Why is Toney so underrated here?
He seems to get the recognition he deserves when we talk about skills, but career wise, I would rank him just as high as Jones and Hopkins on the all time list.
Toney’s best wins:
Michael Nunn
Mike McCallum 2x
Iran Barkley
Vassiliy Jirov
Evander Holyfield
Jones’ Best wins:
Bernard Hopkins
James Toney
Montel Griffin
Virgil Hill
John Ruiz
Antonio Tarver
Hopkins’ best wins
Glen Johnson
Felix Trinidad
Oscar De La Hoya
Antonio Tarver
Winky Wright
Kelly Pavlik
Now consider, when they fought their competition, and the weight class they fought them at.
Toney’s best wins in my opinion edge out Roy’s and blows Hopkin’s resume out the water.
Looking at Hopkin’s best wins, it really puts things in perspective, almost all his best wins, he had a noticeable size advantage, aside from Tarver and Glen Johnson. Hopkins definitely deserves credit for his longevity in the sport, and being the oldest champion of all time, but his resume is lacking.
Roy’s resume is better, and he has two prime all time greats on his list, yes I know some of you are going to say Hopkins wasn’t in his prime yet, but everyone saids that without merit. He was on a 22 fight win streak before Roy, and a 25 fight win streak after Roy, and he gave Roy one of his toughest fights at in his prime. But other than those two fights, Roy being the man for about 15 years, didn’t take enough risky fights, and settled on mandatories.Roy not fighting Dariusz Michalczewski really hurts his resume in my opinion. Theres a lot of articles, and stories on who was to blame, but nevertheless, it should have been made.
Head to head, I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t rank James right along, with Roy, and higher than Hopkins.
It's the losses. As many great wins as Toney has, he was so inconsistent and has losses on his record that drag him down below the other two.
That I can understand, Hopkins and Jones have been more inconsistent, but they are also much more methodical on how they choose and pick fights, Toney has always shown he was old school, he fought many times in a year, and he would fight anybody, he just wasn’t business minded. But at the end of the day, his record, and resume speaks for itself, I think people should be able to judge things objectively.
My guess would be that because Toney was at his height when RJJ was stealing his shine, and then when he had a little run 10 years ago, Hopkins was stealing his shine.
So he kind of got left in their shadows?
Wow, you made a very good argument Larry, i guess you’ve changed all of our minds.
I don’t see how Hopkins ranks higher than both of these guys, while he fighting nobodies, Toney and Roy were fighting much better competition, now that both men are washed and shells of themselves, Hopkins is fighting slightly better competition than he was in the 90’s.
I take into account his age, but nevertheless, guys like Cloud, and Pascal are pretty crappy fighters. Hopkins basically got forced into fight Dawson, and when he did, he lost. He’s a great fighter, and in my opinion, and overachiever in the sport, but his resume doesn’t cut it, prime for prime, Toney and Jones were the superior fighters. Just because Hopkins is relevant now, and other guys aren’t doesn’t mean he’s better than them.
This is the issue I have with ranking Hopkins. While he is still going strong and is a marvel, his opponents haven't been too hot, he did lose to Dawson among others and I hate to say it but his fights reek of cherry picking these days. Makes it so hard to judge.
Hopkins
Jones
Toney
thats how it is
Wow, you made a very good argument Larry, i guess you’ve changed all of our minds.
I don’t see how Hopkins ranks higher than both of these guys, while he fighting nobodies, Toney and Roy were fighting much better competition, now that both men are washed and shells of themselves, Hopkins is fighting slightly better competition than he was in the 90’s.
I take into account his age, but nevertheless, guys like Cloud, and Pascal are pretty crappy fighters. Hopkins basically got forced into fight Dawson, and when he did, he lost. He’s a great fighter, and in my opinion, and overachiever in the sport, but his resume doesn’t cut it, prime for prime, Toney and Jones were the superior fighters. Just because Hopkins is relevant now, and other guys aren’t doesn’t mean he’s better than them.
Toney is one of the greatest Middleweights of all times, I think he gets his credit by most who do know Boxing (Beyond just Pacquiao and Mayweather of course lol)
I know that he is, but most people seem to believe he’s far behind Roy and Hopkins on that list, notoriety definitely seems to play a major role on ranking when it comes to these lists.
I think his losses and up and down performances hurt him. Plus Roy basically shut him out.
Toney is an ATG.
I know that he is, but most people seem to believe he’s far behind Roy and Hopkins on that list, notoriety definitely seems to play a major role on ranking when it comes to these lists.