Boxing

Toney-Holyfield: Aged warriors headed for different directions


Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime

By Janne Romppainen

29.09 - There are many classic types of boxing matches. Crossroad battles where a fading ex-champ faces a rising star are nothing new, they happen all the time. Fights between two greats are more unusual but we see them from time to time too. But on 4th of September we are going to see a real rarity. It will be an intriguing mixture of those two match types as the former four-time heavyweight champion Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield faces the reigning IBF cruiserweight champion James “Light’s Out” Toney in a ten round heavyweight match-up. No titles are at stake in this fight but still it ranks as one of the most awaited bouts of the year.

The fighters’ roads to the fight are about as different as they can get. Evander Holyfield is trying to pump life to his sinking career by trying to defeat another noteworthy opponent and possibly make one more big title fight happen thusly. James Toney on the other hand is living a new spring in his long career after decisioning the Kazakhstan Vasily Jirov in a classic cruiserweight fight that ranks among the best bouts of the recent years. Now Toney, clearly inspirited by his bitter rival Roy Jones’ success in a heavyweight title fight earlier this year, wants to take his career on a new level. Much is at stake, many question marks surround the fight. Which one of the greats will go through, which one has to fall?

James Toney is a multi-division champion in his career that has lasted already for fifteen years. Back in 1991 he scored his first big victory by coming from behind to knock out Michael Nunn to capture the IBF middleweight crown. Victories over the likes of Reggie Johnson and Mike McCallum among others followed and a knockout victory over Iran Barkley in 1993 made Toney a super-middleweight champion. Toney dominated his division for about two years and in the process he showed skills that appealed to the onlookers. He had an almost flawless boxing technique, especially the defence, and a tremendous overhand right that made his opponents pay for every mistake they made. Back then Toney was a top-3 fighter in every pound-for-pound list.

Toney’s peak was bright but it ended surprisingly fast. In 1994 Toney faced Roy Jones Jr. who at the fight time was a talented but yet pretty unknown middleweight champion. Toney was the favourite but Jones surprised everybody, most of all Toney himself by boxing his way to a lopsided decision victory. The loss would have been a setback for anybody, but for Toney it proved to be a devastating blow. For many years his career seemed to have no control. Toney had problems with his weight, he was even forced to fight in the heavyweight. Things went so far that even a fight against the heavyweight veteran ex-champion Larry Holmes was seriously planned. Toney scored some nice victories but also suffered losses to Montell Griffin and Drake Thadzi, both of whom he would most likely have defeated in his top shape.

Finally Toney found his place from the cruiserweight division. A victory over Jason Robinson in a title fight eliminator proved that Toney still was alive and a real threat. Also that victory secured Toney a place in a title fight against Vasily Jirov in April. In a masterful performance, Toney smothered Jirov’s body attack and replied with sharp counter-punching, floored his foe in the final round and took the title via convincing unanimous decision. Now Toney looks forward to challenge a living ring legend and make a name for himself in yet another weight class. Toney’s record going to the fight is 66-4-2, with 42 knockouts.

Evander Holyfield, as we all know, is already a 40-year-old ring warrior who has so many achievements from his career that there is enough material for two great careers. To make a long story short, Holyfield won his first cruiserweight title back in 1986, he unified the title and then went up to the heavyweight. In 1990 he captured the heavyweight title by knocking out James Buster Douglas. In 1992 he lost his title to Riddick Bowe but won it back in the next year’s rematch, until losing it again to Michael Moorer the year after. A knockout loss at the hands of Bowe in 1995 was supposed to be the end of Holyfield’s line, but in 1996 he made an illustrious comeback by stopping the fearsome Mike Tyson. Holyfield went on to reign as the heavyweight champion for three years until Lennox Lewis took the title from him in 1999 in their rematch. Holyfield still did not quit, one suspects he never will. In the next summer 2000 he clashed John Ruiz for a vacant WBA-title. Holyfield won the bout, but the lost the title in the rematch and the rubber match ended into a draw. Holyfield made another comeback to the top by besting Hasim Rahman via technical decision, but his bid at IBF-title ended to a lopsided decision loss at the hands of Chris Byrd.

