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Question: How did you first get into boxing?
James Toney: My mom tried to teach me a lesson when I was 12 because I was street fighting a lot. So she took me to the gym and just dropped me off. I’ll never forget it. The very first day I fought this kid named Anthony Davis who was 16 years old and had already had 14 amateur fights. I beat him bad, man. I nearly took his head off. Afterwards I was thinking, "I can do this without getting in trouble? Sign me up."
My first amateur fight I lost. Can you believe that? It was when I was in high school, and I remember I ran back to the hotel and for hours I didn’t come out because I was so embarrassed. At the time I was playing football and boxing on the side. I was good at football – Michigan wanted me to be a defensive back and Western Michigan wanted me to play quarterback. But after that fight I made up my mind to stick with boxing because I didn’t want that feeling of losing on me any more. I’ve been absolutely in love with it ever since.
Q: What was your amateur record?
JT: About 35 fights or some ****.
Q: Did you win any trophies, James?
JT: I can tell you that the first thing I won was, I think, 1984 West Michigan Golden Gloves Novice title at 156 pounds. I stayed at 156 pounds for four years. I did Michigan Silver Gloves that I won a couple of years in a row. I lost a fight, apart from my debut, the other fight I lost was against a kid called Joe Lipsey. That’s the fight I lost. That left-handed ***** beat me good because I was over-confident, he was a lefty and I didn’t have much clue how to deal with that ****. Reggie Johnson was a lefty but I was more experienced by then, although I had problems with him too.
Q: "Lights Out" is one of the best boxing nicknames ever. Where did it come from?
JT: Yeah, it’s good isn’t it? The nickname "Lights Out" came from my old trainer who was a guy called Greg Owens. We were training in Michigan and I was putting people away. One day he said to me, "I got the perfect name for you – ‘Lights Out.’" At first I didn’t like it, but then it stuck. You know what I’m saying?
Q: Part of the "Lights Out" persona is the ever-present cigar…
JT: I’ve been smoking cigars for years and years. My saying is, "Four sticks a day, everyday, keeps the doctor away." You know what I’m saying?
Q: Are you ever nervous before a fight?
JT: Nah, I never get nervous. I’m more hyped than anything. I try to get hyped up when I come out to the ring. My song is "Stomp" by Young Buck. Makes me want to stomp the stuffin’ out of somebody. You know what I’m saying?
Q: Even though you have 43 career knockouts, you’re not really known as a big puncher, but more of a boxer. Is that a fair assessment?
JT: Put it this way: in the ring, my main focus is to get him out of there. Boxing is 50 percent mental. You have to outthink your opponent. It’s like chess – move and counter-move. If he throws a jab, I’m gonna come back with an overhand right. You have to stay a step ahead of the other guy.
Q: Tell us about how you prepare for each fight.
JT: I basically do three types of training sessions. In between fights, I work out to stay in shape. But when it gets to be eight to 10 weeks before the fight, I turn it up. I’ll go 14 days straight of training hard with one day off. I do Tae-Bo for stamina. I do strength, conditioning and preparation at Wild Card and Gold’s Gym in L.A. I been boxing for ages that I don’t need to sharpen up my skills at all, they are just there and always were. I always trained hard, I used to hit the bag for two hours straight sometimes then spar right after for defence. I worked up to doing 12 nine-minute rounds with two or three different spar partners each round in my pomp.
Q: Your record – 69-4-2 – is as impressive as anybody’s.
Out of all of those victories, is there one that stands out for you? One that you’re most proud of?
JT: The fight I’m most proud of is the John Ruiz fight because of the controversy before and after. I had hurt my arm before the fight and still won. And then there was the whole drug scandal after but I rose above it.
Q: How do you think that has gone over with your fans and boxing fans in general?
JT: I think it’s fine. There are always going to be people who don’t like me, but you know what? I like being the villain. I’m like a professional wrestler. I feed off of it. Please keep booing me.
Q: Looking back, would you say your peak was at a steady 168 pounds?
JT: Iran Barkley mode, man, Iran Barkley mode.
Q: You had some very close decisions against Reggie Johnson, Mike McCallum and Dave Tiberi. I remember you saying that the only fight you'd stay at 160 pounds for was Julian Jackson, why didn’t that fight materialise?
JT: I remember he already signed to fight Gerald McClelland in 1992 and that fight kept getting put back and I wasn’t prepared to wait for him to get that fight out the way. So I just moved up because I was struggling to stay down at 160 pounds. You know I was 205 pounds when I was playing football before my prize fighting days, I was too big for middleweight all along.
Q: You had some impressive wins against Tim Littles and Charles Williams at 168 pounds. But how come no unifications with Britain's stars Nigel Benn or Chris Eubank?
JT: Listen to me, they wouldn’t sign the contract. They was suppose to fight me in 1993 but they wouldn’t sign the damn contracts.
Q: You’ve stepped in there with so many guys over the years, is there one guy that you’d still like to fight?
