James Toney

Fight fans surely remember the time boxing great James Toney met MMA great Randy Couture in one of the first big-name crossover fights of its kind. It was back in 2010 that Toney, agreeing to fight Couture under MMA rules, climbed into the cage.

The fight, one that saw Couture win inside a round (just over the three-minute mark, having “choked” Toney) was a big deal, even if it was nowhere near as big as the upcoming Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight. Mayweather will of course fight MMA’s McGregor under boxing rules; something Toney tells Sky Sports he would have loved to have done in a return fight with Couture.

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James Toney, once a truly great fighter, is not quite ready to call it a day and retire just yet. The 48 year-old (49 in August) will reportedly face journeyman Mike Sheppard for the vacant WBF heavyweight strap on May 13, the scheduled 12-rounder to go down in Ypsilanti, Michigan. So far there is no word of any TV coverage, not even an internet presentation.

Toney, a remarkable 76-10-3(46) – numbers compiled without “Lights Out” ever succumbing to a single stoppage defeat – was last seen in a losing effort. It was back in August of 2015 when Toney was simply out-worked by another heavyweight journeyman in Charles Ellis, Toney dropping a decision in Missouri. Who knows what we can expect from Toney-Sheppard.

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“He didn’t pay his electric bill, so his lights must go out,” James Toney ahead of his 2003 clash with Evander Holyfield.

Some fighters, be they greats or mere club fighters, never make an official retirement announcement. Instead, usually after a loss, they just fade away quietly; fans only realising they haven’t seen them in the ring for quite some time before wondering where their one-time hero is now. It looks as though it might be this way for one of the greatest defensive fighters in history, a man who, in his own words, “kicked some ass all the way from middleweight up to heavyweight.”

The fighter in question is James Toney and although it could be wishful thinking speaking about how Toney, aged 47 (48 next month) and an astonishing 89 bouts into a career that began in 1988, might have called it a day – after all, Toney could remerge with yet another return fight at any time – things have been quiet lately.

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For reasons only he knows, former multi-weight champion and onetime star James Toney refuses to give up fighting. “Lights Out,” now aged 47 and sporting a 76-10-3(46) record compiled over a quite astonishing 27 years as a pro boxer, will box Canada’s Eric Martel Bahoeli next month.

Toney has put the fight up on his Twitter page and the bout, scheduled for just eight-rounds, is up on BoxRec as happening in Ontario on November 13th. Perhaps fittingly, that day is Friday the 13th.

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