Holyfield’s record overall is 38-6-2, with 25 early victories. From the last three years, his record is two wins, three defeats and two draws. Now, it seems to be (once again) the final chance for Holyfield to turn his career around. He has openly told that he wants to retire as a world champion. Even though he is badly faded already, he just might do that considering the weak state of the division. But first he will have to get over Toney.

Without big surprises the prescription of how the fight will turn out should be pretty obvious. Holyfield is, for one of the few times in his career, naturally the bigger man in the ring. He likes to come forward and slug. James Toney is a splendid counter-puncher. He likes to have his opponent come forwards and counter them. As a result, we should see a fierce inside fight where Holyfield’s superior strength and punching power meets Toney’s beautiful technique and freshness. Something has to give.

When both fighters want to have the same kind of fight, the tactics should not play very important role. Holyfield demonstrated in his fight against Rahman that he could still be effective when his opponent stands in there and trades with him. In that kind of fight, Holyfield’s left hook to the body, ripping combinations and rock solid chin are in their rights and there are still few men who could compete with him. Chris Byrd made Holyfield look bad with his slick boxing and defensive reflexes, but Toney has never been that type of a fighter. If Holyfield can push Toney to the ropes and find the right places for his shots through Toney’s guard, then he could be heading to a victory by decision or possibly by late stoppage. Toney has an excellent chin, but now he has to taste power from a new level.

On the contrary, If Toney is able to take Holyfield’s shots, outscore him with his better handspeed and outwork the aging warrior, the decision victory should be reachable for him. Unfortunately for Toney, this is the first time in his career when he can’t be sure about the effectiveness of his punching power. Toney has a good one-punch power but Holyfield’s chin has held up with the best heavyweights in the world. If Toney is not able to stop Holyfield’s familiar spurts, he will be in trouble.

Furthermore, Toney smothered Jirov’s body attack well but now he faces a guy who is about 30lbs heavier than the Kazakhstan. Toney was badly tired in the end of his fight against Jirov, although his conditioning has been clearly better in the cruiserweight than it used to be. Holyfield on the other hand is no more the tireless punching machine he was as a cruiserweight, but he has gone full twelve rounds in all of his last fights and kept up a fairly good pace. Will Toney’s stamina hold up when Holyfield turns up the heat?

As was the case in Jirov-Toney, picking this fight is exceptionally hard since one of the fighters is now going up to a place he has never been before and thusly we don’t know much about his abilities there. Toney proved that he has what it takes to beat the best cruiserweights in the world but now the ladder is even higher for him to climb. Personally I feel that Holyfield starts the fight as the favourite. Toney is a splendid fighter, but his style seems to play right into Holyfield’s hands. A slick, Roy Jones’ type of a fighter could well beat The Real Deal but I don’t expect that from Toney. I believe Toney will keep the things even early, his better connection percentage should even win him some rounds, but after the middle rounds Holyfield’s punching power will take over. I think he will wear Toney down and pound out a unanimous decision victory. Even though Holyfield seems ageless, there always is the chance that he indeed has grown old however. If Toney catches him on a bad night, he could well score the biggest victory of his career.


If Holyfield wins, he will strengthen his place at the top-10 of the division. If the champion Lennox Lewis vacates his title soon as many expect him to do, Holyfield might get another chance to fight for the belt. A loss would drop his ranking dramatically, although one suspects that he wouldn’t still retire if he doesn’t suffer the knockout loss Toney has promised for him. If Toney wins, he moves close to the title fights. Especially a rematch against Roy Jones, the fight Toney has insisted to get for a decade, would be intriguing. If Toney loses it won’t be that bad other than for his ego, he still remains as the best cruiserweight in the world.

Holyfield’s name sells always and when the matter is about hyping a fight up, few men in the world are better in it than James Toney. As a result, the fight has already produced some colourful press conferences. Let’s hope the fight lives up to its prefight.

Comments/questions: janneromppainen@hotmail.com

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