James Toney: Fall and Redemption in Boxing

James Toney had tasted adversity before, but was undefeated in 42 fights when he met Roy Jones in November 1994. He did not handle to the lopsided defeat handed to him by Jones well. He blamed his manager Jackie Kallen for the defeat, and one night Toney even set out from his home to Kallen's place, armed with a gun and threatening murder. His family took the threats seriously enough to call the police, but Toney never actually appeared at Kallen's home and thereby avoided arrest.

Light Heavyweight Humiliation
Despite Toney's psychological unraveling, Team Toney held together long enough to book a February 1995 fight in Las Vegas against former 1992 Olympian and rising 14-0 boxer named Montell Griffin. Toney should have had no trouble making weight at 175 lbs., a full 15 lbs. heavier than the division he first cut his teeth in, but that night he looked a little flabby and showed little of the aggressive zest that beat men like Michael Nunn and Mike McCallum. Toney dropped a close Majority Decision to Griffin for no other reason than Griffin wanted the win more and worked harder to get it. Toney had been beaten twice in a row, and the second defeat was even more humiliating than the first.

James Toney's moniker had been "Light's Out," but now detractors and pundits were ridiculing him with the nickname "Let's Eat." Toney responded by working his way back into contention with a long string of fights over journeymen, finally earning an HBO-broadcasted rematch with Griffin in 1996. Toney was clearly motivated this time around, but still looked flabby alongside the compact, muscular Griffin. Furthermore, Griffin was more seasoned at 25-0. The result was another close points defeat. Even worse, Griffin went on to challenge Toney's old rival Roy Jones for the WBC Light Heavyweight Title. James Toney, on the other hand, went into career limbo.

Purgatory Among the Cruiserweights
With no where to go and still plagued by weight trouble at 175 lbs., James Toney moved up to 190 lbs. In public relations terms, the move was a disaster. The critics said that if Toney was fat at 175, how would his waistline fare at 190 lbs.? Even worse, the cruiserweight division had long become an object of mockery, a place where washed up middleweights and light heavyweights went to die. As if to prove the critics right, Toney's very first cruiserweight fight was against old rival Mike McCallum. "The Bodysnatcher" had once been one of the world's most dangerous fighters, but by the time of his 1997 rubber match with Toney the man was 40 years old. Toney dunked a clean points victory over McCallum's shell.

However, in his very next outing, Toney blew his budding comeback. He dropped back down to light heavyweight to fight Drake Thadzi over a fringe title in 1997. Toney came in overweight, and to top it off he put on a lackluster show and dropped a Majority Decision. The boxing press started to call Toney done, an under-motivated over-eater. Little did they know it would be the last time Toney lost a fight for years.

Toney went back up to 190 lbs. in June 1997 and cleanly outpointed middleweight fringe contender Steve Little, now also plying the cruiserweight ranks, for a fringe title. Largely inactive for two years, Toney bounced back with a 1999 big win over former 190 lbs. champ Adolpho Washington, smashing Washington's nose so badly that the bleeding could not be stopped and the fight had to be stopped instead. That led to a three-year winning streak that culminated in Toney winning the IBF's #1 contender slot by knockout in August 2002.

The champion at the time was a fierce, popular Kazakh puncher named Vassily Jirov. Known for his powerful body attack, he was the favorite to beat Toney, who had not won a truly big fight since losing to Jones in 1994. Toney shocked the world that night in April 2003, putting on a boxing clinic, neutralizing the Kazakh's attack, and banking round after round. Toney finally looked fit and comfortable at 190 lbs., and put Jirov on the canvas in the 12th Round, clinching his victory. James Toney had captured the IBF Cruiserweight Title in an upset Unanimous Decision win. The performance earned him plaudits as The Ring's Fighter of the Year and Comeback of the Year for 2003.

Heavyweight Redemption
Toney was 35 years old by the Jirov victory, and at that age he was not interested in campaigning for chump change as a cruiserweight. Instead, he moved up to heavyweight. Ironically, Toney had talked of fighting a heavyweight as far back as the early 1990s, although no one took him seriously then. Yet in October 2003, Toney took on faded legend Evander Holyfield, and whipped him so badly that "The Real Deal" threw in the towel in the 9th.

After out-pointing an undefeated fringe contender, Toney was positioned for a shot at John Ruiz and the WBA Heavyweight Title. In this fight, Toney repeated the performance of his old rival Roy Jones in out-boxing the plodding, awkward, determined Ruiz, and even improved on it by dumping Ruiz onto the canvas in Round 7. When the final bell rang, Toney had won the world heavyweight championship by Unanimous Decision. However, within days the results were overturned and declared a No Contest, as Toney had tested positive for steroids. Toney claimed that the steroids were part of a prescribed medical treatment, and he did not use them in preparation for the fight with Ruiz. The dispute over Toney's steroid use remains unresolved.

His great victory annulled, Toney challenged WBC Heavyweight Champion Hasim Rahman, and boxed "The Baltimore Knucklehead" to within an inch of defeat. Rahman held Toney to a Majority Draw largely on the strength of coming out and fighting like a demon for the 12th and final round. Rahman kept his belt, but Toney proved he didn't need steroids to beat a true heavyweight.

In 2006 and 2007, Toney fought a pair of bouts with Sam "The Nigerian Nightmare" Peter for the WBC's #1 contender status. The first bout was very close, with Toney landing the cleaner, more accurate shots and Peter putting down the heavier, harder leather. It was the kind of fight where the outcome hinged very much on the personal prejudices of the judges, and that night those were mostly with Peter, who won by Split Decision. The rematch was much more decisive for Peter, who scored a solid Unanimous Decision over Toney.

2008 brought a rematch with Hasim Rahman, which ended in controversy as a head-butt opened a cut over Rahman's eye early in the fight. The bout was stopped after the 3rd, and was declared a TKO victory for Toney under a California boxing rules technicality. It was later changed to a No Contest. This action was less stinky than it seems, as Rahman and his corner were used to the Unified Rules of Boxing, and under that code the fight would have automatically been a No Contest. They were unaware that when Rahman declared he could not continue without a doctor's examination, he was de facto forfeiting the fight.

Toney closed 2008 with a close points win over slick fringe contender Fres Oquiendo. In 2009 he knocked out Matthew Greer, but was already in negotiations to make the transition to Mixed Martial Arts. By March 2010, Toney had signed a contract to fight with the UFC, and is expected to fight Randy Couture in August 2010.

Sources: Dark Trade by Donald McRae; boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=001437&cat=boxer; The Ring magazine; live fight footage.