Lets talk about James Toney.

[AllBoxingAD]

My favorite fighter ever.

Born fighter through and through.

Struggled with personal motivation though.

Take Toney's natural talent, technical skills and match that with Kobe like motivation and you would get the GOAT.

[Beercules]

[VJ218]

One of my favorite fighters. He just did not take care of himself.

[Dr Rumack]

He had natural genius in the ring that you hardly ever see. One of the greatest pocket fighters I've ever seen anyway.

He had his limitations but he was better at his thing than just about anybody. You can't coach that sort of instinct.

[STREET CLEANER]

Could had been one of the best fighters, waste of talent for sloppy training habits

[Death_Adder]

He's fat and apparently like Burger King

[StefanTosic]

One of my absolute favourite fighters.

Best pocket counter puncher there has ever been. He was right there in punching range and rolling shots, blocking with his arms/shoulders and coming back with precise counters with his entire body weight behind them...having an ATG chin helped too.

He got lazy and sometimes seemed to lack interest, but at his best he's one of the most technically gifted fighters the sport has seen.

You are reading my thoughts! I loooooove Toney!

[Eastcoast]

I always liked watching Toney fight. His defense got to be great over the years. His comeback win over Nunn was just epic. I really thought he would beat Jones, but I think he was too dehydrated. His fight with Jirov was great from first bell to last, although a case could be made that Jirov won. And like any decent fighter, Toney dominated John Ruiz. Too bad he failed the drug test later.

Toney was great on many levels- especially defense and inside fighting. He could also talk a great game. However, I have a few criticisms.

The main one is that he never met a sandwich he did not like. He ballooned up too much between fights and had to drain himself to make weight which resulted in lazy, sloppy performances which cost him a lot when it comes to legacy. Will he make it to the IBOF? Most likely. But would I favor him over Monzon? No. Hagler? Maybe. Robinson? No. Julian Jackson? Yes. Archie Moore? No, but I would love to see it. Matthew Saad Muhammed? Probably yes. Thomas Hearns? Maybe. Very close. Chris Eubank? Yes. Nigel Benn? Yes. Gerald McClellan? Close.

I think in the end, Toney deserves plenty of praise for many memorable moments. Plus he did have well over seventy fights which is rare these days. If he had only had more discipline...

Supposedly there's sparring footage Manny had of those two back in the Kronk days. A few reporters on hand said they had some wars. Still in an actual fight I'd have to favor Toney by stoppage.

Gerald for all his explosive talent, had a really untested career. He had three big wins against Mugabi, and Jackson (2x), but nothing else. Granted he was stepping up in weight against Benn, but once Benn survived the initial onslaught, Gerald was getting outboxed and getting hit with clean shots regularly. I think Toney would've took Gerald's best and been landing hard shots on Gerald all night.

[IMDAZED]

One of my absolute favourite fighters.

Best pocket counter puncher there has ever been. He was right there in punching range and rolling shots, blocking with his arms/shoulders and coming back with precise counters with his entire body weight behind them...having an ATG chin helped too.

He got lazy and sometimes seemed to lack interest, but at his best he's one of the most technically gifted fighters the sport has seen.

This right here.

And in spite of his laziness, inactivity, etc...his resume is still beautiful. HOF for sure, arguable ATG.

[Accountoffline]

Any boxing fan should appreciate Toney to some extent one way or another. An old school fighter, a great one too. To me he is an all time great. Having said that, he should have retired long ago and never fought as a heavyweight.

Very well said, he did not belong in the Heavyweight division.