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First of all I have to say that was a great fight. It far exceeded my expectations. I give credit not only to Toney's exciting counterpunching but also Ruiz's insistance on fighting in a crowd pleasing manner. In losing, he may have gotten more respect than he would have in winning his usual way. That is not to say I think he could beat Toney by clinching. No, Toney is head and shoulders above Ruiz.
HOWEVER, some of the comments by RJJ were ridiculous. James Toney would have his way with Vitali? Vitali, who is so big and so strong and a sound tacticion himself? Let's put Toney's performance in perspective.
Toney fought a great fight and Ruiz very rarely landed anything memorable. However, he did enjoy some success with his jab and John Ruiz does not have an especially good jab. Vitali does. If Ruiz was able to establish his jab, then Vitali will as well. Common sense. Vitali has a better and harder jab than Ruiz, and he is much taller on top of that. Vitali's jab and height alone will present some formidable challenges for the 5'9" Toney.
As far as looking at Toney as a heavyweight, I don't buy it. He will always be a blown up middleweight. I don't care what he weighed when he played football. I was 215 pounds in HS with 17" biceps and a 46" chest. I consider myself a natural light heavyweight. Perhaps even a super middleweight if I were to get into great shape, and would never entertain the notion of fighting as a heavyweight.
Fighting shape and football shape are very very different things. Anthony Mundine plays rugby. Do you think the guy weighs 168 when doing so? I don't. I would guess he's 190 on the field AT LEAST.
Let's look at the evidence. Ruiz got the better of every single clinch. True, most of the time Toney just let himself get pushed back but there were times when Toney tried to resist and muscle his way in and Ruiz easily shoved him back. Ruiz has fair strength at heavyweight, but he has nothing on Vitali, one of the physically strongest fighters I've ever seen.
Punching power? Toney's has nothing to brag about at heavyweight. He landed nearly 60% of his power punches, many of them flush right hands to Ruiz's chin, and he only hurt Ruiz on a few occasions. Pretty good for a middleweight right, stunning a natural heavyweight and all? Yeah, except he isn't fighting at middleweight. He's supposed to be a heavyweight and when you land 60% of your power punches (most of them swift counterpunches that Ruiz didnt even SEE) on an opponent and you don't score one legit knockdown, you can't seriously call yourself a power puncher.
What Toney does have on his side are possibly the swiftest hands in the division right now, a solid chin that withstood some decent heavyweight shots (I wouldn't call it granite at HW until he eats a good shot by a real puncher), and awesome defensive skills. His parries were remarkable in how casual yet effective they were. Oh yeah, and ring generalship.
Toney knows the score in there. He's knows when to go easy and take a breather and when to go nuts and take some respect (but never getting carried away or emotional). He is calm and punches accurately with speed and fluidity. He is P4P the best heavyweight (albeit a false one) since Roy Jones decided to dip his feet into the division's water.
Toney impressed me a lot and I think a Vitali match would be an entertaining affair that he has a slight shot at if only because of Vitali's lack of stamina. However to think he would be favored in that fight, or that he could possibly hurt Vitali, is a foolish assumption. Vitali is just too big and too smart to allow a small heavyweight like Toney to fight his fight.
HOWEVER, some of the comments by RJJ were ridiculous. James Toney would have his way with Vitali? Vitali, who is so big and so strong and a sound tacticion himself? Let's put Toney's performance in perspective.
Toney fought a great fight and Ruiz very rarely landed anything memorable. However, he did enjoy some success with his jab and John Ruiz does not have an especially good jab. Vitali does. If Ruiz was able to establish his jab, then Vitali will as well. Common sense. Vitali has a better and harder jab than Ruiz, and he is much taller on top of that. Vitali's jab and height alone will present some formidable challenges for the 5'9" Toney.
As far as looking at Toney as a heavyweight, I don't buy it. He will always be a blown up middleweight. I don't care what he weighed when he played football. I was 215 pounds in HS with 17" biceps and a 46" chest. I consider myself a natural light heavyweight. Perhaps even a super middleweight if I were to get into great shape, and would never entertain the notion of fighting as a heavyweight.
Fighting shape and football shape are very very different things. Anthony Mundine plays rugby. Do you think the guy weighs 168 when doing so? I don't. I would guess he's 190 on the field AT LEAST.
Let's look at the evidence. Ruiz got the better of every single clinch. True, most of the time Toney just let himself get pushed back but there were times when Toney tried to resist and muscle his way in and Ruiz easily shoved him back. Ruiz has fair strength at heavyweight, but he has nothing on Vitali, one of the physically strongest fighters I've ever seen.
Punching power? Toney's has nothing to brag about at heavyweight. He landed nearly 60% of his power punches, many of them flush right hands to Ruiz's chin, and he only hurt Ruiz on a few occasions. Pretty good for a middleweight right, stunning a natural heavyweight and all? Yeah, except he isn't fighting at middleweight. He's supposed to be a heavyweight and when you land 60% of your power punches (most of them swift counterpunches that Ruiz didnt even SEE) on an opponent and you don't score one legit knockdown, you can't seriously call yourself a power puncher.
What Toney does have on his side are possibly the swiftest hands in the division right now, a solid chin that withstood some decent heavyweight shots (I wouldn't call it granite at HW until he eats a good shot by a real puncher), and awesome defensive skills. His parries were remarkable in how casual yet effective they were. Oh yeah, and ring generalship.
Toney knows the score in there. He's knows when to go easy and take a breather and when to go nuts and take some respect (but never getting carried away or emotional). He is calm and punches accurately with speed and fluidity. He is P4P the best heavyweight (albeit a false one) since Roy Jones decided to dip his feet into the division's water.
Toney impressed me a lot and I think a Vitali match would be an entertaining affair that he has a slight shot at if only because of Vitali's lack of stamina. However to think he would be favored in that fight, or that he could possibly hurt Vitali, is a foolish assumption. Vitali is just too big and too smart to allow a small heavyweight like Toney to fight his fight.
to your mom..
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