BoxRec

But worryingly, he looks fat as fornicate at this presser for the Rydell Booker fight.




Anyone who hasn't already read this on fightnews, should read it now, fornicating hilarious.


By Bret Newton
Photos: Bret Newton





"Garbage...garbage...garbage...they’re all garbage!" That’s what former champion James Toney had to say about the current heavyweight division and its champions on Wednesday at the Le Dome Restaurant in Beverly Hills, California. Toney took the stage to talk the talk, aiming at anyone and everyone, including reporters.

At the event, promoter Dan Goossen officially announced the September 23 WBC heavyweight elimination bout between James "Lights Out" Toney and undefeated Rydell Booker. "This is going to be a blockbuster event," proclaimed Goossen.

Booker (22-0, 12 KOs) has fought the majority of his career at cruiserweight. Toney (67-4-2, 43 KOs) who has won world titles at 160, 168 and 200 lbs., will finally be getting back in the ring after a nine month lay off. The bout will be for the WBC's #1 ranking.

"From the fight standpoint, we got James Toney coming back," stated Goossen. "It’s been the worst eight, nine months of my life and I know of James’ life. Here we were on such a roll. He goes out there, beats Jason Robinson for the #1 position in the IBF to get to Vassily Jirov. With the #1 position, Jirov couldn’t avoid him anymore and as you probably know by now, James went out there and looked spectacular in beating Jirov for the IBF cruiserweight title.

"James then went out in October last year and destroyed Evander Holyfield. Not only destroyed, but I think more importantly, had tremendous pay-per-view numbers for a man that had really been out of the pay-per-view business for about nine years. His rating had been soaring. We were doing great. We had Jameel McCline lined up, and after that, the world was James’.

"Unfortunately, I think it was January 21st, getting ready for the fight, he snapped his achilles tendon. There wasn’t a doctor, there wasn’t a fighter, there wasn’t an expert out there that said it wasn’t career ending.

"Pertaining to his determination, his sacrifice and will to not let anything beat him, [he] overcame it, and here we are, sitting here, getting ready for this fight. I know we’re going to take off right where we left off before.

"And with that, one of the things we discussed for this fight, we wanted someone that hadn’t lost before. Rydell Booker. Undefeated fighter. Twelve knockouts, twenty-two wins. We didn’t go after someone that you expect to lose. This guy doesn’t expect to lose. He expects to come out here and take away what Toney has rolling right now.

"This fight is for the #1 ranking in the WBC. Very, very important. Very much like I said about Jirov, Vitali Klitschko has been avoiding and ignoring James Toney’s name, but you know what we’re gonna do? We put a big target on that, as James likes to call him, the ‘Russian Frankenstein’. We put a big target on him, and starting with Rydell Booker, James is going to mow down everyone like you haven’t seen a heavyweight mow down guys since Mike Tyson in his prime."

James "Lights Out" Toney took the podium to let off some steam saved up through his time off as he shows his frustration.

"Uh Oh!", said Toney. "Hellooooo! I cant wait baby. Hey, I been out for like nine months. I see all these so called heavyweight champions. It’s a great sport looking terrible. Nobody knows who the heavyweight champion of the world is. I see Tom Loeffler back there. You know I see you hiding back there scaredy boy, and you can't hide those sorry ass Klitschko brothers.

"I can guarantee you this, after September 23rd, I win the IBA heavyweight championship of the world, then I beat Vitali and win the WBC belt. Guaranteed! I’m whoopin’ all asses, all the time. It doesn’t matter. I’m the best damn heavyweight period, I'm fighting on the ‘Best Damn Sports Show’, we fighting in the best damn casino.

I’m just ready to go. I'm excited. People hiding form me. They cant hide now. I cant wait. Whoever wanna fight me, I'm ready. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace. Chris Byrd, Klitschko, [John] Ruiz, whoever. Mike Tyson, whoever. [Lamon] Brewster, he’s a chump. The heavyweight division is a joke. Now I'm back. I'm about to make it lively again."

Toney sat down, but felt he was just warming up and continued without the microphone.

"Tom Loeffler, before you leave, I'm gonna make sure I hit you in your eye."

When asked about his views on the Roy Jones vs Antonio Tarver rematch, the sharp chimes of silverware hitting the concrete was what Toney described as "Roy Jones’ jaw", while he grabbed 2 forks and a butter knife from the table then dropping them at once on the ground.

