Boxing

Jirov-Toney: The sleeping division comes alive!

By Janne Romppainen

23.04 - A very common opinion is that apart from the lowest weight categories, the cruiserweight division is among the weakest of them. The division itself is not that old but still the number of good fighters that have made their name in there is very poor. The best cruisers, Evander Holyfield in the front place, have climbed up to the heavyweight division to make name and money to themselves. Apart from The Real Deal and maybe two of his old opponents Carlos DeLeon and Dwight Qawi only a real hard-core boxing fan could even mention another champ from the 190-pounders.

Now however the division is about to take a big step towards some fame as one of the biggest and most-awaited fights of its history is coming up. The undefeated IBF champion of the world, Kazakhstan Vasily Jirov defends his title against American veteran challenger, former multi-division champion James Toney at 26th of April.

It will be the seventh time that Jirov defends the title he captured by knocking out Arthur Williams back in 1999. The fight has been cancelled before as Jirov has suffered from various injuries and also things that have happened in his personal life that have prevented his training. The champion has been inactive now for over a year. Toney on the other hand secured his place to a title shot by knocking out Jason Robinson seven months ago in an eliminator fight.

Even though he enters the ring as a challenger, James “Lights Out” Toney, 34, is a much bigger star in boxing business than the reigning champ. He was the incomparable middleweight and supermiddleweight champion of the world in the early nineties. At his heyday he was at the top-three of almost every pound-for-pound ranking back then, defeating the likes of Michael Nunn, Mike McCallum, Prince Charles Williams and Iran Barkley. At his best Toney was best-known for his great technique and ring smarts combined with good speed and a devastating right hand.

It took a rising star named Roy Jones to stop his march. Toney was defeated via lopsided unanimous decision by Jones back in 1993 and since then his career has been erratic. He has had severe problems with his weight, ballooning at one time all the way up to the heavyweight division (the sorriest point of his career must have been when there were serious discussions about him facing the ex-heavyweight champ Larry Holmes). Toney has notched some notable victories but also suffered losses against opponents he almost surely would have defeated in his prime. His record stands now at 65-4-2, with 42 opponents stopped.

The defending champion, 29-year-old Jirov is the gold medallist from the Olympic Games from Atlanta 1996. He won his gold in the light heavyweight division and was also awarded the Val Barker-trophy as the most skilful boxer of the games. Jirov launched his professional career in 1997 and so far he has gathered an unblemished list of 31 victories in as many fights with 27 knockouts. Jirov’s best assets are his hard-working fighting strategy and strong punching. Especially his body attack including a well-thrown left hook has been destructive against many opponents.

What makes this fight intriguing, as often is the case, is the amount of variables that we can not be sure of. Toney has often been unmotivated in his training. Will the lack of self-discipline be his undoing this time, or will the chance to become the best cruiserweight in the world and thusly a major player in boxing again drive him to his old form? How will the long lay-off affect Jirov, is his timing there? At times Jirov has looked as if he wasn’t really willing to make the fight happen at all, is there some conclusions to be drawn from that? He has never been in an event this big nor has he probably ever faced an opponent this good. How will he overcome that, is he still as effective as he has been earlier or will he be exposed?

From what we know about the fighters the prescription of the bout seems quite clear. Jirov will most likely come forwards, aim his attack mainly towards Toney’s body and tries to use his superior strength and natural size to wear his man down. Toney on the other hand is or at least has been a supreme counter-puncher. His special move is to lean back from his opponent and fire his vaunted overhand right as many times as needed for that it is lights out for his opponent. Usually it hasn’t taken many of them.

If it goes to a hard inside fight that many expect then Jirov has a good chance to come through on top. Toney has often been lazy not only in the gym but also in the ring. If he can’t stop Jirov’s attack early then he might be outworked and worn down by the strong champion. A certain thing is that if Toney wants to stay up in front of Jirovs’s hooks, he’d better do his sit-ups well. No surplus lard in his waist is acceptable. Toney has always taken an excellent punch in the lower weight divisions so its highly unlikely that he would succumb early.

On the contrary Jirov’s main problem in going to a war against Toney is how his chin will hold up. So far it has as Jirov has never been dropped although he has been wobbled in couple of his fights. Toney is probably the biggest puncher the champion has ever met however and the tremendous knockout victory over Robinson showed that Toney still can crack well. Sooner or later in the fight there will probably be a situation where Jirov is hit cleanly on the chin. How will he react is a key for this fight. If he takes it well, then things will look good for him.

Another possibility is that both fighters respect each other’s power and thusly the fight goes to a tactical battle. If that happens then Toney has the edge. Jirov has a good technique and a fine jab, but Toney seems to be the more skilled and relaxed boxer out of the two and also his vast experience would probably tell in the later rounds.

This one is certainly a real hard one to pick. I really can’t make up my mind but if I had to place a bet right now, I’d go with Jirov on TKO in 10. I am just not sure if Toney really is able to fight as well as he once did in this high weight class. However, tomorrow I could pick otherwise.

Whoever wins the fight will be the universally recognized champion of the division. The future might bring for the winner a match-up against the French powerhouse Jean-Marc Mormeck or, even more intriguingly, a showdown against the WBA heavyweight champion Roy Jones if he decides to come down to try to take over another division. In any event this bout brings cruiserweight division some attention it has been seeking for long.

Comments/question: janneromppainen@hotmail.com

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