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Description:
Lights... Out!
James "Lights Out" Toney is a HOF boxer that boxed from 1988 all the way till 2017. He also won the IBF lineal middleweight title in 1991, the IBF super middleweight title in 1993 and IBF cruiserweight title in 2003. He also won the WBF heavyweight title in 2017 during his last match against Mike Sheppard.
James Toney was known to be a defensive master who could make you miss easily. It took guys like Roy Jones Jr. and Michael Nunn to give him trouble. One of them, he knocked out via TKO in the eleventh round, claiming the IBF lineal middleweight title in 1991. Even guys like Holyfield didn't have much of a chance against a motivated James Toney when James came to their weight class.
To add to that, James Toney also had good power. That's why he was nicknamed "Lights Out". Vicious KOs against Jason Robinson (not related to Sugar Ray Robinson) and Delgado proved it. He even dominated Holyfield, who was doing well in the first round, and stopped him in the 9th round via RTD after Holyfield got knocked down.
His biggest problem, however, was his discipline. He was known to gaining massive amounts of weight and being ill-prepared. Some people even state it as the reason as to why he lost to RJJ (although I don't think it is valid of an excuse even if it is true) but even in that fight, he had few flashes of genius but in the end, got dominated by him.
His best performance came against Iran Barkley in 1993 when he fought Barkley for the IBF super middleweight belt and won every single round and stopped him in the 9th. In that fight, the then 24 yro James Toney, showed a sense of comfort and calmness we have not seen from a fighter before or since. He looked as if he did not care at all that he was in a fight, even walking away from Barkley with his back turned towards him and talked to the crowd. That is what Toney is also known for, talking to the crowd mid-fight and sometimes even mid-exchange. He did that against Holyfield as well.
Toney had a sharp sense of positioning and would always try to ensure that he got the right position on the inside to make his opponents mis while he could land nice clean and powerful shots. This is just one of the many things that allowed him to dominate opponents combined with his nuanced and scientific understanding of the philly shell which made him one of the best in the world during his day and one of the best philly shell users of all time.
Battles against Vassiliy Jirov, Michael Nunn and Mike McCallum also proved that he had a dog inside of him that would come out when things were tough and not going his way. He had the heart to win a tough fight when he allowed himself to have one.
Surprisingly, James Toney was both a defensive genius while maintaining pressure
TLDR: James Toney was a phenomenal boxer with amazing defensive and offensive skills who could also be tough when the situation called for it.
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