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10/03/2003 Archived Entry: "Toney- Fighting for his Place in Boxing History"
Toney- Fighting for his Place in Boxing History
By Tom Donelson
The first time I saw James Toney was in 1991, the weekend of the second Tyson-Ruddock fight. Toney was fighting Reggie Johnson and all of Hollywood was there in full force. This was Vegas at its best with all the beautiful people in town for the Tyson's bout and the Toney fight was like a dress rehearsal for the main event. Toney won the decision by out boxing the slick boxing Johnson as Hollywood applauded.
In the early 90's, Toney was the man; the one everyone declared the best pound for pound. After an upset victory over Michael Nunn, Toney was on the fast track to boxing glory. The Nunn fight was his coming out party as he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with an 11th round knock out. Then came Roy Jones, Jr. In one evening, a career came crashing down. James Toney spent most of his training just losing weight and when the evening of his big moment came, Toney was whipped. Jones gave Toney a boxing lesson and basically won every round. Toney from that point on was delegated to boxing purgatory. Just like that, Toney went from being one of the best boxers in the business to nothing. No longer a favorite, Toney simply disappeared or appeared that way. For the next decade, Toney fought but he did so without much fanfare or on some occasion, without desire.
Toney moved up to light heavyweight but he never could grab a championship belt and he even lost two close fight to Montel Griffin, a fighter that Jones splattered in one round. (Griffin did beat Jones once but that was on a disqualification when Jones nailed Griffin after Griffin knee hit the canvas. Griffin was losing that fight as well. Jones showed who was the better fighter in their rematch.) Between fights, Toney's weight ballooned and conditioning was always suspect. But the one strike against Toney was his demeanor in the ring. Toney often played the laid back dude, who just waited to pick his spots. There were times that he would merely play defense and see how many punches he could pick off or dodge. There never seem any urgency within the ring and there were time that Toney would look plain bored.
When he hooked up with Dan Goossen, his career was given new life. Goossen gambled that Toney still had the talent to get back to the top and Toney became the main fighter among his stable. This faith was paid back as Toney fought the fight of his life against Jirov. Jirov was the meanest and toughest Cruiserweight, who would fight like a windmill- only with power. Jirov would jump on an opponent and throw punches from every angle and attack every part of the body. Jirov was also a solid boxer and had good defensive skills for a forward moving slugger.
Toney was his old accurate self as he connected on nearly half of his shots and after averaging nearly 70 punches per round, Toney was the fresher of the two fighters at the end. While Jirov threw nearly 90 punches per round, many of his punches were blocked as Toney slipped and avoided Jirov harder blows. And after Jirov was knocked down with seconds left, it was Toney who raised his hands in victory. The bell saved Jirov but he still was the loser.
When Toney goes up against Holyfield, he will employ the same strategy that he employed against Jirov. Holyfield will not throw anywhere near the punches as Jirov did but these punches will be harder. Toney will taste true heavyweight power so the key to victory will be Toney quicker hands and his ability to gather respect from Holyfield. Toney will hit Holyfield but the real question will be whether Holyfield will be affected. Holyfield has tasted the leather of heavy punching heavyweights such as Lewis, Bowe and Foreman so Toney cruiserweight punches will not bother him. Their accuracy might. Toney is one of the most accurate counter punchers in the business and rarely does Toney get nailed with a solid punch as his defensive skills are still among the best.
For Toney, this is part of his campaign for redemption. He wants once again to be considered one of the best in the business. He is fighting for his place in history. For nearly decade, Toney disappeared from the boxing radar screen and now at the age of 35, he once again has that chance for recognition as one of this generation best. Beat Holyfield, even an old Holyfield would go a long way to return Toney back to his glory days of the early 90's. Of course, a rematch with Roy Jones would be the icing on the cake for it was Jones victory that led Toney to be assigned to boxing wilderness. Toney needs Holyfield to forever escape the wilderness that he was trapped for nearly a decade.
