TONEY BALONEY

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Can you name one division where Toney did deserve to be undisputed number 1?

Yes. He didn't reign any division for a long time, or unify.. but after he beat Michael Nunn at middleweight I doubt anyone was regarded as the top dog other than him, especially after he defended against guys like Reggie Johnson and McCallum... Then when he moved up to super middleweight and beat Iran Barkley he was regarded by many as the no.1 p4p fighter in the world, and he remained in the top of the rankings and as the top dog at SMW beating guys like Charles Williams and Tim Littles.. After he lost Roy Jones he perhaps never quite gained the same status back, but I don't think it could be argued that Vassily Jirov was the undisputed number 1 at cruiser, and a great fighter, and Toney was very impressive beating him so you'd have to figure he was no.1 there for a short period. Really just a shame he didn't stay at cruiser in hindsight, but Im sure his lazy a** would have balooned up too much anyways. Really couldnt' see anyone who'd even have given him a good fight at cruiser unless Byrd had moved down a couple years back.

Good posting again, thanks for that. That was me generally asking that question because James Toney's early career is not something i'm totally familiar with.

I have seen the Nunn fight and that was enjoyable but he was trailing by quite a margin before the KO. Was McCallum past it when they fought?

A bit past it, they fought 3 times so I suppose moreso each time. 3rd happened later at light heacy or even cruiser though.. But he was still great in their first 2 fights and a clear top contender at middle. Watch their first fight McCallum battles Toney to a draw, great fight too. Thing is Toney was very raw in those days, he had a few very close, shaky starts to his middleweight campaign. Yes he was trailing when he stopped Nunn, it was a good fight but he was decisevly losing most rounds. Although you could argue he won the war of attrition as he started to do better and better in the mid rounds and was much fresher than Nunn when he stopped him. Wasn't just a big punch out of nowhere that people make it out to be. Reggie Johnson was a hell of a fighter in those days too. Nunn, McCallum, and Johnson would have stood head and shoulders above anyone else he could have met at 160 at that time.. It's funny because Middleweight is probably the division where he is most accomplished even though he was far from a finished product those days.. Just goes to show what the guy could have done if he'd mantained a good level of fitness and managed his weight to go along with the skills he developed.

CC #321. Thanks for that input. I'll try and get hold of a few Toney fights. The only ones i have are the Nunn fight and the Roy Jones fight.