The immortal boxing legend and former 3-weight world champion, James Toney caught up with Boxing News and cast his opinions on the current state of the sport he once thrived in.
First off, Toney touched on the influence of the Klitschko brothers now that both combatants have seemingly hung up their gloves.
“They were robotic. Being relaxed helps conserve energy, it keeps you focused, physically, mentally and all around, and it is great to be like that.”
“Before a fight, someone like Wladimir was a scared dude, he’d practically have a fever before a fight and that guy was very overrated. Those two came around at the right time.”
Toney then passed his judgement on how the sport is making a turn for the worst with many of the up and coming champions placing more focus on being big and strong rather than focusing on bettering their craft.
“Everyone wants to be big, strong and bulky now, which is cool.”
“I used to do weights all the time, but my thing is that it doesn’t make you a fighter,” Toney added.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bba0PP0FCkH/
“Look at fighters from the 1970s, 80s, 90s and even the early 2000s, they had skills and wanted to be the best, now it is just about money and bullsh*t.”
“The real skills are going because people want to get rich quick. It is a sad sport now.”
“There are some young bangers coming up, though. I like people like Errol Spence, Terence Crawford, ‘Triple G’, Daniel Jacobs and [Sergey] Kovalev, those are the guys I follow,” Toney added.
Toney also reserved some praise for the recently retired 2-weight world champion. ‘Lights Out’ credited Ward with being ‘a very underrated fighter’ while also voicing his uncertainty whether ‘S.O.G’ has decided to hang up his gloves for good.
“Andre Ward was also a very underrated boxer. He’s walked away from the game, which shocked me, but he will be back, they always come back.”
“He’ll be waiting for someone to call for him who can bring the money and wants to try to beat ‘S.O.G.’—he’s a good boxer.”
Help Riddick Bowe stay in his home https://t.co/9Y1BZZEHxn
— James Toney (@RealJamesToney) December 15, 2017
#TBT – FEB 8, 1992: My fight against Dave Tiberi at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City NJ. I won the IBF middleweight title SD 12. #JamesToneypic.twitter.com/kYSl3D4TAn
— James Toney (@RealJamesToney) July 27, 2017
On a final note, James Toney delivered his verdict on the marquee matchup in the sport for 2017. The matchup in question is, of course, Canelo vs Golovkin and Toney delivered a fairly scathing analysis of the Mexican’s performance.
“Golovkin and Alvarez should have a rematch because I believe that Golovkin was going to knock him out and would of if Canelo didn’t run, which is what he did for the last rounds to make it a draw.
“‘GGG’ fights like me, a pressure fighter who brings it to you. He was bringing Canelo down, landing headshots and body shots, and he made him fight like a sissy.”
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