It's not unusual to see real estate tycoon Donald Trump at ringside when one of his casinos is hosting a fight. But except from taking a bow, he rarely gets involved in anything other than watching the fights. This was not the case, however, after the end of the controversial James Toney-Dave Tiberi bout. Trump called the decision 'disgraceful' and told spectators he would not allow another fight at one of his three Atlantic City gambling emporiums until the injustice was 'rectified'. A few minutes later Trump, accompanied by model Maria Marples, marched into Tiberi's dressing room and announced he was going to see that the decision was overturned. 'I'm going to file a protest' Trump informed Tiberi after first shaking the battered boxer's hand and telling him he'd won the fight. "And this is not like your people filing a protest. This is coming from me"
I remember this. Nothing happened of course, even if Trump did file a protest. Tiberi never fought again and Toney moved on with out the deserved loss on his record. Another in the endless line of controversial decisions favouring the house fighter in boxing, and I imagine a still bitter Tiberi, though I've not read any interviews with him since.
All that fight did for me was make me turn my back on Toney; I felt conned by Toney and lost interest in him, never again going out of my way to watch him fight.
It was obvious Tiberi wasn't a champion caliber fighter (no punch whatsoever), but Toney had no business picking up his paycheck; he let a sparing partner bang on his midsection for 12 rounds and wanted us to call it a title defense.
They should have given the title to Tiberi it might of served as a wake-up call for Toney, instead his arrogance just continued to grow and his career declined.