Then, Toney started venting on reporters:

"You need to get some real boxing reporters that know what the hell they talkin’ about. Steve Kim! How the hell you gonna have a Korean guy talk about boxing."

Another reporter asked if his achilles tendon fully healed. Toney replied, "Hey, come over here to this table, bend over and I’ll show you."

Fightnews sat down with Toney before his final vent and asked:

Who is Rydell Booker and what do you know about him?
"I have no idea, you tell me."

Do you feel he has earned this title contention bout with you?
"I’m the only one whose earned it."

Who do you feel most deserves to get in the ring with you to fight for the #1 WBC mandatory?
"Nobody."

Is there another fighter you’d rather get in the ring with in this WBC title eliminator?
"Joe Mesi, whatever his name is."

What’s your take on the WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko?
"Garbage."

WBA Champion John Ruiz?
"Garbage"

What about...
"Garbage."

Tyson?
"Garbage. Garbage."

Are there any good heavyweights out there?
"None! There are none."

So there aren’t any exciting fights out there is what you’re saying?
"I'm gonna make some. I'm gonna make they ass fight. Whoever I fight, I'm gonna knock them out. I'm gonna do my job. That’s what I do. You’re a boxing reporter right?"

Yes
"Have you ever boxed before?"

Yes
"How many fights you had?"

One
"One what, amateur?"

Yes
"See what I’m saying. How the hell you gonna have a guy, have one amateur fight talk about boxing? How you have a guy with one amateur fight talk about boxing! This guy’s asking silly questions. Check this out, where’s the mic at?"

At this point, Toney grabbed the mic at the podium once again.

"Hello? Hey! Can I have your attention please? Can I have your attention PLEASE! Now I'm tired of all you reporters who have no amateur fights or maybe one amateur fight, ask me silly, stupid ass questions. Now, I want you guys to get in a line to fight. I'm gonna set up a ring in the parking lot, put four cars together. I want all you reporters to go ahead and fight each other right now. The winner can ask me any question he wants to. Otherwise, if he ain't gonna do it, don’t ask me a damn thing, unless it’s the right answer. Do you understand me? DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, ladies and gentlemen? Now, thank you very much. No more stupid ass questions cause you might get slapped."

He looks like someone from the Nigerian Government.

I fcuking love James Toney.

He says he will fight anybody, anywhere, anytime and he is one of the few boxers who actually back up what they say [Ricky Hatton]

NEXT!!!

jamesmcdonnell wrote:He looks like someone from the Nigerian Government.

Or uncle Phil from the fresh prince of belair

Very funny. Of course, all the shit-talking will mean more when he actually beats a live heavyweight, but he's just what the division needs, all the same.

Holyfield was still a good win. I honestly don't think that anyone else would have done that number on Holyfield.

DISAGREE, thin vitali woudl pummle a shot holyfield senseless.

I agree with Mickey, lets see when he beats one of the top five.
Im not sure looking at him in these piccies that one day it aint all gonna catch up with toney.

he wants to make sure it aint when hje is in the ring with the ukranian.

Not as quickly nor with such technical proficiency. Toney picked him apart like he was pulling the legs of an insect, chopped him to pieces.

Chambers wrote:I fcuking love James Toney.

He says he will fight anybody, anywhere, anytime and he is one of the few boxers who actually back up what they say [Ricky Hatton]

NEXT!!!

James Toney is the mouthiest heavyweight in the world. He is also the best. He backs up his talk.

He's right about the reporters as well.

Get him over here to kick the shit out of Patrick Collins of The Mail on Sunday. Thats one guy who should not be writing about boxing. He's a tosser.

He doesn't exactly look lean but to be fair against Holyfield he looked more like a melted chocolate pudding than a body beautiful.

Toney talks the talk, walks the walk but LOOKS bloody awful.

He looked good against Holyfield I thought, big and powerful, just had a gut was all.

He looks pretty bloated there though, look how fat his face and neck are, he looks like a fornicating silverback....

I certainly wouldn't fancy interviewing him much...

JT "How many fights you had man"

JM "Errr, well, i boxed at primary school...."

