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Who said smoking seriously harms? Well, it actually does: it harms those who meet the smoker James “Lights Out” Toney. Definitely go buy “Lights Out” cigars: they seem to have a good effect on the body. Let’s say: victory, hearth, strength, belts. James Toney has been smoking cigars all his life, before and after matches, despite of being considered twice “Boxer of the Year” (1991 and 2003) from the Ring Magazine and against any general criticism. Beyond, in 2005 he introduced his own cigar custom tailored to Toney’s taste by Lou’s Tobacco, a cigar lounge he frequents in Los Angeles: a Cuban seed with a Nicaraguan leaf; afterwards, he surprised his longtime fiancée, Anjanette Corulli (and ther 5 children), by marrying her at a poolside ceremony while attending a WBC function recognizing him, Vitali Klitschko and Hasim Rahman in Mexico. Plus, when not fighting, Toney has become a fixture as a popular guest commentator on Fox Sports Network’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period” and has a bio-doc reality show in production.
But he’s not an actor, not a Cuban cigar man, not a reality man, but a real man. He’s a boxer. This Archie Moore styled 38 year old moody boxer, scared of growing up but growing-up-getting-better, has survived the middleweight, super middleweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight categories knocking 43 times out his opponents (W 69 - L 5 - D 3) in 78 professional bouts. He says “Old school” for his attitude and his way of fighting, lashed to the great fighters from the past like Ezzard Charles and Toney’s alter-ego Archie Moore, boxers who sharpen their skills to perfection, expert mechanics with all the tools for the job: timing, angles and perspective, gradual escalation during the fight, focus, fear on the ring.
Baby 22 year old professional James soon earned the shot at the International Boxing Federation Middleweight belt, worn by the undefeated and respected Michael “Second To” Nunn (second to Toney that time), beaten in his own hometown of Davenport, Iowa, at the 11th round by technical knockout: here came for James the first world championship. Easy for him, the tough, after that, to defend the title against Reggie Johnson, Francesco Dell’Aquila, Mike McCallum, with six fights in 1991 including victories over undefeated Merqui Sosa and Alberto Gonzalez. Moving to 168 pounds he got the 168-pound IBF title by scoring a 10th round technical knockout over Iran Barkley.
Considered already to be the best pound-for-pound boxer, he was still undefeated at 44-0-2 until the match with the underdog Olympian Roy Jones Jr. on Nov. 18, 1994. He arrived in the ring weak and dehydrated for losing 44 pounds in six weeks before the scheduled meeting, 18 of them four days before. The first defeat for Toney, who still considered himself as the best fighter: “Roy Jones should’ve knocked me out”. True but not enough to get his title back and his will to fight. That was it.
The next time easier to lose, twice, against Montel Griffin. Then one victory on Mike McCallum in February, 1997, and again a loss against journeyman Drake Thadzi. So easy now for boxing to stop being at the first place in moody Toney’s heart: afterwards, alcohol and food were his priority until he got to 275 pounds, plus the split with manager Jackie Kallen, a divorce and the civil suit filed against his mother. “They never asked: What does James want? How is his health?”, he complains, explaining why he didn’t want to know about boxing anymore, not even as mere information. Until a television commentator, talking about the best fighters, didn’t mention his name. What? Not my name? How you dare. And Toney is back, with a vengeance. Campaigning at Cruiserweight, he went on a 10-fight winning streak from 1999 to 2002 that culminated in the IBF world title won by UD against undefeated cruiserweight champion Vassiliy Jirov. So, shooting straight to fulfilling the dream: the world heavyweight championship. He moves up to heavyweight six months later to face the four-times world heavyweight champion Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield on Oct. 4, 2003, and in round nine becomes the third fighter ever to knock him down. A real deal, that is true. In 2004, with his left arm suffereing, facing undefeated Rydell Booker he got the shot of the WBC heavyweight title in the elimination bout; then beat two-time WBA heavyweight champion John “The Quiet Man” Ruiz on April 30, 2005 (so “Quiet” that after the hard 12 rounds against Toney, he retired). Brutal as Toney’s shots in the ring were his comments after the victory: “I didn’t expect much because John Ruiz is an average fighter. He’s stupid. He can’t change his style. He only knows how to fight one way. But I do take my hat off to him for giving me this opportunity”. Despite of “Ruiz’s stupidity”, Toney tested positive for anabolic steroid Nandrolone (claiming the steroids were given to him by a doctor to treat the injured arm occurred in his previous fight over Rydell Booker). The bout reverted to a “no-contest”, the win was deducted from Toney’s career record and he was banned from boxing for 90 days and considered ineligible for another WBA title for two years. The WBA ordered that “stupid” Ruiz be “reinstated” as its champion. Not enough: Toney won a unanimous decision victory over former heavyweight contender Dominic Guinn, then recently fought WBC heavyweight champion Hasim “The Rock” Rahman at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The result was a twelve-round majority draw. One judge had the fight 117-111 for Rahman while the other two had it a 114-114 draw. By his own admission, Toney admitted that if he had eaten a little less and not smoked as many cigars leading up to the fight, he would have clearly beaten his opponent. Not only Toney, but many felt he had won. “The Rock” Rahman said Toney showed him looks he had never seen before. Discipline first thing, not potatoes. Not Buddha-alike boxers, not even in heavyweight big guys category. Heavy, not fat. Breath and heart, not cigars.
Next challenge for Cigars Toney, the hottest young prospect in boxing, big Samuel “The Nigerian Nightmare” Peter, 25, in the elimination bout for the WBC heavyweight belt. In such a facing, Toney has been considered as the “professor” and Peter as the “student”. But Toney is smaller, yet he has fought with the heaviest of heavyweights and knows every move to be known. Samuel, with his devastating power, won the contest by split decision: two of the judges scored the match for Peter 116-111, the final judge had it 115-112 for Toney. The curiosity has not been satisfied: the WBC Board of Governors has right away voted 21 to 10 on Sept. 26 in favor of an immediate re-match.
Just remember that one student, once, outperformed his teacher: Raffaello Sanzio, one of the main Italian artists, drew a fly on one of his famous teacher Perugino’s paintings, and his teacher confused it for an actual fly who had leaned on his draw. Do we expect that Peter’s fly will lean on Toney’s Archie Moore paintings? |
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