James Toney was once one of my favourite fighters. His slick shoulder roles and crazy skills, allowed for his super middleweight body to be successful all the way up through to the heavyweight ranks. He was once a brash talking comedian during pre and post fight interviews. At the moment, he can barely talk. I write that with total and utter sadness. So what happened in the past week which makes things even worse?
James Toney completed an interview with Elle Sekbach. Toney has interviewed poorly over the past few years but this was easily the worst interview he has ever completed. Toney told Sekbach that he is cousins with another famous basketballer which made no sense what so ever and his speech was so bad it was hard to watch. It made me feel sick. The last interview I watched from Toney was in 2012 and comparing this interview to then, it's clear Toney has gotten a lot worse in the past 3 years. Now I’m not ripping on Toney, he gave fans and the sport everything he could and it's cost him his health. Instead of looking after him and saying enough is enough, the sport is allowing Toney to receive beatings which are (have) destroyed his mental health.
It gets worse. After Toney completed that scary interview, he fought a few days later in Saint Louis. Toney fought a 40 year old by the name of Charles Ellis, who was coming off two losses himself. Toney’s punches seemed so slow and he had no reactions at all. His performance was that bad, several connections I have spoken to said it actually made Ellis look a lot better than he is. Toney threw 10 punches per round in slow motion and he was a punching bag for 10 rounds, losing a wide decision.
Some betting agencies were giving Ellis the odds of 8-1. For my Australian readers this means $8 back for every $1 which was bet. A few boxing fans caught on, according to a few comments left on boxrec forum. Ellis was always going to win, pretty much any top 500 heavyweight boxer beats Toney at the moment.
Now the point of this article is to say a few things, Toney is sick. His brain damage is there for all to see. And most importantly he shouldn’t be sanctioned to fight. Shame on the Misouri division of professional registration (name for boxing commission in misouri) for allowing this bout to go ahead and for sanctioning Toney to fight. Boxing needs to step in and protect this guy. He obviously needs the money, that's why he’s still fighting. But every punch he takes is doing more and more damage and unfortunately it seems he may be past the point of no return.
Like a Boss wrote:It is almost impossible to work out what Toney is saying any more. How any doctor could pass him fit to fight is beyond my imagination.
I will say in fairness - he does look alert - the eyes are clearly focussed and he knows what is going on around him - it could be nerve damage to the mouth and jaw from punches, but either way, it sure doesn't sound good, and he clearly cannot fight any more.
Like a Boss wrote:It is almost impossible to work out what Toney is saying any more. How any doctor could pass him fit to fight is beyond my imagination.
I will say in fairness - he does look alert - the eyes are clearly focussed and he knows what is going on around him - it could be nerve damage to the mouth and jaw from punches, but either way, it sure doesn't sound good, and he clearly cannot fight any more.
In saying he clearly cannot fight any more we are in complete agreement.
Question also, if Sekbach continues to interview Toney, would you say he's taking advantage? That's what a lot of people are saying now. Very bad to see.
Like a Boss wrote:It is almost impossible to work out what Toney is saying any more. How any doctor could pass him fit to fight is beyond my imagination.
I checked out his twitter like the article said and it's definetely not him. Sad people around him are running his twitter etc, using him to get sanctioned. I mean he must need the money desperately. Wouldn't have gotten more than $5K on the weekend.
Like a Boss wrote:It is almost impossible to work out what Toney is saying any more. How any doctor could pass him fit to fight is beyond my imagination.
I checked out his twitter like the article said and it's definetely not him. Sad people around him are running his twitter etc, using him to get sanctioned. I mean he must need the money desperately. Wouldn't have gotten more than $5K on the weekend.
Whatever he got paid it wasn't worth another chunk of his remaining health.
Like a Boss wrote:It is almost impossible to work out what Toney is saying any more. How any doctor could pass him fit to fight is beyond my imagination.
I checked out his twitter like the article said and it's definetely not him. Sad people around him are running his twitter etc, using him to get sanctioned. I mean he must need the money desperately. Wouldn't have gotten more than $5K on the weekend.
Whatever he got paid it wasn't worth another chunk of his remaining health.
Unfortunately he is clearly already beyond the point of no return and is destined to struggle with life beyond boxing regardless of what he does from here.
Its unbelievable commissions would let him fight. What kind of medical examination can he pass in this condition when its obvious for the untrained eye that he is sick. SMH
There is a clear bases for him to sue someone, the fornicating lot of them.
In James' prime, he basically acted as a threat to himself, everyone around him, and society at large. He spent all his money. Fighting is his vocation. It is all he can do. If he wants to fight, honestly that's probably the best thing for everyone involved. I seriously don't care or feel sorry for him.
Muhammed Ali's contributions to boxing and human rights are obviously immense but I really feel like he could have called more attention to brain damage in boxing. From everything i've read, Ali never accepted that his condition was brought on by the punches that he took in the ring. He and his Doctors believe that the disease passed down hereditarily or otherwise unknown origin. Maybe it's more dignifying for him to go with this claim and easier to palate viewing his disease as a matter of fate. But we all know it was because he made some horrendous decisions late in his career and took hellacious beatings.
There's still some time for Ali to change his tune and call attention to this problem but my guess is that he'll go to his grave refusing to accept the real facts surrounding his disease. It's a real shame because there will never be a more iconic ambassador to a cause than Muhammad Ali and he could have really help protect the boxers after him more.
