James Toney and his Big Mouth

01.09.04 – By Izyaslav “Slava” KozaNovirasputin@hotmail.com – Is it just me or is James Toney’s mouth bigger then that football size welt on Rahman’s head after the Holyfield fight? It seems that lately Toney has had some sort of Oedipal fixation in terms of his insults of the Klitschko brothers, and anybody else in the heavyweight division that has, unlike poor Toney,(Again beating Holyfield only counts if you did it out of a wheelchair, or some such other device), accomplished something.

Now sure, in this day and age of boxing, it might be important to have just as fast a mouth (Even though I can probably come up with an endless list of great current active fighters that don’t rely on such nonsense), as fists and feet, but when does it go from “something you need to do to earn your bread,” to “something you do cause you have nothing better to do?” In this case, I would have to go with the latter.

Perhaps, it’s his way of crying for attention from the boxing public, or maybe having people, like me, write articles about it, but make no mistake about it, in no way does it compare to what Ali could do with words in his prime. I mean, even Roy Jones Jr. has a nice way with words, that pardon me, don’t make him look like an uneducated person.

What’s even funnier, is that none of this crap Toney spews even works the way its supposed to, in that it doesn’t bring the big fighters into the ring to face him. Can you honestly imagine either of the Klitschko brothers, the boxing equivalent of the Brits when it comes to cultural politeness, fighting Toney based on his ridiculous ramblings?

What was it Toney said, something about how “Klitschko is stupid because he is European.” Well, if that makes Vitali a blithering idiot, just imagine to yourself what that makes Toney? I don’t even know if there is a word to describe such moronic lunacy.

To those who say its said for comedic purposes, I would like to ask this question: Are you laughing because of the content or because of the fact that a human being can, at least in a sober state(got you covered, Larry Merchant), actually utter such useless combinations of words?

It just gets to me when people, forgive the expression, sh*t on boxing, with comments such as “It’s a brutal violent sport,” and only “criminals, and idiots participate,” and I know in my soul that it is simply not true, when I hear guys like Tsyzu, Morales, Dorin, Gatti, and Mayweather, open their mouths. With Toney, it’s like with each and every one of his recent interviews, he makes those critics seem right.

In closing, I would like to say that Toney is a great warrior, something he has proved time and time again. He simply doesn’t need to use these 3rd grade tactics, because frankly, they accomplish nothing, but bring an even worse name to the sport. Fight your heart out in the ring against somebody livelier then Rydell Booker, and I guarantee, Vitali Klitschko, as well as any other champion in the Heavies (provided Toney signs with King), will be glad to fight you. Leave the playground name calling to the WWF, and earn your respect in the ring.

Thoughts? Comments? Wanna call me names?
All to Novirasputin@hotmail.com