James
Toney
James Toney vs Roy Jones Jr.
Jones won a landslide decision over
Toney, an upset at the time, briefly flooring Toney for the first
time with a flash knockdown in the 3rd round. Jones used one of his
“cockfighting” feints to lure Toney in, and as Toney mocked Jones,
Toney got caught with a leaping left hook. After the fight Toney blamed
making the weight for his flat performance and the loss of his cherished
unbeaten record. It was his last fight at the weight.
His next
fight saw him lose to Montell Grifin at light heavyweight in February
1995. After then winning a series of fights at light heavyweight,
cruiserweight, and even heavyweight, he again faced Montell Griffin
in December 1996 and once again lost a close decision. He beat old
foe Mike McCallum in February 1997, but then lost to journeyman Drake
Thadzi in his next fight.
Cruiserweight
After taking some time
off from the ring, Toney came back in 1999, seemingly focused on reclaiming
his status as an elite fighter. He defeated former title holders and
title contenders Adolpho Washington, Steve Little, Ramon Garbey, Saul
Montana, Sione Asipeli, Courtney Butler, and Michael Rush. In August
2002, Toney beat Jason Robinson in an IBF cruiserweight title elimination
fight. This set up a fight between Toney and the champion Vassiliy
Jirov. After a postponement, the fight happened on April 26, 2003.
Going into the 12th and final round, with the scores fairly even and
the fight in the balance, Toney knocked the undefeated Jirov down
in the 12th. The Kazakh rose from the canvas to go to the distance,
but Toney got the judges verdict and was now a three weight World
Champion.
For Toney’s performance he was awarded comeback of
the year and named fighter of the year. The fight itself was named
“Fight Of The Year” by The Ring magazine. Immediately afterward, Toney
moved up to heavyweight.
On November 4, 2011, Toney stepped into
the ring at 199 lbs., the lowest he has been since 2003 against Russian
star Denis Lebedev in Russia for the interim WBA World cruiserweight
title. Toney was never competitive throughout the bout after encountering
problems with his left knee during round two, and the judges all had
it 120-108 for Lebedev. A week after the fight it was revealed Toney
needed surgery to repair his knee.
Heavyweight
As far back as
Toney’s middleweight years, he insisted that he would one day be the
heavyweight champion of the world. His October 4, 2003, victory over
aging former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield was Toney’s entry
into the heavyweight division. After a shaky first round, Toney picked
apart Holyfield with shots to the body and head before stopping him
in the 9th round. After the fight Toney declared he was “undestructable”,
that he “got milk baby” and didn’t want any “bad ass questions” from
announcer Jim Gray.