JT "Whaaaat, who the fornicate is this guy man, get the fornicate on our of here before I kick your ass"

JM "Watch it James, or I'll give you a dry slap...only kidd....ouch, ow, fornicate stop hitt...<slump>"

TONEY IS DEFINITELY THE BEST HEAVY AT THE MO. JUST HAS TO SHOW IT IN THE RING.DEFENSIVE MASTER,WITH GREAT HAND SPEED

I didn't think Toney looked all that powerful against Evander. I'd be surprised if we see many heavyweights (aged below 40 anyway) lose inside the distance to the smacktalk king.

He does appear to have a supreme natural fitness level though.

"Next... Neeeeeexxxt... Neeeeexxt course please!!!!"

Lard-assed, loud-mouthed tosser!!!

With that suit he looks like the lead singer of a group who's over here doin' a 'Legends of Motown' tour at the places of the Winter Gardens in Margate.

They said his recovery from injury has been miraculous... Well I'm not surprised becasue he don't look like he's been doing much walking but he's sure been eating.

No doubt a class fighter but you can't take him too seriously. Let's be honest he battered a faded Holyfield and then lost momentum due to his injury and I still don't know how he'd do against someone like Klitchsko. I'd like to see him stand in front of him and just try and slip punches! He'll get his arse spanked.

Just to get back to where he was around the Holyfield fight is going to take some effort and I'd go as far to say that he won't.

Shame, because he's a great boxer, who's mouth and attitude let him down.

Bret Newton, the reporter whom Toney acted like a jerk too is a really nice bloke and actually knows his boxing.

The man has no class.

i hate this trashtalking motherfucker. talks like ali hasn´t reached anything in heavy.

BubiScholz wrote:i hate this trashtalking motherfucker. talks like ali hasn´t reached anything in heavy.

He has only had 1 fight at HW give him chance.

Keep on talking James

topman wrote:TONEY IS DEFINITELY THE BEST HEAVY AT THE MO. JUST HAS TO SHOW IT IN THE RING.

Why? Not having a go mate, but why is he the best heavy? What has he done? Beat a man who should have retired 5 years ago? I mean, I could sit here and say that Hatton is the best light-welter weight in the world. Until either of them actually fight and beat a top-drawer fighter, they've proved nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I like Toney: he's funny and he creates interest in fights. He's also a great fighter. I just don't understand why everyone is so quick to proclaim him the best in the (admitedly piss-poor) division. He's a middleweight who couldn't stop eating. Now Chris Byrd has shown that you can start out at middle and go on to be a good heavyweight, but even he was beaten comfortably by the Klitschkos. Let's get Toney in there with a good big'un before we proclaim him saviour of boxings flagship division.

mickeybeard wrote:

topman wrote:TONEY IS DEFINITELY THE BEST HEAVY AT THE MO. JUST HAS TO SHOW IT IN THE RING.

Why? Not having a go mate, but why is he the best heavy? What has he done? Beat a man who should have retired 5 years ago? I mean, I could sit here and say that Hatton is the best light-welter weight in the world. Until either of them actually fight and beat a top-drawer fighter, they've proved nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I like Toney: he's funny and he creates interest in fights. He's also a great fighter. I just don't understand why everyone is so quick to proclaim him the best in the (admitedly piss-poor) division. He's a middleweight who couldn't stop eating. Now Chris Byrd has shown that you can start out at middle and go on to be a good heavyweight, but even he was beaten comfortably by the Klitschkos. Let's get Toney in there with a good big'un before we proclaim him saviour of boxings flagship division.

I would have loved to see Toney Vs McCline, I was gutted when he got the injury. Lets hope they can make this match again or with someone equivalent to Jameel

The problem with the massive excess weight - and this will only be compounded by the Achilles injury, even if he recovers as well from that as is medically possible - is that it's so blatantly obvious how to beat the guy - just keep moving, don't stand in front of him. He's like some kind of massive, slow battleship - if you stand in front of him and let him train his guns on you, you're in trouble, but if you keep circling, whacking him from the sides before he manages to get all that tonnage turned toward you, you've got an excellent chance to win.

I've always said, Toney is a great boxer but the blueprint for beating him has been clear ever since he started to let his weight soar. Good wins though they were, Jirov and Holyfield were tailor-made for him - they both took the fight to him and stood in front of him all night.

