17.03.06 – By Dan Gretz: With already an incredible boxing resume of winning three world boxing titles in three different weight classes, James Toney (69-4-2, 43 KOs) will attempt to win his fourth title when he meets up with the power punching Hasim Rahman (41-5-1, 33 KOs), on Saturday night in Atlantic City, New Jersey. At this point in time, most of the betting money is being put on the 37-year-old Toney, who despite weighing in at a career high 237 at the recent weigh-in for the bout, looks to be in relatively good condition.. Although, that being said, Toney isn’t known for having a chiseled physique, even earlier in his career while campaigning as a successful middleweight champion. He may not look good to the average fan, yet he’s a non stop puncher, that makes his opponents look bad.
Regardless of what weight division Toney has fought in, the secret to his achievement has been his excellent defense, which uses a lot of head and shoulder movements, as well as an uncanny ability to block punches with his hands.
His chin has shown to be sturdy since he made the moved up in weight to the heavyweight division, although he has yet to face a heavyweight who can punch anywhere as near as hard as Hasim Rahman. This should be interesting to see how well Toney can take it when he gets tapped on the chin by Rahman. However, even when Toney is hit, it’s usually not by monstrous shots, as his opponents tend to take a lot of the steam off their punches, a compensation they make after missing numerous shots at Toney’s constantly moving head and upper body. This is the same reason that fighters, such as Chris Byrd and Monte Barrett, are able to be successful as a heavyweight despite having little power or offensive weapons.
To be sure, Toney hasn’t needed a huge punch to rely on or fast reflexes like fighters such as Roy Jones Jr., although that’s not to say that Toney doesn’t hit hard because he packs a wallop and has dispatched 43 of his opponents during his long career. Instead, Toney is an ultimate boxing talent, with ability that you’d have to go back far into boxing history to find someone that is close to being as good. I know for some fans it’s hard to really accept a fighter like Toney, who started out as a middleweight, and see him for the talent he is. They expect a heavyweight to look the part. It’s hard to really understand how someone that looks as small, and seemingly out as out of condition as Toney, can be a dominating heavyweight. Yet, that’s exactly what Toney is and he is living proof that fighting isn’t about bodybuilding contests; it’s about hurting the other guy before he hurts you.
Of the top ten fights in the heavyweight division, there is only four of them that are halfway decent in ability. To be honest, most of them are badly flawed, either with poor boxing skills, slow hand speed or no chin. Here is my top four heavyweights, who I consider all well below Toney:
Lamon Brewster – (33-2, 29 KO’s) He’s the current WBO heavyweight champion, who won the title in April 2004, after stopping Wladimir Klitschko in the 5th round. He’s got a good left hook and a subhuman ability to take terrible punishment to the head. In his fights against Wladimir Klitschko, Kali Meehan and Luan Krasniqi, he took violent beatings before pulling out the fight in the end. However, Brewster’s a very slow puncher and has a very low work rate, which keeps him always behind in fights. He tends to lead with his head, letting opponents rain punches on him before tying to land anything in return. I notice that while he is being attacked, he stops punching completely and doesn’t attempt to block any of the punches. At that point, he will throw a jab and a left hook. It’s all very predictable, yet it’s worked so far for him. Against Toney, I think Brewster would get badly outworked and outclassed, and would lose a 12-round decision. Brewster would have a hard time landing anything substantial against Toney and would be discouraged by half way point in the fight, as it would be an embarrassing one-sided fight with Toney completely dominating. I can see Brewster coming out of this fight as damaged goods from having absorbed too many head shots.
