Quote Originally Posted by bilbo
If you thought Toney won a clear victory last time out a mere 3 months ago I really can't see why you think his days as a serious contender are now over?

If the last few years have shown us anything, it's that the heavyweight division is in such a poor state right now that a fighter only needs to win one fight to put themselves right back in contention.

Just look at the the list of bums, a la Briggs, Maskaev, Harrison, Guinn, McCline, etc.

All Toney needs to do is beat one fighter and he's back in the mix.
Being a contender IMO is someone who has a legit shot to beat the champ. Right now the champ is Kiltschko, I don't care how many people hold random belts, Klitschko is the guy. At his advanced age, I don't think Toney can handle someone of Klitscko's size and modest skills. Klitschko's achilles heel is his chin, but Toney is not a dangerous puncher at this age and weight. He landed the hardest right hands he could throw flush on Peter's chin, and Peter didn't even flinch. Now Wlad has a weaker chin than Peter, but Toney will not be able to seriously hurt him.
Toney is a natural light heavy or cruiserweight who also has small hands. He needs to outbox people and at this age I can't see him outworking Wlad over 12 rounds. Generally the most glaring example of a fighter getting old is a huge decrease in activity. Old fighters just can't put up big punch outputs. Toney threw very few punches last night.

Also, as we saw in plain view last night, Peter has clearly surpassed Toney. If Toney can't beat Wlad or Peter, then he's not a serious threat to anyone. Just because he could hang with Briggs or Maskaev or Guinn doesn't mean anything.