James Toney has opened his mouth once again, and the results are as predictable as Tuesday night's Pistons @ Cavs game: Lots of nonsense spewing forth.
In short, Toney says:
- He didn't watch Vitali Klitschko-Juan Carlos Gomez because it was garbage.
- The Klitschkos don't impress him.
- Everyone is scared of him, as if he "has AIDS."
- He's the best heavyweight in the world.
- HBO is insulting the fans by backing the Klitschkos (neither of Vitali's two comeback fights have been on HBO, by the way) instead of James Toney: World's Greatest Heavyweight.
- Bernard Hopkins is afraid of him.
So let me give my thoughts in the same numbered list fashion:
- It was roughly as good a fight as Toney's December epic with Fres Oquendo, in which Toney was gifted a decision win.
- Toney hasn't impressed anyone in years.
- Nobody is scared of him, he's just hard to look good against. Also he doesn't manufacture any dollar dollar bills, since neither of the major American TV networks have any interest in him whatsoever.
- He's probably the best middleweight pretending to be a heavyweight, I'll give him that.
- If HBO put on a James Toney fight in 2009, we'd all be thoroughly insulted. I'm kind of with him on this though. Wlad-Haye or Wlad-Povetkin or Wlad-Arreola, that's all I care about right now. I have no desire to see Wladimir pummel another schlub on HBO.
- Bernard Hopkins has bothered to keep himself in shape all these years and become one of the all-time greats of this sport, so maybe keep the lips sealed when it comes to Hopkins and even Roy Jones, who once beat the hell out of Toney and embarrassed him back when JT was exercising.
- Toney, 40, hasn't been in a good fight since the war with Jirov (maybe I'm being harsh there, you tell me). Toney, 40, hasn't won an important fight since beating a washed-up Holyfield six years ago. Toney, 40, is a known steroids user. Pretty "old school." Oops, this seventh bit makes the lists uneven...
- Oh hell, one more: "Lights Out" is about as fitting a nickname as Joan "Lil' Tyson" Guzman. The last light James turned out was via Clapper.
I'll always have mad respect for what James Toney was in his prime, and I truly mean that. I just wish the guy would stop talking and really, just stop fighting altogether. He's the epitome of what people hate about heavyweight boxing today: He's lazy, he's out of shape, he's "fat," he's boring, and he makes for rotten fights.