Hasim Rahman – (41-5-1, 33 KO’s) “The Rock” has more of the complete package than the rest of the heavyweight bunch. In other words, he’s got a great jab, monstrous right hand, and a good chin. From my standpoint, I feel that his chin is what makes him so good, as he can take a lot of good shots before going down. He’s only human, though, and can be hurt by big punchers, such as Lennox Lewis and Oleg Maskaev, both of whom knocked him out quite badly. All the same, Rahman can take a pretty good punch before going down. Besides that, he has very long arms, which give him a huge advantage in fights, letting him control with his jab at a distance. However, his offensive style is predictable and often lazy in appearance. He tends to telegraph his attacks with a “jab-jab, right hand” style of attack. He also can be easily outmaneuvered, due to his tendency to fall forward when attacking, leaving him open for a fighter that steps to the side and punches him to the head as he goes by. There really isn’t much Rahman will be able to do against Toney that will help his case any, for he will be outclassed from start to finish. Toney will negate Rahman’s jab by ducking under it and getting in close, where he will pound him with uppercuts and hooks to the head. I see the fight being ugly and short, with Toney stopping Rahman by the 5th round.
Wladimir Klitschko – (45-3, 40 KO’s) At one time not too long ago, Wladimir was considered by many to be the savior of the heavyweight division. Yet, now he is almost invisible and forgotten, after having been stopped by Ross Puritty, Lamon Brewster, and Corrie Sanders. In his last bout against Sam Peter, however, Wladimir showed glimpses of the greatness that was promised after winning the gold medal in the Super Heavyweight class, in the 1996 Olympics. Much of the credit can go to Wladimir’s trainer, Emanuel Steward, who is teaching him to move more and to stay out of wars with his opponents. At 6’6” 245, Wladimir has great size and reach, which when combined with his tremendous left hook, straight right, and excellent jab, make him very hard to beat. In the first 5 or 6 rounds of a fight, there’s probably no one better in all of the heavyweight division, as he is blinding fast with huge power in either hand. In a way, Wladimir reminds me a lot of a young Tommy Hearns, in that they both are built tall and slim, yet they punch like a mule and can take you out early if they connect. It doesn’t matter who the fighter is, though, during the first five to six rounds against Wladimir, they are going to get hit with storm of huge punches and unless they have a great chin, they are going to be stopped or badly hurt. The problem is, Wladimir tends to tire easily after the midway point in the fight and is vulnerable thereafter to almost any fighter with decent power. His trainer appears to be working on his conditioning and it seemed to help a little in his last fight against Peter, yet Wladimir was still knocked down several times during the fight, so there’s room for more improvement. However, against Toney, I feel that Wladimir would be in way over his head, as Toney would apply constant pressure, making Wladimir fight without his usual rest periods. Toney would pressure Wladimir from the start, pushing him against the ropes and then banging him to the body at will. By the 7th round, Wladimir’s legs would be gone and he would be easy prey for Toney’s uppercuts. Despite having problems with Wladmir in the early going, I see Toney stopping Wladimir by the 7th or 8th round.
Samuel Peter – The Nigerian heavyweight (25-1, 21 KO’s) has huge power in either hand. He came within an eyelash of knocking out Wladimir Klitschko in their fight in September 2005. In a rematch, I would pick him to knockout Klitschko, who got lucky in that fight, in my opinion. If Peter had been a little more respectful of Wladimir’s power, he would have avoided walking into the left hook in the 12th round that had Peter essentially out on his feet. Clearly, this is a fight that Peter needs to learn from. All the same, Peter puts on a lot of pressure against his opponents, forcing them to fight for their lives. He cuts off the ring well and doesn’t let his opponents rest for a second. If he can learn how to throw an uppercut and straighten out his right hand, I think he can turn out to be the best of the bunch. He was rushed into the bout with Wladimir Klitschko a little too soon in my estimation, yet he looked good for the most part. However, against Toney, Peter’s wildly thrown hooks would leave him open for counter shots over and over again. Nevertheless, I think Peter would have the best shot out of all the heavyweights at beating Toney, due to Peter’s relentless attack-style offensive. Peter rarely takes anything off of his punches, even after missing countless shots, and if he can clip Toney with even one of them, Peter has a shot at ending the fight. Nonetheless, I see Toney winning by a toughly fought 12-round decision. Like I mentioned, it wouldn’t be easy for Toney, as he would have to take a lot of huge shots against Peter, who likes to fight on the inside, perhaps as much as Toney. This fight would very exiting in my estimation.