By James Slater: Does it happen in other sports – faded former champions, who now possess diminished skills, getting opportunities as big as the ones they enjoyed when they could do their thing. It seems to happen in boxing all the time, more so these days than ever before?
Just look at James Toney and Roy Jones, two guys in their mid-forties who are on the verge of a big fight each – a possible WBC cruiserweight title fight for Jones and a pay-per-view fight for Toney (albeit p-p-v in Poland.) For despite the fact that both guys are dangerously close to being totally shot, and are therefore running the risk of permanent injury every time they climb into the ring, Jones and Toney are close to fights with Krystov Wlodarczyk and Tomasz Adamek respectively.
Everyone knows neither fight should happen, and everyone knows that neither future Hall of Famer has much of a chance of being competitive, much less of actually winning. Jones has retained some of his handspeed yet he has virtually no punch resistance to speak of today, while Toney has managed to hang on to his granite chin, yet his own reflexes are as dull as can be. This combination has seen Toney take prologued beatings (see his points losses to Sam Peter and Denis Lebedev) and it has seen Jones wrecked in shocking KO defeats (at the hands of Danny Green and, most brutally, Lebedev).
Russian warrior Lebedev should have ended the careers of both Toney and Jones, yet it seems the two once special fighters will risk what is left of their health against a pair of tough, skilled Polish fighters.
Why does this kind of thing happen in boxing – a sport where an ageing participant can get hurt as well as embarrassed and humiliated? Let’s hope it is only the egos of Jones and Toney that get punished later this year.