James Toney
James Toney | |
|---|---|
| File:JamesToney.png | |
| Born | James Nathaniel Toney August 24, 1968 |
| Nationality |  American |
| Other names | Lights Out |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Heavyweight |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 83 |
| Wins | 72 |
| Wins by KO | 44 |
| Losses | 6 |
| Draws | 3 |
| No contests | 2 |
James "Lights Out" Toney (born August 24, 1968) is a professional boxer and mixed martial artist from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Early career
Toney had his first professional fight on October 26, 1988, beating Stephen Lee by a technical knockout in the second round.
On March 10, 1989, his manager Johnny "Ace" Smith was killed outside of the Page One Bar in Detroit. Only a short time later Jackie Kallen became his manager.
He won the Michigan Middleweight title in 1990, knocking out Philip Morefield in the 1st round.
A draw with Sanderline Williams was the first blemish on Toney's record, although he beat Williams by unanimous decision three months later, and in early 1991 he beat Merqui Sosa in a minor upset, between the two top-10-rated contenders. This win propelled Toney to a title shot at the IBF Middlewight championship, with this hard-earned 12-round points victory.
Middleweight Champion
Toney's unbeaten run landed him his coveted title shot at the IBF Middleweight title against the best of the title holders at the time, Michael "Second to" Nunn, in May 1991. Nunn dominated the relatively inexperienced Toney over the first 10 rounds with his excellent boxing skills. In an unusually aggressive performance, there were many heated exchanges, but in the 11th round, with time running out for the young Toney, he pulled out the punch of his career to date to drop Michael Nunn to the canvas. The fight was stopped and Toney was the champion. The result was one of the major upsets of the boxing year.
Toney continued a regular fight program over the next 18 months at middleweight before outgrowing the division, where he made several successful defenses, outpointing Dave Tiberi in very controversial match with most observing believing Tiberi had won, destroying Glenn Wolfe in round 1, outpointing tough Reggie Johnson, and a draw and a win against Mike "The Body Snatcher" McCallum, the avoided two-weight champion at the time, in two evenly and heated contests, which pushed Toney's skills to the brink of his abilities. These two fights served note that Toney was a serious young champion who would avoid no one, and feared no one. The trend for champions for many years was to avoid the best competition, and this enabled them to increase the length of the championship reign, in doing so, this strong mental attitude and the level of competition Toney faced moved him up the mythical pound-for-pound rankings over the next 18 months and made him a major player in boxing where Toney emerged as its next superstar.
Super Middleweight Champion
Toney moved up to the super middlweight division, after losing his battle to stay at Middleweight, where he could no longer get his body to the 160 pound weight limit. The Super Middleweight limit is 168 pounds, a weight Toney felt would be to his advantage.
On February 13, 1993 he challenged Iran Barkley for his IBF Super Middleweight title. In a dominating performance, he totally dismantled "The Blade" in 9 rounds. With Toney now a recognised force as a Super Middleweight, the division was now the strongest in boxing alongside other title holders such as Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn and his old nemesis Michael Nunn.
More victories followed, including one over Tony "The Punching Postman" Thornton - a landslide points win over the durable challenger - and his 2nd defense against over Tim Littles in a 4th-round KO. In a brutal display of punch power - after a bad cut that caused the referee and ring doctor to intervene and check Toney in round 3 before allowing him one more round - Toney knocked out Littles. His final defense was against the much avoided former IBF light heavyweight champion Prince Charles Williams, whom he wore down and finally knocked out in the 12th and final round. This win paved the way for his Superfight with Roy Jones, Jr..
The fight was Jones' first at Super Middleweight; Jones vacated his Middleweight belt to challenge Toney on November 18, 1994. The fight was the biggest and most anticpated fight of the year with Jones and Tony ranked numbers 1 and 2 in the pound-for-pound rankings going into the fight. Toney was fancied to win by many experts due to his superior level of competition he'd faced up to this point.
Jones won a landslide decision over Toney, a major upset at the time, taking Toney apart and briefly flooring Toney for the first time with a flash knockdown in the 3rd round. After the fight Toney blamed making the weight for his flat performance and the loss of his cherished unbeaten record. It was his last fight at the weight.
Years without a title
His fight after losing his title to Roy Jones saw him lose to Montel Griffin at light heavyweight in February 1995. After then winning a series of fights at light heavyweight, cruiserweight, and even heavyweight, he again faced Montel Griffin in December 1996, and once again lost a close decision. He beat old foe Mike McCallum in February 1997, but then lost to journeyman Drake Thadzi in his next fight.
He continued to fight at cruiserweight and light heavyweight, beating a variety of undistinguished opponents.
