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By Brent Matteo Alderson - 1991 was the year that James "Lights Out" Toney burst upon the boxing landscape by upsetting the previously undefeated Michael Nunn in his hometown of Davenport, Iowa and then successfully defending against Reggie Johnson six weeks later and earning a draw with Mike McCallum in a bout many observers thought he won. And those performances garnered the then 22 year-old Ring Magazine’s 1991 fighter of the year award and had numerous insiders saying that Toney was going to be “the Hagler of the 90’s.”
Then in the February of 1992 James decided to take a tune-up fight on ABC against the unheralded Dave Tiberi. The bout was viewed as no more than a show-case bout for Toney and his vivacious personality, but Toney’s problems at the scale which would plague him throughout his career were evident early on and James used diuretics to make weight for the bout that left him physically depleted.
Toney’s manager at the time, Jackie Kallen, commented, “He tried to take a short cut in weight loss. He thought he could bluff his way through the fight, but he dehydrated himself.”
Realizing that his physical state was weakened James went for the early knock out and stunned Tiberi in the first, but was unable to put the light-punching Delaware native away and Tiberi went on to dominate and outwork Toney the remainder of the bout. [details]
Then in the February of 1992 James decided to take a tune-up fight on ABC against the unheralded Dave Tiberi. The bout was viewed as no more than a show-case bout for Toney and his vivacious personality, but Toney’s problems at the scale which would plague him throughout his career were evident early on and James used diuretics to make weight for the bout that left him physically depleted.
Toney’s manager at the time, Jackie Kallen, commented, “He tried to take a short cut in weight loss. He thought he could bluff his way through the fight, but he dehydrated himself.”
Realizing that his physical state was weakened James went for the early knock out and stunned Tiberi in the first, but was unable to put the light-punching Delaware native away and Tiberi went on to dominate and outwork Toney the remainder of the bout. [details]
......a **** at times but still a all around cool cat.
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