By James Slater: James “Lights Out” Toney has been somewhat quiet as of late; the 44-year-old living legend not having fought since his April 2012 stoppage win over Bobby Gunn. Aside from calling out British heavyweight giant Tyson Fury late last year (a fight that failed to materialize and perhaps would not be sanctioned in the U.K anyway), Toney has made no headlines.
But now, the word is the former middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight world champ could be facing another unbeaten big man in a fight this spring. Australian man mountain, Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne has been quoted in an article on Boxing News Magazine’s web site as saying a fight between he and Toney is “80 to 90-percent going to happen.”
The date being talked about for what would be a ten-rounder is April 26th and the venue would be one in Melbourne. A big risk of a fight for the ageing – some say totally shot – Toney, this would-be, could-be fight just might result in Toney having his own nickname come back at him, with “Lights Out” being put into darkness for the very first time (and hopefully the last time) in his quite amazing fighting career.
33-year-old Browne, 15-0(14) is no polished boxer, and in his prime Toney would have been in with a shot at schooling the former MMA fighter; even taking into account Browne’s height (6’4”) and his weight (approx 255-pounds). But Browne is immensely strong, he can whack very hard and he has pretty fast hands. Is this the fight that will end the career of Toney, a warrior who has never been stopped in almost 90 pro bouts (74-7-3 with 45 Kos)?
The fight has not been signed yet, and maybe Toney will not embark on his Australian adventure. Maybe, in light of how often he was tagged by cruiserweight Denis Lebedev in his last meaningful fight back in November of 2011, it would be better for Toney if the fight did not take place.
Browne, promoted by Hatton Promotions, is looking to get himself ranked in the top-20 at Toney’s expense. No doubt the stubborn old Grand Rapids native feels he has more than enough left to be able to outfox, outbox and outclass the bigger man and stop him in his tracks. But in reality, Toney is surely taking another needles risk with his health if he indeed signs on the dotted line for this one.
Some fans have said that it will take a humiliating KO and this alone to finally convince Toney to quit. Such a sad turn of events could unfold in less than two month’s time.