The problem with the current HW division is that so many of the guys are super-sized themselves that they can't execute the move-and-stick strategy, at least not for the full 12 rounds.

what i meant mickeybeard is that he is technically a far better boxer than just about any other heavy weight in the division,gomez closest thing to him.given a chance,in my opinion could beat any heavy.including vitali. hardest fights for him would b byrd,and a very close fight with gomez, after all gomez did rule the cruiser division for several years,with toney in the mix

Whilst Toney is one of the best all rounders, maybe the best left in the game, there is nothing to prove he is good enough to beat all the heavies out there. Byrd would probably beat him on points.

Toney is one of my favourite fighters, but he was always beatable by someone who could box and move, Michael Nunn almost pulled it off, but Toney managed to trap him long enough to finish him off.

All his smack talk is there to do a job, which is sell the fight, though some of it is for real for sure.

Eric the Viking wrote:It's so blatantly obvious how to beat the guy - just keep moving, don't stand in front of him. He's like some kind of massive, slow battleship - if you stand in front of him and let him train his guns on you, you're in trouble, but if you keep circling, whacking him from the sides before he manages to get all that tonnage turned toward you, you've got an excellent chance to win.

it's so blatantly obvious how to beat the guy - just keep moving, don't stand in front of him. He's like some kind of massive, slow battleship - if you stand in front of him and let him train his guns on you, you're in trouble, but if you keep circling, whacking him from the sides before he manages to get all that tonnage turned toward you, you've got an excellent chance to win.

I dont think any of the heavyweight fighters besides Byrd could execute this strategy for an extended period of time against James.
Plus, these heavies dont take shots to the body when they fight, because not many heavies throw them and I am fairly certain that James would give any one of them a serious hurting to the midsection.
And James manages to turn his tonnage better than anyone that size I have ever seen, so I hope I get to see someone try it out against him.

While I know that conventional wisdom goes against a short fat guy with a big mouth beating up a tall giant or a slick pussy like Byrd, James defies conventional wisdom, and I think he could beat these guys.

He weighed 258 in those pictures, and losing 25-30 pounds wont be too much trouble for James.


"Tom Loeffler, before you leave, I'm gonna make sure I hit you in your eye."

Priceless.

For the guy who said James has no class, you have to take it for what it is.
Tongue in cheek.
When James talks shit like this to ordinary people, it's all in fun.
Unless you take offense, in which case, James gets a little mad, but that's him.
But I doubt anybody took his threat to hit Tom Loeffler seriously, and Steve Kim and James are buddies, so When James talks about why is a Korean guy talking about boxing, it's just to give him a hard time.

James has called Mike garbage, but Freddie Roach has recently said that the two guys are buddies and really like each other.

When he slapped the mic out of Jim greys hand, Jim Grey moved towards James a bit, and James got extra Salty.
YOU STEPPING TO ME??? YO, WHY YOU STEPPING TO ME DOG??
Jim Grey turned white as a sheet, but that's good, because the guy is an asshole who belittles the boxers with his shitty questions, and James let him know that.

James is just a character, simply put.
Good for boxing no doubt.

uptconnect wrote:While I know that conventional wisdom goes against a short fat guy with a big mouth beating up a tall giant or a slick pussy like Byrd, James defies conventional wisdom, and I think he could beat these guys.

We don't really know how he'd cope with a monster heavy (especially one with a good jab) yet, though, since Holyfield is neither very big nor mobile (especially these days.) That's the one possible exception to the keep-moving rule for beating Toney is if a really big guy can keep him at bay by continually sticking him with a stuff jab, and make him pay for any attempt to close the distance. Both Klits were able to do precisely that against Byrd, and Byrd is widely considered one of the most mobile, defensively slickest heavies around. You can't hurt what you can't hit. Toney is long-armed for his size, but getting inside on a giant like Vitali is gonna be real tough - he's never fought anyone remotely as big. I'm seeing Lewis-Tua in my mind's eye. Tua's big punch was absolutely useless to him in that fight, because he never got into range to land it. And Tua hits *way* harder than Toney. Especially for a volume puncher like Toney, the question is not just how to get into range but how to get there often enough to start wearing a big guy down.

Anyway, I really hope he starts getting in shape and nothing messed-up happens vs. Booker, because Booker getting a title shot would be a complete frickin' joke.