James Toney - ' The best I've faced."

Just before his bout against Matthew Greer, Toney offered his opinions as to the best men with whom he shared a ring :

Best fighter:

Mike McCallum -- That’s an easy choice, right off the top of my head it’s the Body Snatcher. He was the best fighter I fought at middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight. Out of all the fighters I fought, I respect him the most because he made me think about everything I tried to do. Before McCallum I was just runnin’ in on everyone, but he made me slow down and think for the first time.

Best Boxer:

McCallum -- Yup, it’s him again. It’s between McCallum and Michael Nunn, but I gotta go with McCallum because he was a master boxer who wasn’t afraid to stand his ground. Nunn was mostly fast. I admit that he outboxed me for about nine rounds, but my body shots slowed him down. I told him during the fight ‘I’m gonna catch you!’ And I did.

Best puncher:

Merqui Sosa -- Sam Peter is the hardest puncher I’ve fought, but pound-for-pound it’s Sosa because he hurt me the most. I’ll never forget that fight, we fought on an ESPN show in Atlantic City on a Sunday. I went at him like I did everyone back then and that mother f_____ hit me so hard in the third round I was seeing triple for the next three rounds. He knew how to hit and he was so awkward that I couldn’t time him and he caught me high on the head.

Quickest hands:

Roy Jones -- He was fast. I’ll give him that, but that’s all I’ll give him. I would have knocked him out if I wasn’t drained from losing 44 pounds in six weeks. I went in (that fight) like a fool and wasn’t properly prepared.

Quickest feet:

Nunn -- He had some fast-ass feet (laughing), didn’t he? He was an escape artist for nine or 10 rounds, ‘til I caught up to him.

Best defense:

McCallum: He was right there in front of me, but I had a hard time hitting him with clean punches. I basically came into my own by fighting him. I learned how to be elusive without running around the ring by fighting Mike McCallum three times.

Best chin:

Tony Thornton: The punching postman from Philly! (laughs) I thought I was gonna knock him out easy. He was squared up with his chin right there for me to hit but I hit him with every punch I had and he wouldn’t budge. I hit him with my best left hook and he didn’t blink.

Best jab:

McCallum: Mike’s jab was like a piston. There were other guys I fought who had good jabs, like Nunn and Jones, but they just had speed and they just flicked it. Mike popped that jab with authority. He was an old-school fighter.

Strongest:

Samuel Peter: He was just a big-ass African with brute African strength.

Smartest:

McCallum: Come on, who do you think it is? Who’s the one fighter I truly respect? You got it, the Body Snatcher, Mike McCallum. I fought my share of boxers who thought they were clever like Roy Jones, Michael Nunn, Montell Griffin, and Reggie Johnson, but they were all scared to really fight. McCallum boxed, he fought, he defended, and he didn’t run all over the ring. He could do all that because he was smart.

Thanks for posting these excellent articles, really interesting, problem with Toney his one of the guys who doesn't really give the guys he lost to too much credit, has an excuse for every defeat.

Cheers

Rodders

Interesting to see that Toney backs up what i've been saying about Jones for some time now although I didn't think he had it in him to show such glowing praise for another boxer.

Rodney wrote:Thanks for posting these excellent articles, really interesting, problem with Toney his one of the guys who doesn't really give the guys he lost to too much credit, has an excuse for every defeat.

Cheers

Rodders

Couldn't even admit that Randy Couture was better than him!!!!!

Typically brash stuff from 'Lights Out', and I see that he's still unwilling to give Jones any credit for that near shut out he scored against him. Interesting point about McCallum being the first fighter he really had to think against, though. I suppose up until that point, Toney had never really been in with a wily and experienced operator at the highest level, but it's also worth noting that Toney never quite scaled the same heights after those first two fights with McCallum, either.

Rodney wrote:Thanks for posting these excellent articles, really interesting, problem with Toney his one of the guys who doesn't really give the guys he lost to too much credit, has an excuse for every defeat.

Cheers

Rodders

You're welcome, Rodders.

I find them fascinating, and I figured that you guys would also. There are a couple of others from the series which I'll dig out for you all.

Agree about Toney, but it's great to see McCallum get a moment in the Sun.

Exactly Rodney. I don't think it's a coincidence that he picks a guy he beat in most categories, and plays down RJJ who was his rival for P4P at one point and a bad loss. Not always totally reliable but interesting nonetheless.

Samuel Peter: He was just a big-ass African with brute African strength.

That made me smile. Can imagine that fat stupid arrogant wrinkly foreheaded walrus drooling that sentence with a fried chicken drumstick in one hand and a BK in the other.