Was James Toney past it when he lost to Roy Jones?

[nymike03]

Dwiens-Great Post. Style wise Jones would beat Toney everytime unless he gets caught with something huge which I wouldn't see happening. These are two of my favorite fighters and I was upset to see them fight knowing one had to lose. I saw the Toney-Hollyfield fight today on espn classic and I think Hollyfield was shot but Toney looked sharp. I dont know the compubox numbers but it seemed like his highest punch output other than the Jirov fight maybe in his career. Toney is something else, great for the game.

[TheGreatA]

Perhaps you should have named the question better, for example 'Was James Toney at his best against Roy Jones?'.

Maybe there would have been many votes the other way as it is rumoured that Toney had to drop nearly 50 lbs to make the weight limit and gained 20 lbs after the weigh-ins, making him look sluggish, lethargic and out of condition in the ring.

He breathed very heavily although he only threw about 300 punches, odd for someone who was coming off fights where he threw more than twice the amount, even landed over 400 punches in some of his bouts.

Now Jones obviously contributed to the way Toney looked and I believe RJJ would've beaten Toney regardless. Too much movement, Jones showed great footwork in that fight.

It's hard to say that Toney was past it because he was still only in his mid 20's. In my opinion Toney peaked twice in his career, first in the early 1990's and again in the early 2000's.