by Kent Appel
16.08 - The Pechanga Resort and Casino is the scene of a cruiserweight elimination match this coming Sunday, August 18 between former middleweight and super-middleweight champion James Toney of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Jason Robinson and of Haywood, Illinois. Toney, who will be 34 on August 24, is favored to continue his march to a title shot against cruiserweight champion Valisily Jirov with a victory over the 27-year old Robinson.
Toney who enters the contest with a record of 64-4-2, KO-41, is vastly more experienced than Robinson who takes a 16-2, KO-10 mark into Sunday night's main event. And this experience, which features bouts with many world champions or former world champions, should carry him to victory. Some of the fighters he has fought include Michael Nunn, Mike McCallum, Iran Barkley, Reggie Johnson, and Roy Jones Junior. Toney has defeated all of these fighters except Jones, who he was defeated by in 1994.
Toney will do well not to look past Robinson and focus on the task at hand. Because by looking past Robinson, he will be making a mistake that could cost him what may be his last real opportunity at winning another world championship. Robinson is a young up and coming fighter looking to make a name for himself at Toney’s expense and a win over Toney would do wonders for his career.
How well Toney does against Robinson should tell us a lot about how much at age 34 James Toney has left. Although he has won ten fights in a row dating back to 1997, he has done so against opponents that are below championship caliber. Also Toney has had a tendency to balloon up in weight in between fights, so much so that I didn't recognize that it was him who was playing Joe Frazier in last year's movie, Ali, starring Will Smith. When I saw the movie my first impression was that the actor who was playing Frazier was too fat for the part. I was shocked when I learned it was Toney playing the part. In addition to Toney’s level of competition recently and his weight gain in between fights, the question remains as to how many fights are left in Toney after many years of ring wars with top flight competition. Lastly, is fighting in the cruiserweight division which has a weight limit of 190 pounds, too much of a step up in weight class and were Toney’s best days at the middleweight and super-middleweight levels, at 160 and 168 pounds respectively? If Toney is dominant over Robinson, then that will go a long way in answering some of the questions there are about Toney and should show that he is ready to give a serious challenge to champion Jirov’s title reign.
Also on the card at Pechanga on Sunday night is a junior lightweight championship fight that features IBF champion, 25-year-old Steve Forbes of Las Vegas, Nevada verses 30-year-old David Santos of St. Petersburg, Florida. Forbes, who will enter the ring with a record of 20-1, KO-5, already holds a victory over Santos in September 2000 and he is expected to hold on to his title by defeating Santos again, who has a record of 42-4. KO-27. Both are excellent fighters though and it would not surprise me if Santos pulls off a mild upset and takes the title away from Forbes.
The fight card will be televised live on Fox Sports Network starting at 6 PM Eastern time (3 PM Pacific time) and the card also features several other bouts that are not part of the broadcast and these bouts start at 5 PM Eastern time (2 PM Pacific time).
