why did james toney end up with brain damage?

[S H A R K B O Y]

while part of it is a lottery, I think there is more to it. defensive fighters are not used to being hit, and eventually they will get hit. when theyre unprepared and dont brace for shots, it rattles their brain more. guys like Chuvalo and Margarito are ready to soak up punishment by rolling with shots and were always ready to get hit.

its overlooked often, but there is a certain amount of skill involved in taking punches cleanly, which is why Ali purposefully allowed himself to get hit in sparring leading up to fights.

Basically there are a lot of dynamics when it comes to something like this. In this case all we can really say is that Toney is one of the unfortunate ones.

[BostonGuy]

accumulated too much damage over a long career, sparred too often, went into fights out of shape constantly, and excessive use of drugs of alcohol and being obese doesnt help either. ever notice how yellow his eyes are nowadays?

oh, if he does then I had no idea.

I just attributed it to jaundice, which is caused by liver failure often stemming from excessive drug or alcohol use.

I've noticed throughtout the years BlackIrish aka "Steak" makes the allegation that Toney is/was an alcoholic without any real evidence.

[Steak]

I've noticed throughtout the years BlackIrish aka "Steak" makes the allegation that Toney is/was an alcoholic without any real evidence.

I said it myself in this thread that I could be full of **** and its just a hunch.

well I dont know he has alcohol problems, its just a hunch because its the main major cause for jaundice. I could be spouting off complete bull****.

but yeah, hes been in bad shape for a number of years now.

but in general jaundice is usually attributed to people that have weak livers due to excessive drinking. Im not going to claim I know Toney, but if I saw a random person on the street with yellow eyes I would guess hes a heavy drinker. same thing here.

I dont know of any other reason he could have that condition.

[Luilun]

i don't get it , he was never ko'd , not even stunned in his entiere career , and had one of the best defences in boxing history . but somehow he suffered a huge speech deterioration in the last 7 years ... what happened ?

20 rounds of sparring 3 times a week

[hugh grant]

Do you have a source for this? Or are you just talking ****?

is this a joke?

No im jusst making the point that his chin was too good for his own good. That it might have been better to have been knocked out then keep taking punches because his chin was so good! Similar to some people who dont feel pain so if they put their hand in a fire they wouldnt feel pain, but would still suffer burning and severe injury.
Is that a good analogy for his problems?

It is just not him. There are a long line of great defensive fighters who suffered punch drunk effects.

Two off the top of my head were Whitaker and Benitez. Now it could have also been substance abuse that assisted to the point they are in, but it just goes to show that every person has a different tolerance on how much they can take. Every fighter is different. Many defensive wizards come out of the sport just fine.

Even many rock chinned fighters with no defense, can come out of the sport perfectly fine. Look at Chuvalo as an example. It may also happen to Margarito. It is basically a lottery. Some win, some don't.

I would need to hear how Whitaker and Benitez spoke at the beggining of their careers before saying they are punch drunk. Maybe they just spoke like that some accents are kind of drunk sounding in america.

But its suprising that most boxers talk fine after their careers and punch drunk is more of a cliche about boxers that people grow up with, watching Rocky films, rather than a true representative of boxers.


But boxing is so dangerous i am suprised punch drunkness isnt more common.

[stefjonno1]

Cant belive nobody has mentioned cuz he was a middleweight who moved up to heavyweight.

[deanrw]

No im jusst making the point that his chin was too good for his own good. That it might have been better to have been knocked out then keep taking punches because his chin was so good! Similar to some people who dont feel pain so if they put their hand in a fire they wouldnt feel pain, but would still suffer burning and severe injury.
Is that a good analogy for his problems?



I would need to hear how Whitaker and Benitez spoke at the beggining of their careers before saying they are punch drunk. Maybe they just spoke like that some accents are kind of drunk sounding in america.

But its suprising that most boxers talk fine after their careers and punch drunk is more of a cliche about boxers that people grow up with, watching Rocky films, rather than a true representative of boxers.


But boxing is so dangerous i am suprised punch drunkness isnt more common.

Well Whitaker was very fluent and well spoken early in his career. Now he is not. Benitez is so bad off now he needs constant care.

[Steak]

Well Whitaker was very fluent and well spoken early in his career. Now he is not. Benitez is so bad off now he needs constant care.

I think Benitez's condition is more due to how young he was when he was fighting top level competition.

has anyone seen his first fight against Bruce Curry? good god he got he mutilated in that fight, and quite honestly it should have been stopped multiple times. and he was still a teenager and not fully physically developed either.

When I watch that fight, Im not surprised at all that hes in the condition he is now.
also he fought on about 4 or 5 years after he should have retired. thats always a terrible sign.