08.05.05 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza– With James Toney’s amazingly sweet victory over John Ruiz, boxing fans have risen from the dead, and have been buzzing about the possibility of having a single heavyweight champion again. Last Week on the Best Dam Sports Show period, James Toney made a statement that probably increased his fan base by about as much as when he took Ruiz to school. Toney claimed that he will probably be fighting IBF title holder Chris Byrd on July 23rd, in Madison Square Garden..
Personally, this is the greatest boxing related news I have heard in a long time. After two years of talk, Toney seems to have finally started backing up his own words, and showing why he is such a throw back, old school fighter.
As much as I am thrilled at the possibility of having a majority champ before the summer is up, there is a scary thought creeping through my brain, and it has to do with Don King. What I am deathly afraid of is that July 23rd will be a teaser instead of the main course, if King decides to milk Byrd vs. Toney for everything it is worth. I mean, everyone can pretty much imagine the notion of Byrd and Toney fighting two lesser foes, on the same card in order to promote a meeting between the two sometime later this year.
The idea that these two will meet separate opponents did not come out of the blue. We know full well that a tactic of selling two pay per views to promote the second of the two has been thrust upon us before. Anybody remember the Hopkins-Allen, De La Hoya-Sturm debacle? Not only was that a horrible pay per view event, in my opinion, but it also cost the clear winner, Felix Sturm a decision win against De La Hoya, I feel. Allen put up about as much of a fight as I would expect, and we the fans, were cheated, by waiting months to see something that should have happened way earlier.
If this is what King has in mind, then for the love of all that is good in boxing, I pray he cuts the BS and gives us what we really want on the 23rd. We boxing fans have had to put up with a lot in the past couple of years after Lewis retired, and we are sick and tired of it. Now that we are so close to unification, the only date for Byrd Toney should be the 23rd of July.
For some reason, I am scared that the same will happen in this situation and that is why I’m writing this article in order to try and voice the general fan sentiment. We would rather have Byrd-Toney, Barrett-Rahman on the July 23rd, with the winner of Rahman-Barrett fighting Vitali Klitschko in September, and the winner of Byrd-Toney taking on the winner of Golota-Brewster. The winner of that match, fighting for the unified title, against the winner of Klitscko vs. Barret/Rahman. King said in an interview before the Toney-Byrd fight that these guys must fight each other, and he wants to make that happen. Well, now is your chance, Mr. King. If you want to stand by your word, then nothing short of Byrd-Toney on the 23rd of July will convince the boxing public.
Thoughts to Novirasputin@hotmail.com