Bernard Hopkins vs James Toney

[Joe2608]

A prime Toney would school Hopkins imo, but a Cruiserweight era Toney would get beaten by Hopkins.

[princemanspoper]

hopkins is a good fighter with some skills but he doesn't come anywhere near toney whos an ATG. toney skills are extensive and go beyond spoiling and headbutting.

LOL,James Toney an all time great? Since when? This is why James "Fat" Toney is overrated in a historical sense,Because of idiots like this who rank him as an ATG.Toney is an underachiever,He may have been a better all around fighter than Hopkins at his best but he still doesn't rank higher than Hopkins does in a historical sense because in the spent 8 and a half years he spent becoming a slob and fighting mediocre opponents to pad his record,Hopkins was building his legacy.One took his loss to Roy Jones and moved on with his career and one didn't and no amount of skills can compensate heart and the will to win,Which is what James "Fat" Toney never had

[Thread Stealer]

At 160, I'd go with Hopkins by competitive decision. Toney is best when his opponent comes at him so he can counter. Hopkins is very smart, so he's going to not give Toney that sort of fight and rather use movement and box. Toney was quicker on his feet in his younger days so he'd hold his own in that area, but still I don't think it'd be enough to win.

Toney was rather inconsistent at 160, although he looked brilliant in the first McCallum fight (which I thought he won, and thought he lost the rematch).

[RightCross94]

LOL,James Toney an all time great? Since when? This is why James "Fat" Toney is overrated in a historical sense,Because of idiots like this who rank him as an ATG.Toney is an underachiever,He may have been a better all around fighter than Hopkins at his best but he still doesn't rank higher than Hopkins does in a historical sense because in the spent 8 and a half years he spent becoming a slob and fighting mediocre opponents to pad his record,Hopkins was building his legacy.One took his loss to Roy Jones and moved on with his career and one didn't and no amount of skills can compensate heart and the will to win,Which is what James "Fat" Toney never had

and then coming back and whoopng Jirov's ass in a thrilling victory....and then competing as a contender at HW

you have no idea what you are talking about, you're telling me that toney had no will to win and no heart...oh yeah because it doesnt take heart and will to come from behind and stop a guy like michael nunn, hang in with a much bigger and tougher jirov for 12 rounds and beat him, mix it with dudes half a foot taller at HW....

[Dynamite Kid]

Toney might have better counter punching skills but what Hopkins has over him is............strength, stamina, ability to adapt and efficiency.

Hopkins is a lot smarter than Toney, he knows how to pick his spots and how to negate Toney's style which can be negated like it was against Oquendo, Rahman 1, Griffin 1, Jones, now i know some of those fights were Toney past his best but those fighters still fought good fights and Toney could not do anything when they kept the fight at long range, they took advantage of his style by pecking away at him from the outside and not falling inside leaving counter punching opportunities inside.

Toney's style is geared around making you miss then when you look to follow up and become preoccupied with trying to hit him you end up standing infront of him presenting him with counter punching opportunities, but its not as effective against a fighter who is disciplined enough to keep things long and not fall inside.

When all said and done Hopkins knows how to negotiate his way tactically though a fight and give himself the best op to win, where as Toney can only work within the confines of his style which is to slip and counter, Hopkins has more dimensions.


At 160 Toney was dropped by Reggie Johnson and i dont think he beat McCallum 1st or 2nd time, he should of lost to Tiberi and he was losing to Nunn untill he scored that KO.

[TheGreatA]

Back in the early 1990's when the fight could have happened, Toney would've destroyed Hopkins.

The best of Hopkins vs the best of Toney, I see Hopkins winning a close, possibly disputed decision.

[Dynamite Kid]

Back in the early 1990's when the fight could have happened, Toney would've destroyed Hopkins.

The best of Hopkins vs the best of Toney, I see Hopkins winning a close, possibly disputed decision.

I would deffo of put my money on Toney at that point. Hopkins was a sloppy fighter before he improved his skill, technique.

[Benncollinsaad]

Only advantage Hopkins ever had on Toney was height and later in life, stamina.

[Dynamite Kid]

Only advantage Hopkins ever had on Toney was height and later in life, stamina.

He had better stamina in his prime to, Toney was blowing against Dave Tiberi after 3 rounds.

Hopkins fought in 9350 feet above sea level in altitude and it was Mercado who was tired the native Ecuadorian, not Hopkins.

Hopkins threw non stop punches at Mercado in the rematch and did not look tired.

Hopkins could of done 15 rounds against Glen Johnson to.

I believe one of the main reasons Hopkins still able to fight at his age is because of his naturally good stamina.

[TheGreatA]

He had better stamina in his prime to, Toney was blowing against Dave Tiberi after 3 rounds.

Hopkins fought in 9350 feet above sea level in altitude and it was Mercado who was tired the native Ecuadorian, not Hopkins.

Hopkins threw non stop punches at Mercado in the rematch and did not look tired.

Hopkins could of done 15 rounds against Glen Johnson to.

I believe one of the main reasons Hopkins still able to fight at his age is because of his naturally good stamina.

I agree that Hopkins had great stamina but Toney's pretty much depended on whether he was weight-drained or not.

Sometimes he could land more than 400 punches on his opponents and look like he could go another 12 rounds, sometimes he would run out of stamina very early and look terrible.

No excuses but there is definitely a difference in how he looks against Tiberi compared to the Nunn, McCallum I, Barkley and Williams performances.