How highly do you rate James Toney?

[SPREAD]

James Toney is one of those fighters whose career is hard to assess, how do you personally rate him?

even at his peak, toney was :

- drawing with sanderline williams
- getting a gift decision against dave tiberi
- winning life and death split decisions against sosa and johnson
- getting his head boxed off by jones
- losing twice to griffin
- losing to thadzi


then you have his best win versus nunn, where he came from way behind for a late knockout win

2 very close fights with an over the hill mccallum

a good performance against barkley who had previously lost to a shot roberto duran at middleweight, and lost to nigel benn in 1 round

a good win against jirov but who has jirov actually ever beat of note?

then theres the fact he has twice been found guilty of taking banned anabolic steroids which significantly damages toneys reputation.



do you think toney gets overated today, all things considered?

Funnily enough I just watched the 2nd Griffin fight and that was a robbery.

Griffin is probably the most boring spoiler I have ever seen in a ring and fought a fight that would make anyone look bad.

Toney was also robbed in the first fight but it was slightly closer.

If you loook at the 6 fights he had in 1991 you tell me if he's overrated.

But hes conditioning let him down on numerous occasions, but for raw talent and overall boxing skill set, hes only 2nd to 1994-2002 Roy Jones Jnr.

Don't under rate the wins against Mike McCallum, that guy was a beast and probably the most underrated fighter ever, He turned Toney inot the great fighter he was, polished him up if you will.

Then he went up to heavyweight and still stood in the pocket with bigger men, countering them and taking thier shots.

Also at a higher weight its been said that Toney was always wanting a rematch with Jones, I also read on an article where Toney said he had to 44 pounds in 6 weeks to fight Jones, which a large part is down to himself but still can't you imagine walking around losing that weight let alone fighting.

Toney's an ATG, he could have had Benn, Eubank, Collins and Hopkins on his resume but none of them wanted to fight him.

And I say that as a fan of Eubank and knowing how fearless Benn was, neither of them wanted Toney.

Toney would have beaten Hopkins at any point in the 90's at any weight above middle and its clear as to why Hopkins stayed at middleweight as Jones and Toney went up.

You must also give Barkley some credit, I mean he beat Hearns twice regardless of wether hearns was in the twighlight of his career, Toney stood right in front of Iran made him miss and just battered him.

If anything I'd say Toney is rated just right especially by a tight following here on boxing scene, he just happened to be about with a prime Jones Jnr who was at the time wad the best thing ever to step into a ring.

[SPREAD]

Agreed. And he was very motivated that night against Toney. Toney has never looked that inept and it was clear that, even at his peak, could not beat Jones at his highest peak. A hungry, prime Jones is a tough out for anyone.

A hungry prime Jones at any thing less than 175, is dare I say it unbeatable.

[SPREAD]

rawrrrrr



i'm a huge toney fan


but really?

he wasn't a huge puncher
wasn't slow, but wasn't terribly fast either of hand or foot.


he had a great chin, and reflexes and poise

but a lot of his prowess in the ring came from his tricks and not his gifts

Toney wasn't quick at middleweight?

Toney had good hand speed, especially in combinations.

He's coordination from slipping punches to countering beautifully with speed and within the pocket is part of his raw talent and gifts if you will.

You could try and teach Ricky Hatton those skills for the best of a century and he wouldn't be able to do it.

Hence James Toney was gifted and a raw talent.

[SPREAD]

James Toney was a great fighter, but in my opinion steroids cheats shouldn't be inducted into the HOF

That means the guy in your avatar will not be HOF worthy aswell.

[tredh]

One of my all time favorite fighters. I rate Toney very highly was just always disappointed with how he handled his weight issues. One of if not the most relaxed fighter I have ever seen in the ring. I mean Toney could be completely out of shape and fight for 12 rounds because he was so relaxed in the ring that is just crazy to see.

Toney is simply one of the best I have ever seen do it!

[SPREAD]

One of my all time favorite fighters. I rate Toney very highly was just always disappointed with how he handled his weight issues. One of if not the most relaxed fighter I have ever seen in the ring. I mean Toney could be completely out of shape and fight for 12 rounds because he was so relaxed in the ring that is just crazy to see.

Toney is simply one of the best I have ever seen do it!

Yer Toney had great composure, one of the cleanist and pure fighters to ever lace up gloves.

[MJ223]

Helluva talent..... Real throwback fighter of his time

[STREET CLEANER]

Dude had sick skills and used very little energy. Defense, chin and ring IQ were excellent.

But in the end he has to get rated on wins and with his sloppy training habits I don't rate him that hight.

The Jirov fight is a good example after he was written off how good he really was. Going to HW and able to take punches from naturally bigger guys was just amazing while keeping the fight competitive.

Toney is a victim of himself

[The Big Dunn]

ive been watching boxing sincew about 1978. James Toney is as highly skilled as any fighter I've seen. Great, great fighter. One of my 5 favorite.

[DiegoFuego]

Probably the best super middleweight ever. Unfortunately, he was lazy pretty often. I can't believe people still think Dave Tiberi beat him. Please. Go watch that fight again and score only the punches that land (not the shoulder punches and punches to the back).

The only fights I've seen of his that I legitimately thought he lost were against Roy and the second Peter fight. Every other fight of his that I've seen I had him winning if memory serves correct. Bad judging is the biggest drawback to being a fan of boxing.