You pretty much got it down right there bro...

He sat down with his trainer and would watch the charles, walcott and archie moore fights and adapted his style to it... It wouldnt have been perfect from the get go but toney is a natural athlete by the time he would have had ten pro fights against competition who couldnt match up in any way and we all know how toney loves to spar..He even does far too much sparring when training and not enough of everything else!

So yeah i mean what you see from james toney now is the result of ALOT of professional fights..
Hes damn near 40 years old and hes definate top 10 material in any weight he could make and thats off just heart and experiance, and the will to fight