Toney/Rahman PBP

[juggernautburn]

ummmmm........

[ricecrispi]

I heard it Toney looks like he hardly worked hard in the gym and looks pretty much the same since two-three weeks ago.

[Xanxicar]

toney is a fat ass and he will never change, its about time he hangs em up.

[Atnan]

does anyone acknowledge the fact that toney landed almost every punch he threw! if he was a real heavy-weight ( power wise) he would have knocked rahman in the 2nd! rahman has an horrible defence and would get knocked out by the likes of Joe Mesi, Sam Peters, or Tua.

[Atnan]

rahman pretty much said in his after fight interview that if toney was in better shape ( cardio wise ) he would have beat him!

[vB Martin]

does anyone acknowledge the fact that toney landed almost every punch he threw! if he was a real heavy-weight ( power wise) he would have knocked rahman in the 2nd!

Yeah, but that's kinda the point. He landed the more clean shots, but Rahman walked right through them. Tony did great bodywork, digging punches under the ribs. Rahman still had enough energy to outpunch Toney through the last few rounds.

I think Rahman won nearly as much for what Toney couldn't do as for what he did himself.

At the end of the night what we all should have learned is this:

Toney is an entertaining fighter who defies most people's expectations by being able to make it through 12 rounds as a fat man. He somehow still manages to be just as hard to hit cleanly as he was as a middleweight, and can still pinpoint countershots better than almost anyone in the history of televised boxing.
His problem is that, approaching 240 lbs, he lacks the energy to maintain enough of an offense to wear opponents down. His pop wasn't devastating at the lower weight classes, and is even less remarkable against heavies.
I still want to see him fight more, though, because he leaves whatever he brought with him on the table. Unlike when he eats...

Rahman was in the best shape I've seen him in in a long, long time. He seems to be finally taking his career seriously and went the 12 rounds without becoming completely arm and leg weary. He wasn't able to put out a former middleweight, but then again, he never really was able to land a lot of clean, hard shots in a round.
His threat level doesnt seem to be that high, so I don't know if he will be good enough to beat some of the other top heavyweights. He did, however, do enough to earn a victory in this fight by controlling the pace and making Toney fight where he wanted him to.

To those who argue that Toney should have won becuase he landed more clean blows, remember, effectiveness counts. If the blows don't slow your opponent down, even for a split second, you may as well not be punching at all.

I wanted Toney to win, but I can't give him the fight just because of what I want.