By James Slater – Last night in California, former multi-weight champion James Toney made a successful return to boxing, as he won every round against sometimes-dangerous journeyman Damon Reed. The 42-year-old future Hall of Famer, having his first fight since losing in an MMA challenge of Randy Couture last August, won by scores of 100-90 on all three cards.
Now sporting an amazing 73-6-3(44) pro record, “Lights Out” is still insisting he can defeat the likes of the Klitschko brothers and David Haye. 39-year-old Reed, who was happy merely to be fighting on (Fox) T.V, fell to 45-15(32)..
In all honesty, though he won by a huge margin, Toney looked pretty awful last night. For starters, he weighed-in for the fight at a career-high 257-pounds! Looking sluggish as a result, Toney rarely put together any of the fast combinations he was once famous for. The fight was boxed at an extremely slow pace, with Toney doing his best work to the body. Reed, known as “Dangerous,” never hurt Toney. But “Lights Out” never lived up to his nickname either. In fact, Toney appears to have no real power as a heavyweight these days – certainly not anywhere near enough to be able to trouble either the Klitschkos or Haye. Reed has been stopped eight times in all – by men like Dale Brown and Roman Greenburg – yet Toney couldn’t put a dent in him.
Toney, who has never been stopped, will fight on of course. Still believing he is an elite boxer, he proudly talks about how he is the IBA heavyweight champion. But at 257, who is he kidding? Never before has James looked so fat and out of shape. Did he even train for this fight? But Toney is still capable of getting by on the remnants of his once awesome talent. Even when weighing in at such a shameful weight (to think, Toney tipped in at 217 for his last boxing match, against Mathew Greer in Sept. if 2009), Toney can pick up small pay cheques beating the likes of Reed. But where will it end?
No way does Toney get a shot at a Klitschko or a Haye. If he did, he would be seriously hurt. Sure, he still has that durable chin, but his defensive skills have eroded and he is too hefty to be able to move properly. Toney would be a sitting duck against the jab of Klitschko or the right hand of Haye.
Unless he is matched only with journeymen types or fellow ageing former champs, Toney will wind up being stopped for the first time one of these days. Why can’t he just let it go and hang ’em up?