Who cares? Neither of them ever liked to train. The one thing that makes some champions great is the fact that ALL his contemporaries are NOT in the gym when he IS in the gym.
ALI is the ONLY exception to this. ANY of his contemporaries could be champion in another era. EVERYONE always bought his "A-game" when facing ALI so he didn't have it as easy as any other champion. Holmes had a decent batch of "Rogues" too. They, like Larry himself, were not always given much credit because they followed ALI too.
Larry beat Witherspoon, Bonecrusher, Williams and Weaver, to name a few. I dare say that any of these men could fight other champs in another era and do well. How would Braddock, Patterson or Johansson do against any of them? Is it a guarantee that they would win? I don't think so.
The thing that makes ALI, Louis, Marciano and Holmes special is that they best THE BEST avaliable competition AT THEIR BEST. There are so many "Fractures" during the reigns of all other champions.
Neither Toney nor Rahman ever reached his best because neither could get out of the kitchen long enough to train. This makes their contemporaries better than them. Lennox Lewis deserves credit too because he best the best of his era. It's not his fault that Bowe was afraid to face him but he DID beat Tyson and Holyfield.
The problem with Rahman and Toney is that they are not consistent. It's not bad that Rahman lost to Lewis, who is simply a better fighter. The problem is that he showed up out of shape and never again reached the peak of his potential.
Why should either bother fighting? It just shows that neither has much in the way of discipline so what's the point? Even in today's weak division neither could do enough to win the title or even earn a shot.
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