06.05.05 – By Tony Fondacaro: Now that the bout is a done deal, with no controversy or doubt surrounding the unanimous decision, the question a lot of heavyweight fans have to ask now is; “Who does James Toney fight next?” Certainly for anyone paying attention to the heavyweight division, James Toney is a welcome change. Perhaps not a breath of fresh air or rejuvenation, but it’s definitely nice not to have John Ruiz hugging everything up, despite what crusaders for kinder, gentler fight fans would say.
The best part about this win is that we now have someone willing to fight the other champs, who doesn’t appear to be ducking someone, and who proved to some naysayers how enormously talented he is. Say what you will about his size, height, age, conditioning, what have you; James Toney brings a degree of boxing skill that you are hard pressed to find these days.
He’s an accomplished defensive fighter, slipping jabs, rolling the shoulder over, maneuvering out of the way of punches with no panic. His counterpunching was the thing that did the damage against Ruiz, and arguably won him the fight. The thing he didn’t do much was utilize his uppercut, which he used to great effect against Holyfield and Rydell Booker. Before the match, I’d thought we’d be watching inside fighting all night, with Toney popping that head up with his uppercut for 10-12 rounds. Didn’t happen, but then again Toney’s arsenal is so stacked, there’s probably much more we didn’t see.
The fact of the fight is this—untalented John Ruiz got beat by talented James Toney. The announcement of retirement from Ruiz wasn’t a shocker, but it wasn’t universally decried either. Not many people are thinking, “Gee if only Ruiz would come back” right now, which leads me to think that while Toney isn’t universally liked, he’s at least welcome. A lot of writers are trying to pin down the one thing Ruiz didn’t do, or should have done, to win the fight against Toney. I’m not sure anything would have helped Ruiz. He was outclassed in almost every step, and in round 12 when he finally decided to turn up the heat on Toney, Toney responded by staying right with him, and by doing so revealed his strategy: Stay at Ruiz’s pace, work with him, make him defeat himself over the long run. When someone as talented at Toney decides to make you beat yourself, there’s almost nothing you can do. I can see someone like Lennox Lewis or Vitali Klitschko working through that, but we’re talking about two very intelligent fighters right there. The promised knockout didn’t come, but I don’t think anyone expected that when we saw James “Jellyroll” Toney warming up in his dressing room. That gut belonged on a Buddha statue. Hopefully Toney takes his conditioning more seriously in the long run and can burn through the excess, because he was not 100% last Saturday.
So who’s next for Toney? Well, Sam Peter called him out recently, in light of comments made by Toney against Ruiz. Note to Sam Peter: don’t go there. If Toney says nasty things about you, your mom, your trainer’s mom, then sure go looking for him. Don’t fight other people’s battles for them in professional boxing. Look to thine own arse first. You are too promising and too young to start making comments about other fighters’ comments. Go win yourself a few belts before doing that. Now, on that note, do you really want James Toney at this point? Perhaps you should learn to control your punches in the ring first, because the first thing James Toney is going to do, is step away and nail you with a right hand when you start flailing. Next thing you know, it’s round 10, you’re drained, and you have James Toney up in your mug all night. Not that I don’t think Sam Peter has a shot at KO’ing James Toney, but that’s a long shot right now. Peter is talented, powerful, and downright scary as hell, but he does not have the resume of James Toney, nor the stockpile of useful weapons. Sam Peter relies on catching someone with a big mitt, and then closing the deal with one or two payoff punches, and one punch will not do James Toney. Make no mistake, Peter vs. Toney is a risk for Peter; and the only way I see him pulling it off would be to catch Toney with at least a dozen huge shots. The longer a fight goes, the more it favors Toney, and Sam Peter, being a burgeoning knockout artist, would need to find a way to cope with that.
Vitali Klitschko is another possibility, and the guy that Toney is naming right now. Of all the people in the division, this is the guy I see posing the biggest threat to Toney, but then again, Toney’s style is designed in part to nullify the size factor. Klitschko poses a threat because he’s at least as intelligent in the ring as James Toney, and probably as collected when throwing punches. The problem with Vitali is that when he gets caught with a counterpunch, he needs time to recoup. Even Danny Williams managed to get himself (temporarily) out of trouble with a couple or flush, quick left hooks in the middle of a Klitschko barrage. Now James Toney can counterpunch at least a million times better than Danny Williams, and if Vitali needs that much time to gather himself after a counterpunch against Toney, his night is long one. On the other hand, Vitali still has his brains and punching power going for him, and with a guy who prides himself on being in top physical shape for his fights, James Toney just might find himself down in points late in this fight, especially if Toney doesn’t lose that gut and get himself tip-top. Amazing, then, that Vitali always looks so gassed after three or four rounds. If he’s really as tired as he looks (which I don’t think is the case), then Toney’s chances of winning this fight are stellar.
Chris Byrd possesses very fast hands and a good resume of wins, including Vitali Klitschko. He could beat Toney if he could beat Toney to the punch, which is the only way I can see Byrd winning. Chris Byrd wins by accumulating punches, something you have a hard time doing with Toney. Only two of his last 11 fights have not gone the distance, and one was the 10th-round Klitschko bout where Vitali quit on his stool. The other was against Jeff Pegues (you know, the guy he fought between Tua and Holyfield?). Again, the longer the fight goes, the more it favors Toney. The other problem with Byrd is that he doesn’t seem to want to fight anymore. BoxRec has a date up for July 23rd, but a big question mark where the opponent’s name is supposed to be. I think we all share the same sentiment there then…
That leaves people like Hasim Rahman, Wladimir Klitschko, Monte Barrett, Calvin Brock, Jameel McCline, and David Tua. Of all these, the only person I see being a threat is Tua, but Tua still needs comeback time, and we’ve yet to see how much he’ll blossom in this comeback. Right now I’d say the table should be set for the winner of Klitschko/Rahman, but if I were Toney, I wouldn’t wait that long. Defend your title against a good contender to fill the gap, then start unifying