Why didn't Hopkins fight Toney?

[betmen]

toney fight was never realistic because it was for cruiser

but they did put it on the cover of a boxing magazine

the rjj fight didnt happen because hopkins didnt wanna pay don king

just reminder how much hopkins hate don king

[jri9d0]

I remember when Toney actually signed the fight with Bernard the back and forth mouthing from both of them. And some of the **** James was saying was hilarious.

I actually thought at one point Hopkins would've beaten Toney but logic set in years after the fact I really think prime for prime James would've lit Bernard up like it was no one's business.

[LouIE G]

What weight would they have fought at? I thought Toney was willing to move to 168 for Hopkins.

When this fight was being talked about it was after toney beat jirov at 190 in 2003.... hopkins was still campaigning at 160 and continued to do so for the next 2 years....so they were seperated by a substantial amount of 30 pounds, and thats alot.. i doubt toney would have been able to come down less then 190, i really do. which was why he elected to move up!! I remember seeing it in the paper doe, shortly after toney beat jirov..

It just wasn't worth the risk for both fighters, which is why it didnt happen imo..

[Thomas_Hearns]

Toney moved up to 168. I think Toney would beat a prime B-Hop at 160.

[IronDanHamza]

A lot of chatter on this thread... I'm gonna clear it up with a timeline


91- toney upsets nunn for mw belt, hopkins is a nobody club fighter

93- toney moves to 168, Hopkins is a Tuesday night fights fighter and has a minor nabf belt, fringe contender

94/95 Hopkins wins middleweight belt, roy jones beats toney at 168

96/97 Hopkins is an obscure paper champ at mw, toney falls off hard after roy loss, balloons up in weight, loses twice to montel Griffith at light heavy, and loses to club fighter and vanishes for 2 few years

2000- Hopkins is alittle better known but not by much.. Toney returns as a fat blob

01-03 Hopkins becomes a star by winning mw tourney and becoming undisputed.. Toney shocks the world by winning a cruiser title over the undefeated jirov, and then stops evander holyfield at heavy..
Around this time there was talk of both rematching roy, and then talks about each facing each other, but both had bigger fights,, Hopkins got the Oscar fight, and possibly was shooting for a tito rematch when tito cameback.. Toney was looking for tyson, lennox, wlad

Present day, this fight has been talked about a lot but the timing was never quite right and also the weight,, toney wasn't looking to leave heavy and Hopkins wasn't trying to leave 175, though a cruiser catchweight was talked about a lot, it never came to fruition

2003 was when they were going to fight.

Didn't happen so Toney fought Holyfield instead.

[IronDanHamza]

Interesting read but thinking back to that particular time, I don't remember too many people taking this match up seriously. Toney had left middleweight almost a decade earlier and Hops was still very comfortable at the weight.

It's a great potential fantasy match up but in reality, I don't think it was ever feasible...sadly.

It was feasible.

The fight was all but signed. Toney did sign.