Toney's Title Chances Went Up In Smoke
"Many prominent athletes smoke Luckies all day long
with no harmful effects to wind or physical condition." Tobacco Ad Circa 1929

Photoshop: Bret "The Threat" Newton
 

While most people are blaming James Toney's sub par showing against Hasim Rahman on his eating problem, his camp is focusing on something else the boxer stuffs in his mouth: cigars.
 
"Lights Out" in the future will be the operative name for Toney's training, not just his moniker, unless he snuffs his cigar smoking habit.
 
Craig Goosen of Goosen/Tutor Promotions knows all too well of Toneys love affair with cigars and told Boxing2006, "The cigars hurt him more than any weight issues."

Toney is a well-known aficionado of good cigars, but high-priced smoke or cheap stogie, the effect is the same, according to The National Cancer Institute; Cigar smoking can cause oral, esophageal, laryngeal and lung cancers. Regular cigar smokers who inhale, particularly those who smoke several cigars per day, have an increased risk of coronary heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
 
Goosen went on further to say, "Maybe cut back on the cigars!!! If NFL linemen were smokers they'd never make it past the 1st half of a game."
 
Once again the NCI concurs; Regular cigar smokers have risks of oral and esophageal cancers similar to those of cigarette smokers. We believe an accurate statement is that the risks of tobacco smoke exposure are similar for all sources of tobacco smoke, and the magnitude of the risks experienced by cigar smokers is proportionate to the nature and intensity of their exposure.
 
Given the fact that James seems to have a cigar in his mouth almost all day long seems to give credence to the thoughts and concerns of most of his team players, including his trainer and confidant Freddie Roach.
 
Roach stated, "If you smoke enough of anything its not good for an athlete. Maybe that's why he got too fatigued."
 
We agree, in fact, too much of anything is not good for you, too much tobacco, too much Fatburger, and mixing the two is about as volatile a cocktail as has ever been created for a top flight prize fighter. Bad idea James!
 
Freddie agrees with us, "We all know its a bad idea (cigar smoking) and it is something that needs to be taken care of. We haven't talked about the fight yet, but his cigar smoking has got to stop, and the weight has got to come down a little bit. If he wants to keep on fighting at this level, those are the two must situations."
 
So the question is how do you sit down a 37 year old man who has been widely successful at doing whatever it is he wants to do and tell him he has got to stop doing it if he wants to succeed?
 
Maybe in the real world that would be a snap, but we are talking about James Toney here, and I don't know if he has visited the real world in quite sometime, Good Luck guys!
 
Maybe a good old fashion intervention would help. I hear Overeaters Anonymous and Nicotine Anonymous work wonders, Who knows, maybe the only way James will ever be able to compete for 12 rounds is after he applies The 12 Steps.