James Toney: Middleweight Kingpin

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on August 24, 1968, James Toney had a singularly inauspicious beginning for a future professional fighter: he lost his very first amateur fight. However, James Toney soon overcame that setback and established an amateur record of 33-2 with 32 KOs. The latter statistic is particularly striking, as knockouts are not the norm for amateur bouts. Still, as an amateur boxer James Toney stuck strictly to local and regional events. Adopting the hard-hitting moniker of "Light's Out," Toney turned pro in October 1988.

A fixture of Toney's rise to fame and glory was established early on in his career, when his first manager was murdered outside a bar in March 1989. Toney's management was taken over by Jackie Kallen, a writer and former publicist of Tommy "Hitman" Hearns who got into managing fighters only the year before. As a woman, Kallen had to fight battles against sexism outside the ring that were, if anything, as emotionally demanding as Toney's early battles inside it. Kallen later served as the inspiration for the film Against the Ropes. James Toney was portrayed by Omar Epps, and Kallen by Meg Ryan. The pair rose in boxing hand-in-hand.

James "Light's Out" Toney soon evolved into a 5'10" tall, durable middleweight with a 72" reach, good punching power and a craftsman's attitude. He set about mastering skills, and for years continued to polish his style and deepen his toolbox. Later on in his career, when most fighters consider themselves finished products, Toney was still building. For example, Toney is a master of the defensive shoulder roll, today most often associated with Floyd Mayweather. Yet Toney also developed deep offensive skills. He was an old school, throwback fighter, much like contemporary Bernard Hopkins. Like Archie Moore, another well-polished fighter, Toney would enjoy a long, long career.

Fighter of the Year
15-0, Toney won the Michigan State Middleweight Title in March 1990 by 1st Round knockout. In his next eight fights, he knocked out six opponents, beat another on points, and landed on Draw. It is often forgotten that back in the day, Toney truly earned that moniker "Light's Out," and was known more as a puncher than a boxer. In January 1991, he met 18-0 Merqui Sosa, who would go on to a long career as a fringe contender at 160, 168 and 175 lbs., in a tussle for the lightly regarded IBC Middleweight Title. Sosa was actually favored to win that fight, so it was a minor upset when Toney pulled out a Split Decision win. That result was not as close as it looks, however, as Toney won his two scorecards by 117-109 and 115-112.

Four months later and James Toney was challenging for a real world title, Michael Nunn's IBF Middleweight Championship. 36-0 and a pound-for-pound entrant, Nunn was heavily favored to thump Toney and keep his title. For a while, it looked like he would do exactly that. Nunn dominated Toney for much of the fight, but was using up a lot of energy doing it. As Toney said when he got back to his corner between rounds, Nunn was "breathing like a freight train." Toney took a beating doing it, but he simply outlasted Nunn and came on strong with his reserves in the late rounds. Toney knocked Nunn out in the 11th, taking both his "0" and his title.

In an astounding throwback to the Sugar Ray Robinson era, Toney was in the ring again only six weeks later, defending his title against 29-1-1 Reggie Johnson. Johnson was the #1 WBA and IBF contender, the USBA champion (the USBA being the IBF's American title group), and would win world championships at middleweight and light heavyweight. He was a tough nut to crack, and knocked Toney down in the 2nd. Toney fought back and earned the nod in a close, Split Decision win.

After knocking out a journeyman from Italy, Toney was matched in December 1991 against another top pound-for-pound fighter, Mike "The Bodysnatcher" McCallum. The Bodysnatcher was the WBA Middleweight Champion, and at that point in his career, one of the most avoided fighters on the planet. James Toney went right after him, and McCallum was thrilled. In fact, Mike McCallum was so confident of winning that he vacated his WBA championship rather than pay over $100,000 in sanctioning fees.

Like Michael Nunn before him, McCallum boxed the ears off James Toney. However, Toney continued to apply hard pressure and made McCallum work hard to win those rounds. Eventually, the 35 year old McCallum could not sustain the effort of moving and punching. He could do one, but not both, and Toney surged into the vacuum and starting banking rounds. The end of the fight was a completely justifiable Draw.

1991 had been an incredible year for James Toney. He had won a world title, defended it three times, and fought four top ranked boxers along the way. In recognition for his achievements, Toney was designated as The Ring magazine's Fighter of the Year.

Middleweight Kingpin
Toney opened 1992 with a string of easy fights, although he had a harder time against David Tiberi than he should have. August saw him meet Mike McCallum again, and it was in this fight that Toney gave the world a glimpse of his future. Toney was already known as a relentless boxer-puncher, but in the eight months since their first encounter Toney had dissected McCallum, applied what he had learned and come back prepared. With a better strategy, Toney greatly improved on his performance. The result read "Majority Decision," but in reality Toney cleanly beat McCallum. Two of the scorecards read a decisive 117-110; the third card strangely read 114-114.

Yet all was not well for James Toney. Inside his camp, his trainer and manager knew he was losing the battle with the scales. When he moved up to 168 lbs. and stopped Doug DeWitt, Toney was only 24 years old and should have had no difficulty in making the middleweight limit. The truth was that Toney loved boxing and loved gymwork, he liked eating cheeseburgers and pizza too, and if he wasn't kept continuously busy in the gym his weight ballooned between fights.

Still, the move was not bad for Toney. In February 1993, he fought Iran "The Blade" Barkley for Barkley's IBF Super Middleweight Crown, and closed Barkley's eyes so badly that his corner threw in the towel in the 9th. Now a two-division champion, Toney was kept busy with a string of five non-title matches through 1993, winning all of them. He then defended his belt against tough trial horse Tony Thorton in October 1993 and dominated him en route to a points win. In March 1994, a by then 41-0-2 James Toney fought 24-0 contender Tim Littles, and knocked him out in 4 Rounds. One more title defense and the stage was set for a showdown with his successor as the IBF's 160 lbs. champion, Roy Jones, Jr.

RJJ
The two men met in November 1994 at the MGM Grand, in what was Roy Jones's only fight at 168 lbs. with a true world beater. It was a highly anticipated bout, as both men were pound-for-pound fighters and highly regarded. Yet while Jones was 26-0 and everyone thought highly of his impressive physical gifts, to date he had really only beaten Bernard Hopkins, Thomas Tate and "Sugarboy" Malinga. Hopkins was not yet the all-time great he would later become, and neither Tate nor Malinga were anywhere near Toney's class. Yet Jones not only beat Toney, he made doing so look easy.

Part of the explanation is that Toney utterly lost his battle with the scales. The man was utterly drained by the time he got to the ring, and looked lethargic throughout the fight. The other part of the explanation is that Jones, one of the most gifted athletes boxing has known in modern times, was at the peak of his powers. Could Toney have beaten Jones if he had eaten better between fights? No. Would he have lost almost every round of the fight? No - he would have been much more competitive.

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