Cruiserweight Champion
In August 2002, Toney beat Jason Robinson in an IBF Cruiserweight title elimination fight. This set up a fight between Toney and the champion, Vassiliy Jirov. After a postponement, the fight happened on April 26, 2003, a fight many thought Toney would lose - his championship days were almost 10 years ago, so Toney was expected to be a notch on the young Kazah's perfect boxing CV. Toney shocked everyone by rolling back the years. This was not the Toney of the early '90s, but if Toney could produce 50% of what he was, he'd win and he did this, toughing out some of the middle rounds, in a barn burner of a fight that could've gone either way down the stretch. Going into the 12th and final round, with the scores fairly even and the fight in the balance, Toney knocked the undefeated Jirov down in the 12th. The Kazah rose from the canvas to go to the distance, but Toney got the judges verdict and was now a three-weight World Champion. The fight was also named fight of the year, Toney's performance was awarded comeback of the year and Toney was named fighter of the year.
Immediately afterward, Toney moved up to heavyweight.
Heavyweight career
Even when Toney was a middleweight, he insisted that he would one day be the heavyweight champion of the world. His good handspeed, slick defense, and exceptional counterpunching have enabled him to defeat physically better (but technically less-skilled) opponents. His October 4, 2003, victory over aging former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield was Toney's entry into the heavyweight division. After a shaky first round, Toney picked the Atlanta legend apart with shots to the body and head before stopping him in the 9th round.
On April 30, 2005, he defeated John Ruiz by a unanimous decision in a 12-round match for the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight Championship. However, as of May 18, 2005, it was [1] reported that Toney failed his post-fight drug test, testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. This led to the New York Athletic Commission changing the bout's official outcome to a "no-contest", deducting the win from Toney's career record, and banning him from boxing for 90 days. The WBA ordered that Ruiz be reinstated as its champion and that Toney be ineligible for another WBA Heavyweight title shot for two years. Toney defended himself by claiming that the steroids were given to him by a doctor to treat an injured arm that occurred during his victory over Rydell Booker in his previous fight. Toney was also subject to a civil lawsuit by Ruiz claiming that Toney's illegal use of steroids gave him an edge in the fight.
In his bout after the Ruiz fight, Toney won a unanimous decision victory over former heavyweight contender Dominic Guinn. Toney next fought against Hasim Rahman on March 18, 2006, for the WBC Heavyweight title. The result was a twelve-round majority draw and Toney weighed a career-high 237 lb for his lackluster performance.
Toney's next two outings were split decision and unanimous decision losses on to Samuel Peter. The first fight was held in Los Angeles, California on Sept 2, 2006, and was a controversial decision. The return bout was held in Hollywood, Florida, on January 6, 2007, and Toney once again lost a decision to Peter. Both fights were WBC eliminator bouts for the belt held by Oleg Maskaev.
Toney returned to action in May 2007 and won a ten-round split decision over Danny Batchelder. Following the bout, Toney once again tested positive for boldenone and stanozolol and was fined $2500 and banned from boxing for a year, Toney appealed the suspension and it was reduced to 6 months after he appeared before the CSAC and claimed he didn't knowingly take any steroids and suggested that he was set up and someone had tampered with his water bottle. Many state that Batchelder was the true winner of the match, as Batchelder circled around Toney plastering him with jabs and straight right rands, noticeably hurting him in the 9th round.
On July 16, 2008, Toney's rematch against Hasim Rahman was stopped in the third round. An accidental headbutt by Toney opened a cut above Rahman's left eye. The ring doctor stopped the fight after determining that the cut was blocking Rahman's vision. Initially, the fight was called as a TKO win for Toney, but this was overruled by the California State Athletic Commission and the fight was declared no-contest.
Toney's next bout came on December 13, 2008 against Fres Oquendo. Oquendo was penalized 1 point in round eight for a rabbit punch, which would prove to be the deciding factor in the fight. Toney won a close split decision.
On September 12, 2009, James fought heavyweight fighter Matthew Greer (12-5-0 11KO) at the Pechanga Resort & Casino, looking visibly trimmer than he had been in recent years.[1] James won via TKO victory in round two.
James Toney is the current NABO and IBA Heavyweight champion
Amateur career
Record: 33 fights, 31 wins, 2 losses with 29 KOs
- Lost on his debut
- Won 1983 and 1984 West Michigan Division Junior Title (156 lb)
- Won 1987 Novice Golden Gloves in Manchester (156 lb)
- Won 1987 Michigan Silver Gloves (156 lb)
- Lost at first stage of 1988 Detroit Golden Gloves (156 lb)
- Won 1988 Ohio State Fair (156 lb)
Mixed Martial Arts
Ultimate Fighting Championship
On January 2, 2010 Toney was spotted at UFC 108. Shortly after the event was over, Toney demanded to talk to UFC President Dana White regarding fighting in the UFC. On March 3, 2010, UFC President Dana White confirmed that James Toney has been signed to a multi-fight UFC contract.[2] Toney will be helped in his transition from boxing to MMA by Juanito Ibarra.[3]
Honors
- Named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year for 1991 and 2003
- Named The Ring magazine Comeback of the Year fighter for 2003.
- Named Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year for 1991 and 2003
See also
- List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
- List of boxing triple champions
- List of boxing quadruple champions
- List of boxing quintuple champions
- List of boxing sextuple champions