Do you think James Toney was skilled and talented?

[Beercules]

Toney had tons of talent and skill, just little discipline. Steve Collins said he saw him spar one time and Toney was drinking Coca-Cola between rounds. The guy never met a sugary treat or a cheeseburger he could resist. His Achilles heel.

[Real King Kong]

Freddie Roach said James Toney was the most talented fighter he's ever worked with.

Ask all the fighters from this video if toney was skilled...

[Guest]

I think he was. Just a lazy **** who liked Burger King

Those are my favorite fighters. Dudes that just coast on talent.

It's like they defy the hard work ethic, go kick some ass for a night, then go back to burgers and beer for the the other 11 months of the year.

Not everyone can do that and get away with it as often as Toney did.

Full respect.

[b d w]

Didn't have the greatest career?

MW, SMW and CW World Champion.
2X Ring Magazine 'Fighter of the Year.'
Wins over Michael Nunn, Mike McCallum, Iran Barkley, Vassily Jirov and Evander Holyfield and was leading into the Roy Jones Jr fight the p4p champion.

I would agree with anyone that says he didn't fulfill his enormous potential but to say he didn't have the greatest career is pretty tough.

He was an exceptional fighter.

[IronDanHamza]

Whilst he definitely has both skills and talent I feel he's overrated in both of those areas.

More so in the skill department.

[El-blanco]

Whilst he definitely has both skills and talent I feel he's overrated in both of those areas.

More so in the skill department.

Ya, offensive fighters are unskilled bums.

[IronDanHamza]

Ya, offensive fighters are unskilled bums.

Who said that?

And is James Toney really an offensive fighter? Not particularly.

[BoxingIsGreat]

One of the most skilled I've seen. The fight against Jirov was amazing. Both my favorites.

[MelanKomas]

Not a natural heavyweight, really shouldn't have been up that high.
Too much Burger King I guess.

A great fighter imo though he would have been much better fighting a couple divisions lower. I feel the excess fat messed with his power, althetism and stamina. But still look what he accomplished even being overweight, tremendous fighter

[pesticid]

This thread is ridiculous. You do realize James Toney started at 156 and then fought Samuel Peter who weighed in at 256. So James stood toe to toe with him for 24 rounds.

You can't be just tough to do that. Has anybody in the history of boxing made such a transition. From 156 to 256 and as shot as he is he still hasn't been put away. 100 fights almost fighting the best, never ducking, never holding, never clinching, hitting low, running or head butting.

James Toney is a legend. You'd be praising Bernard Hopkins but Bernard ain't old school like James is old school. Bernard ain't tough or skilled like James is.

Floyd does a shoulder roll but who was the best at it, that's right James Toney. Floyd doesn't really roll his shoulder either. Floyd can't do the shoulder roll properly against southpaws, he tries but it ain't working too much. James would do it against southpaws just as good.

James Toney is the toughest most skilled and talented natural born fighter that boxing has seen. No quit in him, no holding, no head butting, no running, no low blows, fighting everybody out of shape or in shape, beating most people up, fighting small guys, fighting big guys, it didn't matter, southpaws, orthodox fighters, mma fighters, it didn't matter, almost 100 fights, beating people in the Kronk gym, one of the best trash talkers, best chin, ruffed up Deion Sanders.