By Cesar Pancorvo: More than two years ago, Hasim Rahman and James Toney fought in a dull bout for the WBC championship, a fight of a monotone rhythm that had The Rock outbox a 237 lbs. James Toney –the heaviest ever– to only get a draw in the judges’ scorecards. It was lamentable for Rahman, because most viewers thought that he outworked his out-of-shape opponent; for James Toney, it was a weak performance and the second time that he couldn’t win a title in the heavyweight division, however, we must look at his whole career and realize that it is remarkable that a fighter that won the Lineal Middleweight title in 1991 was able to become a competent heavyweight contender for three years (2003-2006)..
If someone asks me what happened in that fight, I will say that Rahman outworked Toney and that he deserved the decision. Rahman, in my eyes, defeated Toney, just like Toney defeated Peter some months later; the verdicts were awful.
Since then, Rahman was defeated by Oleg Maskaev and kicked out of the elite heavyweight scene. After some months of inactivity, he returned to boxing with an old strategy that had already worked for him: fight and beat journeyman, frequently. The first time that this plan was useful for him was in 2004, when he defeated Alfred Cole, Mario Cawley, Rob Calloway, Terrence Lewis and then, finally, Kali Meehan. All of them just in eight months. The result: mandatory status and a shot to fight Vitali Klitschko. Now, to come back after losing to Oleg, the Rock has used that stratagem again –this time the chosen opponents where Taurus Sykes, Dicky Ryan, Cerrone Fox and Zuri Lawrence–, and the title shots and mandatory positions have not arrived so quickly, but Rahman is again in the heavyweight map.
James Toney, who will turn 40 in a couple of months, had three fights since the draw against Rahman: two against Samuel Peter and one against Danny Batchelder. As I have said, he should have won the first Peter fight. But he didn’t, and the second time he looked worse than ever…Slow, lethargic, lazy, ineffective, old, and was outboxed by someone who was called a crude slugger. It looked like he changed between the first and second fight, between September 2006 and January 2007. The fight against Batchelder, a journeyman that should have gave him minimum trouble, was one were we saw one of the worst versions of Toney. He barely won.
And after that night, another scandal. Toney tested positive for boldenone and stanazolol, and was banned one year from boxing, which was then reduced to six months. However, Toney hasn’t fought since May 2007.
Weeks ago, there were rumors of a fight against Fres Oquendo, but finally a rematch between Toney and Rahman was announced for July 16th. What should we expect? The best Toney was the one that fought very often; the current version is just the antithesis. This time, Toney’s experience won’t be so useful for him. His sophisticated skills won’t be so sharp, he will be older and facing a much more active, more prepared and motivated Rahman.