| James "Lights Out" Toney
(born August 24, 1968) is a professional boxer from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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JAMES TONEY TICKETS
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Early career
Toney had his first professional fight on October 26, 1988, beating Stephen Lee by a technical knockout in the second round. A draw with Sanderline Williams was the first blemish on Toney's record, although he beat Williams by unanimous decision three months later.
On March 10 1989 his manager Johnny "Ace" Smith was killed outside of the Page One Bar in Detroit. Only a short time later
Jackie Kallen became his manager.
A notable win by Toney in his early career was over fellow middleweight prospect Merqui Sosa for the lightly-regard IBA title in 1991.
Super Middleweight Champion
Toney moved up to the super middlweight division and won the IBF super middleweight championship from
Iran Barkley in a dominating performance on
February 13,
1993. He made three defenses (including one of former IBF light heavyweight champion Charles Williams) before meeting IBF middleweight champion
Roy Jones Jr. on
November 18,
1994. Jones won a landslide decision over Toney.
Years without a title
His fight after losing his title to Roy Jones saw him lose to
Montel Griffin at light heavyweight in February 1995. After then winning a series of fights at light heavyweight, cruiserweight, and even heavyweight, he again faced Montel Griffin in December 1996, and once again lost a close decision. He beat old foe
Mike McCallum in February 1997, but then lost to journeyman Drake Thadzi in his next fight.
He continued to fight at cruiserweight and light heavyweight, beating a variety of undistinguished opponents.
Cruiserweight Champion
In August 2002, Toney beat Jason Robinson in an IBF Cruiserweight title elimination fight. This set up a fight between Toney and IBF Cruiserweight champion
Vassiliy Jirov. After a postponement, the fight came off on
April 26,
2003.Toney won a unanimous decision, knocking the undefeated Jirov down in the 12th, it was rewarded fight of the year.
Immediately afterward, Toney moved up to heavyweight.
Heavyweight career
Even when Toney was a middleweight, he insisted that he would one day be the heavyweight champion of the world. His good handspeed, slick defense, and exceptional counterpunching have enabled him to defeat physically better (but technically less-skilled) opponents. His
October 4,
2003, victory over aging former heavyweight champion
Evander Holyfield was Toney's entry into the heavyweight division. After a shaky first round, Toney picked the
Atlanta legend apart with shots to the body and head before stopping him in the 9th round.
On
April 30,
2005, he defeated
John Ruiz by a unanimous decision in a 12-round match for the
World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight Championship. However, as of
May 18 2005, it was reported that Toney failed his post-fight drug test, testing positive for the anabolic steroid
stanozolol. This led to the New York Athletic Commission changing the bout's official outcome to a "no-contest," deducting the win from Toney's career record, and banning him from boxing for 90 days. The WBA ordered that Ruiz be reinstated as its champion and that Toney be ineligible for another WBA Heavyweight title shot for two years. Toney defended himself by claiming that the steroids were given to him by a doctor to treat an injured arm that occurred during his victory over Rydell Booker in his previous fight. Toney was also subject to a civil lawsuit by Ruiz claiming that Toney's illegal use of steroids gave him an edge in the fight.
In his bout after the Ruiz fight, Toney won a unanimous decision victory over former heavyweight contender Dominic Guinn. Toney next fought against
Hasim Rahman on
March 18,
2006, for the WBC Heavyweight title. The result was a twelve-round majority draw. Toney weighed a career-high 237 lb for his lackluster performance.
Toney's next two outings were
split decision and unanimous decision losses on to
Samuel Peter. The first fight was held in
Los Angeles, California on Sept 2, 2006, and was a controversial decision. The return bout was held in
Hollywood, Florida, on
January 6, 2007, and Toney once again lost a decision to Peter. Both fights were
WBC eliminator bouts for the belt held by
Oleg Maskaev.
Toney returned to action in May 2007 and won a ten round split decision over
Danny Batchelder. Following the bout, Toney once again tested positive for
boldenone and
stanozolol and was fined $2500 and banned from boxing for a year, Toney appealed the suspension and it was reduced to 6 months after he appeared before the CSAC and claimed he didn't knowingly take any steroids and suggested that he was set up and someone had tampered with his water bottle.
On
July 16,
2008, Toney's rematch against
Hasim Rahman was stopped in the third round. An accidental headbutt by Toney opened a cut above Rahman's left eye. The ring doctor stopped the fight after determining that the cut was blocking Rahman's vision. Initially, the fight was called as a TKO win for Toney, but this was overruled by the
California State Athletic Commission and the fight was declared
no-contest.
Toney's next bout came on
December 13,
2008 against
Fres Oquendo. Oquendo was penalized 1 point in round eight for a rabbit punch, which would prove to be the deciding factor in the fight. Toney won a close split decision.
James Toney is the current NABO and IBA Heavyweight champion
Amateur career
Record: 33 fights, 31 wins, 2 losses with 29 KOs
- Lost on his debut
- Won 1983 and 1984 West Michigan Division Junior Title (156 lb)
- Won 1987 Novice Golden Gloves in Manchester (156 lb)
- Won 1987 Michigan Silver Gloves (156 lb)
- Lost at first stage of 1988 Detroit Golden Gloves (156 lb)
- Won 1988 Ohio State Fair (156 lb)
Trivia
Toney is an avid cigar connoisseur. In 2005 James Toney introduced his own cigar line titled "Lights Out." The cigar was custom tailored to Toney's taste by Lou's Tobacco, a cigar lounge frequented by Toney in Los Angeles, CA.
Toney has played boxing roles in a couple of movies, including playing
Joe Frazier in
Ali
, whom Toney calls "his hero."
Toney has appeared in the video game series
Fight Night.
Honors
- Named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year for 1991 and 2003
- Named The Ring
magazine Comeback of the Year fighter for 2003.
- Named Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year for 1991 and 2003
See also
- List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
- List of boxing triple champions?
- List of boxing quadruple champions
- List of boxing quintuple champions
- List of boxing sextuple champions