01.10.05 – By Frank Gonzalez Jr., Photo: Tom Casino /Showtime: Saturday night in Nevada, Dominic “Southern Disaster” Guinn (25-3-1-18 KO’s) faced James “Lights Out” Toney (69-4-2-1-43 KO’s) in the Main Event that almost saved the show after the under card of Chris Byrd vs. DaVarryl “Touch of Sleep” Williamson had the crowd counting sheep. Early in the fight, Guinn started by showing some of the spirit that gave him his lift in boxing a few years ago as they both scored in turns but it ended with James Toney waltzing his way to a Unanimous Decision victory. No ‘lights out’ but definitely a ‘Southern Disaster.’
Toney pressed the action and Guinn looked to counter. They both scored in spots and the first round was fairly even. Toney landed the better punches in the second round, notably a sneaky uppercut in close but nothing with much conviction. In the third, Toney landed a nice, straight right to the face of Guinn, who came alive and scored with left, right, left combination. There was a lot of infighting, initiated by Toney, the ring general, who easily lured Guinn to the ropes to fight in close quarters, where his offense was less effective.
The announce team of Steve Alberts and Al Bernstein was so one sided in favor of Toney that they could’ve won an award for, ‘Most Biased Announcing.’ Whatever Toney did, they swooned in a sea praises for Toney’s complete and utter mastery of the sport of boxing.. Toney is a good fighter, but listening to Alberts and Bernstein constantly kissing his ass is not my idea of entertainment. The fight was going tit for tat by the end of the third round but listening to these two, it sounded like Toney was alone in the ring, shadow boxing.
It was a back and fourth affair in the fourth round until Guinn was lured back near the ropes, to fight at close quarters, where Toney didn’t have to worry about the jabs Guinn wasn’t throwing or the combinations that might have followed. Toney happily capitalized on Guinn’s compliance.
Though Guinn’s corner instructed him to use distance and work his jab, Guinn was more inclined to follow Toney’s lead into a phone booth than the advice of his trainer, Joe Goossen. Though Guinn was landing the stronger shots, Toney was getting all the attention.
Chris Byrd was on hand to watch the fight after his 12 round, boring, pawing contest with DaVarryl “Touch of Sleep” Williamson. The place erupted with boos as the camera focused on Byrd, who deserves a lot of credit for being brave enough to sit amongst the same crowd he almost put to sleep for 45 minutes of hardly anything on the under card fight.
Guinn came alive with a string of five left hooks in the sixth, all of which connected. Toney again seemed to land more during the infighting. Even when Toney missed, the crowd got excited and Bernstein and Alberts exploded with adjectives. Guinn won that round for doing more damage with the initial string of left hooks that left Toney with a bloody mouth. Toney landed a lot of arm punches that did little harm.
From the seventh round on, Toney was busier and more effective, as Guinn faded steadily, throwing ever fewer punches and cruised to a Loss by Unanimous Decision.
Kudos to James Toney, who retains the IBA Heavyweight Title for beating a fighter who has fallen from grace and probably never realized what an omen his nickname, “Southern Disaster” turned out to be. Guinn’s string of poor performances should signal the end of his noticeably reluctant career as a pro boxer.
I wonder how this fight might’ve turned out if Guinn had thrown as many punches per round as he allegedly trained to do. But Guinn did show that he did wanted to fight—after the final bell sounded and he suddenly went to work, throwing combinations and trying to take Toney’s head off. Too little, too late? Not really. Referee Jay Nady stepped between them and reminded Guinn that the fight was over.
Never at a loss for words during a post fight interview, James Toney praised himself and called out the short list of the big names in a division best described as, uninspiring. In a flash of humility, he rated his performance against Guinn as a, ‘B minus.’
Toney said he wants to fight everybody, Vitali Klitschko, Lamon Brewster, Wladimir Klitschko and even mentioned, unenthusiastically, Chris Byrd. Toney can probably beat Brewster by out boxing him for 12 rounds. I can see him rattling the shaky Wladimir Klitschko and winning a points decision but I can’t even imagine him in the ring with Vitali Klitschko, who’s too big, too strong and too confident a boxer/puncher to let Toney get away with his pitty-pat punches in a phone booth act. The best match up of the lot has to be against Chris Byrd. Toney would probably beat Byrd to the punch and win a decision regardless of what happens since the ‘powers that be’ are not happy with the marketability of Chris Byrd wearing a Title belt.
I’d like to see Toney take on “The Nigerian Nightmare,” Sam Peter, who can’t box well but takes a punch and hits hard enough to test Toney like he hasn’t been tested in a long, long time.
Though the folks at Showtime swear Toney is the second coming of Mohammad Ali, he’s not. And while its true that Toney has more charisma than anyone else in the division, its more likely that his next fight will be against someone of even less stature than the guys he’s calling out. Time will tell.
Agree or disagree? Comments can be emailed to dshark87@hotmail.com