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Toney Conditioning for Peter?
Heavyweight contender James Toney has a jelly belly, but he'll never be mistaken for Santa Claus because he's not nearly that jolly.
And Toney might be even more irritable than usual these days because, as he prepares for his title elimination rematch with Samuel Peter on Jan. 6 (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET/PT), he has traded in frequent trips to Southern California's Jerry's Famous Deli for bowls of boiled lima beans. Gone, too, are Toney's beloved cigars.
The changes came about because for the past month, Toney has been working with noted conditioning guru Billy Blanks of Tae Bo exercise video fame. Blanks, who has known Toney for several years, prescribed the healthy dose of lima beans to go with a more serious fitness regimen in order to help him be in better shape when he meets Peter at the Hard Rock resort in Hollywood, Fla., with a title shot against Oleg Maskaev at stake.
The rematch was ordered after Peter (27-1, 22 KOs) won a debatable split decision against Toney (69-5-3, 43 KOs) on Sept. 2 in Los Angeles. What wasn't debatable, however, was that the jiggly Toney was not in top condition. Nor was he in peak form for his March draw against then-beltholder Hasim Rahman.
Toney, who weighed 157 on the night he won the middleweight title from Michael Nunn in 1991, weighed a flabby 233 against Peter. He was a less-flattering, career-heavy 237 against Rahman.
Sam Peter
Peter
"Think of what James accomplished fighting a big, strong, young guy like Peter in the shape he was in," said Dan Goossen, Toney's co-promoter. "The majority of people felt James won the fight. Now, imagine a well-conditioned James Toney and it's staggering how good he can be. It was astounding that for not being in 100 percent top condition, James was able to do as well as he did against those guys [Peter and Rahman]."
Toney always has struggled with his weight. But now at age 38 and 80 pounds north of where he won the first of his three world titles in three divisions, he finally has come to the realization that although his boxing skills are unquestioned, his conditioning habits need to change in order for him to have the best chance of beating bigger, stronger, younger heavyweights.
"James finally understands that there is more to being in shape than going to the gym every day and working hard in sparring," Goossen said. "It entails doing weights, agility exercises and running. And it also entails eating the right foods. Not going on a diet, but staying away from Jerry's Deli, where he would go three times a day."
Billy Blanks
Kevin Terrell/WireImage.com
Billy Blanks, a martial arts expert and former amateur boxer, was in attendance at the first Peter-Toney bout at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
While Toney continues working with boxing trainer Freddie Roach, he said he is committed to Blanks' conditioning program.
"When I agreed to go with Billy, I told him he had my whole undivided attention, that whatever needed to be done, I would do it," Toney said. "No question or arguments about anything. I would just do it. I do not see anybody in the world train like Billy Blanks. The man is in great shape. If you look at him now, you would say this is the man you want to be. I want to be the same way."
Blanks, a martial arts expert and former amateur boxer before his fitness pitchman days, has Toney on a 1,500-calories-per-day diet. It's low in fat and carbohydrates and dominated by meals of fish and chicken to go with the lima beans.
"We are on a fat burner's diet," Blanks said. "I have somebody cooking for him and he eats five meals a day, drinking a lot of water, which he has never done as much as he is doing now. So he is cleaning his body out.
"His body is going to look like it has never looked before and his performance is going to even be better. James can outbox [most of his opponents] at the weight he was. But now, he is going to be able to identify boxing with his body and be able to make them all combine together and become a total weapon."
Even though Toney's camp expects him to be in great condition, it won't divulge his current weight.
Toney, never a fan of roadwork, is also running more.
"We run in the mornings. We are doing sprints, drills," Blanks said. "We are doing what he should have done a long time ago."
What they are doing, apparently, is working.
"Before, I guess, I was not training too hard because when I went home, I would not be sleepy," Toney said. "But believe me, now I go home every night sleepy. Just try to get home, get to that couch and get to that bed."
Hmmm...I'll believe it when I see it.
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Originally Posted by Punisher136
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