to kill Jackie Kallen. It was all her fault, he decided, the loss of his unbeaten record and that terrible humiliation in Vegas. She'd got greedy and had put herself before him. He was going to make her pay. He was going to shot her as well as her husband and two sons. Sherry Toney, his idol , called Jackie to warn her, to tell her that he was coming. Jackie could hear that this time it was different. His blazing anger would not be doused. As she listened to the fright in Sherry's voice, she could hear him screaming in the background, telling his mother "that he was gonna shot up Jackie and her whole ****in family...." The day had begun more quietly. James and Sherry Toney had driven over from Ann Arbor to the Kallen's home in suburban West Bloomfield, Michigan, to meet with Jackie and her husband. After the devastating loss to Jones it was time or them to decide how best they might pick up the thread of his changed career. Despite the hollow inside him, Toney was calm at first. He listened to Jackie go through the possibilities, thinking of the tacky "Losing is Not an Option" she'd had sewn onto their fight jackets. He started to seethe. She recommended that he should exercise the rematch clause in his contract and again face Jones at super - middleweight. I he got into better shape early on, if he didn't balloon up to 210 like he had done before, if he stayed of the junk food and trained really hard, she still believed he had the ability to beat Jones. He could wipe away all the damage that had been done on Friday night. It was then that Toney erupted. She had been the one who had made him take the fight at the lower weight, she had made him lose, and now she wanted him to do the same thing again. He'd had enough of her, he raged. He was through with her. By the time he reached home he'd made his choice. He was going to get her. It was then that Sherry called Jackie who, in turn, phoned the Detroit police. They took the threat seriously. The Kallen property was quickly surrounded by armed officers as they waited for the fighters arrival. Yet, in the end, James Toney stayed away. He kept his gun to himself. The Detroit police went looking for him instead, having opened an investigation into his death threat. He was questioned; but they soon let him go free with only a warning for intimidating behavior. The following morning, while Jackie and Sherry were interviewed on television about the previous day's incident, Toney again berated her on Detroit radio. Calling her a 'ho' and telling her to 'to take your money until July and then get out', Toney alleged that Jackie had forced him to fight Jones even though she knew he had flu and that he had been severely drained by his weight loss. He claimed that she was more interested in her own wealth than his health, that he resented her craving or the spotlight. The media found it easy to side with Jackie Kallen. 'I'd be lying,' she stressed, 'if I said I wasn't hurt, I was stunned, I wasn't horrified. One of the things he said was that I don't care about him/ I just never expected to hear that from James. I treated this kid like he's my family. We all traveled together as family, we went on holiday cruises as family. Personally. I don't think I could have dome much more for him. Yes, boxing is a business but I've never taken a penny that I haven't rightfully earned. I'm sure James fights for the money also. I don't think he's in this game just because he loves the beauty o the ring. 'He said he had the flu and that I forced him into fighting Roy Jones. At the press conference and at the weigh in he was certainly fit and cocky enough. He though he was going to win then. No one made James Toney fight Roy Jones. He's always been the one that says he's the boss, that he calls the shots. So or him to turn round and say that I made him fight is absurd. No one makes that kid do anything. 'He's told his mother that he'll apologize if I apologize to him first. Well, I'm still trying to think what I should apologize for. For making him a millionaire, for getting him the biggest pay day of his career? Who knows what our future holds because I just don't think the words "I'm sorry" are in his vocabulary. He cant bring himself to say it. "But, you know, I'm a compassionate person. I'm not hard nosed. Part of me understands why all of this has happened. I know how disappointed he was having to lose a big fight. Hardest of all for him was the way he lost, the fact that he was virtually run out of the ring. It wasn't a tight fight, there was no controversy about the decision. I think that was most hurtful to him, the fact that it wasn't even close. His whole identity was crushed. One minute you're the champion and the pound for pound number one, and the next minute you're basically just another fighter."