JT: The one guy was Roy Jones, but he’s no good to me anymore. And the other guy is Lennox Lewis because he was overhyped. He was there when Tyson was down and out. Holyfield struggled while Lewis was on top. I don’t buy it that Lewis was so great. He was just a British bum, actually he don’t even know he’s from because one minute he’s from Canada and the next minute he’s from Europe and the next minute he’s Jamaican or some ****. If I get [Vitali] Klitschko out of the way, I think Lennox would come back to fight me. I really do.
Q: You think Lewis would come out of retirement just to try to knock you off? Why?
JT: Because he’d hate to see a guy like me on top, a middleweight with the belt. Plus, I talk a lot.
Q: Before you get to that point where there would be a potential Lennox Lewis scenario, what has to happen? Who do you have to beat?
JT: Well, I think I’d have to fight Byrd, Klitschko, the other Klitschko (Wladimir). Probably four or five more fights.
Q: You are definitely known for your trash talking. Is there ever such a thing as too much talk? Does it ever cross the line?
JT: No way, man. If you have a problem with me or anything I say, there’s two ways to deal with it – my way or their way. My way is violence.
Q: You’re obviously an intimidating guy and you definitely have a tough-guy aura about you. But we see you here today with your family, playing with your kids. Is there a side of "Lights Out" that people don’t know at all?
JT: Don’t believe what you hear about me. People who spread negativity about me, they just want to put me down. Those people have never seen me with my family. My family, my kids, they’re my cornerstone. I’m where I am because of them, man. And I’ll say it right now - I don’t want my son to box. I hope he’s seen what I’m going through. This is such a treacherous business.
Q: How so?
JT: It’s the greatest sport in the world. It’s one-on-one combat. We have the best fans in the world. But politics are ruining the sport.
Q: You’ve been in the game so long, you’ve made your money, you’ve won on so many different levels, what keeps you motivated? What makes you get up every morning to work out hard?
JT: The thought that another guy thinks he’s better than me. I’m serious. I’ve been hearing forever that I’m too short or that I’m too small. It eats me up and it geeks me up. You think you’re better than me? Then sign a contract and we’ll figure it out. I honestly think I’m one of the best pound-for-pound fighters ever. I’m the only person ever to come from middleweight to heavyweight and stay there. Other guys like Roy Jones have done it, but it was just for one fight. I’ve stayed here. And I’ve won here.
Q: What’s one thing that people don’t know about you?
JT: That James Toney is a great person. If you see me, don’t be afraid to come talk to me [Laughs].
James Toney: My mom tried to teach me a lesson when I was 12 because I was street fighting a lot. So she took me to the gym and just dropped me off. I’ll never forget it. The very first day I fought this kid named Anthony Davis who was 16 years old and had already had 14 amateur fights. I beat him bad, man. I nearly took his head off. Afterwards I was thinking, "I can do this without getting in trouble? Sign me up."
My first amateur fight I lost. Can you believe that? It was when I was in high school, and I remember I ran back to the hotel and for hours I didn’t come out because I was so embarrassed. At the time I was playing football and boxing on the side. I was good at football – Michigan wanted me to be a defensive back and Western Michigan wanted me to play quarterback. But after that fight I made up my mind to stick with boxing because I didn’t want that feeling of losing on me any more. I’ve been absolutely in love with it ever since.
Q: What was your amateur record?
JT: About 35 fights or some ****.
Q: Did you win any trophies, James?
JT: I can tell you that the first thing I won was, I think, 1984 West Michigan Golden Gloves Novice title at 156 pounds. I stayed at 156 pounds for four years. I did Michigan Silver Gloves that I won a couple of years in a row. I lost a fight, apart from my debut, the other fight I lost was against a kid called Joe Lipsey. That’s the fight I lost. That left-handed ***** beat me good because I was over-confident, he was a lefty and I didn’t have much clue how to deal with that ****. Reggie Johnson was a lefty but I was more experienced by then, although I had problems with him too.
Q: "Lights Out" is one of the best boxing nicknames ever. Where did it come from?
JT: Yeah, it’s good isn’t it? The nickname "Lights Out" came from my old trainer who was a guy called Greg Owens. We were training in Michigan and I was putting people away. One day he said to me, "I got the perfect name for you – ‘Lights Out.’" At first I didn’t like it, but then it stuck. You know what I’m saying?
Q: Part of the "Lights Out" persona is the ever-present cigar…
JT: I’ve been smoking cigars for years and years. My saying is, "Four sticks a day, everyday, keeps the doctor away." You know what I’m saying?
Q: Are you ever nervous before a fight?
JT: Nah, I never get nervous. I’m more hyped than anything. I try to get hyped up when I come out to the ring. My song is "Stomp" by Young Buck. Makes me want to stomp the stuffin’ out of somebody. You know what I’m saying?
Q: Even though you have 43 career knockouts, you’re not really known as a big puncher, but more of a boxer. Is that a fair assessment?
