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Originally posted by Willow The Wisp
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James Tony was a Great fighter and in accordance he has been voted into the IBHOF. But as he extended his career with Goosen-Tudor after 2002, some mythos was built up around him as he resumed his dedication (and started Nandrolone, it has been said), and won a war with Vassiliy Jirov, beat an unhealthy shell of Holyfield and befuttled a couple of decent heavyweights at the end of his career as a winner; and years later in 2010, deep into the throws of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, irrationally challenged the then no. 7 ranked MMA heavyweight Randy Couture in his half hearted UFC 118 cash grab, making himself known to an adjacent collection of fight fans, and not in a good way.
Imposing a realistic assesment of James Toney, we should recall that Toney was a world ranked, effective fighter from 1990 through 2006 in spite of periods of lax training, and during his physical prime, though he matched against an excellent collection of fighters, he stuggled with some of the better fighters he faced like Merqui Sosa, Reggie Johnson, Mike McCallum, Dave Tiberi, and on occasion got the benefit of the scoring. His 1994 fight at 168 against Roy Jones Jr. For the IBF title represented Toney's zenith as a fighter, and also illustrated his limits, as he was comprehensively beaten by a decidedly greater fighter. In 95' and again in 96' the underrated Montell Griffith beat a prime Toney twice, which I mention for temprence becase those were both good decisions and they are oddly forgotten today. The following year I was assisting in the corner of Drake Thadzi up in Connecticut fighting against Toney for the lightly regarded IBO Light Heavyweight belt, and Toney had to forgo a shot at the vacant title because he came in heavy, like an idiot. It didn't make any difference as Drake, a Malawi, Africa born Olympian fighting out of Shediac, Canada, "the lobster capital of the world", easily beat his ass.
After this Toney went on a respectable tear at Cruiserweight and really wouldn't be regardedas a spend force untill around 2007. Prime Toney was a HOF level fighter, and 200 pound Toney could still bust a move (in the vernacular of the era). He covered allot of ground in his 29 year, 90 fight career.
Enough to surrender his ability to speak audibly by the time he hit 40. The hottest nearby opponents that James Toney missed, for my money.........
1993 - 94 Bernard Hopkins.................L. 12
1993 - 94 Gereld McClellen.................L 12
1993 - 94 Nigel Benn...........................W. 12
1994 - 95 Chris Eubank........................W. 12
1994 - 95 Steve Collins........................L. 12
1995 - 96 Graciano Rocchigiani..........W. 12
1995 - 96. Virgil Hill...............................L. 12
1995 - 96 Henry Maske........................L. 12
1995 - 96 Fabrice Tiozzo.....................L 12
1997 - 98 Dariusz Michalczewski........L 12
2005 - 06 Chris Byrd.............................L. 12
Toney gained weight as he went, but he could have gotten in shape for the fights listed, in the timeframes listed, to have made those possible.
1988 Middleweight
1992 Super Middleweight
1995 Light Heavyweight
1997 Cruiserweight
2002 Heavyweight
Imposing a realistic assesment of James Toney, we should recall that Toney was a world ranked, effective fighter from 1990 through 2006 in spite of periods of lax training, and during his physical prime, though he matched against an excellent collection of fighters, he stuggled with some of the better fighters he faced like Merqui Sosa, Reggie Johnson, Mike McCallum, Dave Tiberi, and on occasion got the benefit of the scoring. His 1994 fight at 168 against Roy Jones Jr. For the IBF title represented Toney's zenith as a fighter, and also illustrated his limits, as he was comprehensively beaten by a decidedly greater fighter. In 95' and again in 96' the underrated Montell Griffith beat a prime Toney twice, which I mention for temprence becase those were both good decisions and they are oddly forgotten today. The following year I was assisting in the corner of Drake Thadzi up in Connecticut fighting against Toney for the lightly regarded IBO Light Heavyweight belt, and Toney had to forgo a shot at the vacant title because he came in heavy, like an idiot. It didn't make any difference as Drake, a Malawi, Africa born Olympian fighting out of Shediac, Canada, "the lobster capital of the world", easily beat his ass.
After this Toney went on a respectable tear at Cruiserweight and really wouldn't be regardedas a spend force untill around 2007. Prime Toney was a HOF level fighter, and 200 pound Toney could still bust a move (in the vernacular of the era). He covered allot of ground in his 29 year, 90 fight career.
Enough to surrender his ability to speak audibly by the time he hit 40. The hottest nearby opponents that James Toney missed, for my money.........
1993 - 94 Bernard Hopkins.................L. 12
1993 - 94 Gereld McClellen.................L 12
1993 - 94 Nigel Benn...........................W. 12
1994 - 95 Chris Eubank........................W. 12
1994 - 95 Steve Collins........................L. 12
1995 - 96 Graciano Rocchigiani..........W. 12
1995 - 96. Virgil Hill...............................L. 12
1995 - 96 Henry Maske........................L. 12
1995 - 96 Fabrice Tiozzo.....................L 12
1997 - 98 Dariusz Michalczewski........L 12
2005 - 06 Chris Byrd.............................L. 12
Toney gained weight as he went, but he could have gotten in shape for the fights listed, in the timeframes listed, to have made those possible.
1988 Middleweight
1992 Super Middleweight
1995 Light Heavyweight
1997 Cruiserweight
2002 Heavyweight
Agree with pretty much everything other than James Toney being a great fighter.
Willow The Wisp
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