JT: Put it this way: in the ring, my main focus is to get him out of there. Boxing is 50 percent mental. You have to outthink your opponent. It’s like chess – move and counter-move. If he throws a jab, I’m gonna come back with an overhand right. You have to stay a step ahead of the other guy.
Q: Tell us about how you prepare for each fight.
JT: I basically do three types of training sessions. In between fights, I work out to stay in shape. But when it gets to be eight to 10 weeks before the fight, I turn it up. I’ll go 14 days straight of training hard with one day off. I do Tae-Bo for stamina. I do strength, conditioning and preparation at Wild Card and Gold’s Gym in L.A. I been boxing for ages that I don’t need to sharpen up my skills at all, they are just there and always were. I always trained hard, I used to hit the bag for two hours straight sometimes then spar right after for defence. I worked up to doing 12 nine-minute rounds with two or three different spar partners each round in my pomp.
Q: Your record – 69-4-2 – is as impressive as anybody’s.
Out of all of those victories, is there one that stands out for you? One that you’re most proud of?
JT: The fight I’m most proud of is the John Ruiz fight because of the controversy before and after. I had hurt my arm before the fight and still won. And then there was the whole drug scandal after but I rose above it.
Q: How do you think that has gone over with your fans and boxing fans in general?
JT: I think it’s fine. There are always going to be people who don’t like me, but you know what? I like being the villain. I’m like a professional wrestler. I feed off of it. Please keep booing me.
Q: Looking back, would you say your peak was at a steady 168 pounds?
JT: Iran Barkley mode, man, Iran Barkley mode.
Q: You had some very close decisions against Reggie Johnson, Mike McCallum and Dave Tiberi. I remember you saying that the only fight you'd stay at 160 pounds for was Julian Jackson, why didn’t that fight materialise?
JT: I remember he already signed to fight Gerald McClelland in 1992 and that fight kept getting put back and I wasn’t prepared to wait for him to get that fight out the way. So I just moved up because I was struggling to stay down at 160 pounds. You know I was 205 pounds when I was playing football before my prize fighting days, I was too big for middleweight all along.
Q: You had some impressive wins against Tim Littles and Charles Williams at 168 pounds. But how come no unifications with Britain's stars Nigel Benn or Chris Eubank?
JT: Listen to me, they wouldn’t sign the contract. They was suppose to fight me in 1993 but they wouldn’t sign the damn contracts.
Q: You’ve stepped in there with so many guys over the years, is there one guy that you’d still like to fight?
JT: The one guy was Roy Jones, but he’s no good to me anymore. And the other guy is Lennox Lewis because he was overhyped. He was there when Tyson was down and out. Holyfield struggled while Lewis was on top. I don’t buy it that Lewis was so great. He was just a British bum, actually he don’t even know he’s from because one minute he’s from Canada and the next minute he’s from Europe and the next minute he’s Jamaican or some ****. If I get [Vitali] Klitschko out of the way, I think Lennox would come back to fight me. I really do.
Q: You think Lewis would come out of retirement just to try to knock you off? Why?
JT: Because he’d hate to see a guy like me on top, a middleweight with the belt. Plus, I talk a lot.
Q: Before you get to that point where there would be a potential Lennox Lewis scenario, what has to happen? Who do you have to beat?
JT: Well, I think I’d have to fight Byrd, Klitschko, the other Klitschko (Wladimir). Probably four or five more fights.
Q: You are definitely known for your trash talking. Is there ever such a thing as too much talk? Does it ever cross the line?
JT: No way, man. If you have a problem with me or anything I say, there’s two ways to deal with it – my way or their way. My way is violence.
Q: You’re obviously an intimidating guy and you definitely have a tough-guy aura about you. But we see you here today with your family, playing with your kids. Is there a side of "Lights Out" that people don’t know at all?
JT: Don’t believe what you hear about me. People who spread negativity about me, they just want to put me down. Those people have never seen me with my family. My family, my kids, they’re my cornerstone. I’m where I am because of them, man. And I’ll say it right now - I don’t want my son to box. I hope he’s seen what I’m going through. This is such a treacherous business.
Q: How so?
JT: It’s the greatest sport in the world. It’s one-on-one combat. We have the best fans in the world. But politics are ruining the sport.
Q: You’ve been in the game so long, you’ve made your money, you’ve won on so many different levels, what keeps you motivated? What makes you get up every morning to work out hard?
JT: The thought that another guy thinks he’s better than me. I’m serious. I’ve been hearing forever that I’m too short or that I’m too small. It eats me up and it geeks me up. You think you’re better than me? Then sign a contract and we’ll figure it out. I honestly think I’m one of the best pound-for-pound fighters ever. I’m the only person ever to come from middleweight to heavyweight and stay there. Other guys like Roy Jones have done it, but it was just for one fight. I’ve stayed here. And I’ve won here.
Q: What’s one thing that people don’t know about you?
JT: That James Toney is a great person. If you see me, don’t be afraid to come talk to me [Laughs].
to your mom..
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