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Fat Tub of Goo-The Undisputed Champion?
MON March 20, BUSTER PARIS - Mmmm…the sweet smell of dissatisfaction. That wonderful state of…nothing…and the confusing nebulously floating feeling that only one word truly captures when describing the current shape of the Heavyweight division…
“Huh?”
Saturday – March 18th 2006 at “Gatti’s House” – the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ - Hasim “The Rock” Rahman and James “Light Out” Toney were supposed to set the stage for a final 4 show down and start the “play-offs” that will give us THE Heavyweight Champion, but in the recent tradition of the sad condition of the Heavyweight division this did not happen – but when you think about it – it’s kind of poetic.
It’s hard to separate the March 18th fight from the current situation in the division. To discuss the fight you can’t help but tumble into a conversation about the Heavyweights – so here’s a quickie look at what’s going on – hold on to your brain and your chair – this may make you dizzy…
The way Ring Magazine sees it right now - Chris Byrd is the top dog and in April he’s fighting Wladimir Klitschko (#8) – a fight that’s also for the IBF & Vacant IBO titles. Interestingly - Boxing Digest Magazine has Byrd as its champion – so in my opinion Chris Byrd right now is THE man to beat.
In a few weeks after this column Lamon Brewster (Ring #4 and Boxing Digest #2) is fighting Serguei Lyakhovich (not in top 10) for the WBO title and the winner of Rahman (#2) vs. Toney (#3) were fighting for the WBC belt, but more importantly were fighting to add clarity to what would happen next.
Basically out of all this mess of alphabets and titles and belts would emerge the TRUE Heavyweight Champion of the World! – and it really is kind of funny that the first step for this process is a misstep – the first result is a draw.
Let’s look at some aspects of the fight:
Before the opening bell HBO’s Jim Lampley, as usual, summed it all up beautifully when describing the two fighters. He said that Hasim Rahman is in the best shape of his career and had 4 words to describe James Toney:
“Fat Tub of Goo” – Brilliant!
First – let’s talk about Hasim Rahman’s performance – I would say it was impressively one of his best.
He did much better than I expected. He looked like a Heavyweight Champion – not just a Heavyweight. He was calm and poised the entire night, never lost his cool and never let the frustration of Toney’s elusiveness get to him. He never gave a second thought to the cut above his right eye that he received in round 5 (accidental clash of heads).
He stayed on his game plan and remained the aggressor even with James’ beautiful counter game Hasim stayed on plan and kept coming – not haphazardly, but safely and skillfully. Rahman also used his jab like a true professional and kept shooting it out there - keeping Toney at the distance to best serve Hasim.
Hasim’s punches were no doubt the harder and bigger punches. His hands alone are like twice the size of Toney’s – as commentator Emmanuel Steward pointed out - James really has the hand size of a Middleweight.
Rahman’s questionable chin and conditioning were not a factor as most thought they would be. He took very good clean shots from Toney all night, but they never got to him, never hurt him. Both fighters would get tired at times, but it was never an issue or a concern.
The big things for you to take away from this are that Rahman was confident, poised, professional and no doubt the stronger, harder puncher – and employed his jab almost perfectly.
Let’s take a look at James “Lights Out” Toney.
Toney’s defense was characteristically exceptional - and offensively he was by far the quicker puncher, landing stinging combinations at will and some huge overhand rights at times, but James never had the power to hurt Rahman and in the later rounds his extra weight did him a disservice as his balance was constantly off and after big misses he would stumble and stagger around.
James is such a sharp and crafty fighter that he would use the ropes to balance and hold himself up and he would skillfully lure Hasim over and take advantage of fighting on the inside and masterfully slip Rahman’s enormous punches.
Toney would also set up some fantastic infighting in the center of the ring. Both men would be head-to-head and shoulder-to-shoulder – almost like fighting in a phone booth - if there existed one that could hold these two giants – and Toney would capitalize on his remarkable hand speed and his incredible ability to absorb and utilize an oncoming punches momentum.
Someone should write a book about James’ shoulder roles and the way he masterfully sways and goes with a punch. The subtlety and proficiency of it all is truly an amazing sight to behold.
I can’t stress enough how impressed I am with Toney’s ring knowledge and ring ability - and his mischievous skill at manipulating his foe as well as manipulating physics. Also I love that James looks like he’s always having fun in the ring – he fights like Fred “Twinkle Toes” Flintstone bowls or like Fred Sanford (Sanford and Son) argues.
The official scores at the end of the night were:
Judge John Stewart 117-111 (for Rahman), Judge Tom Kaczmarek 114-114 and Judge Nobuaki Uratani 114-114 – making this match a draw.
The man who I respect above all others when it comes to scoring fights – HBO’s Harold Ledderman - had the bout scored at 116 to 112 for Hasim Rahman - I actually (and maybe embarrassingly) had it 115 to 113 for James Toney.
So now we’re in the same boat as we were before March 18 – and after Brewster vs. Lyakhovich and Byrd vs. Klitschko – we’ll need Rahman and Toney to go at it again.
For Hasim – he can fight the same fight, just try not to get lured to the ropes as much – keep the fight in the center of the ring and make James work – that’s the key – make James work.
For James – he too can fight the same fight, but needs to come in 10 to 17 pounds lighter.
After all these fights take place - to be honest – I want James “Lights Out” Toney to be at the top of the heap – to be THE top Heavyweight – I love the idea of a man who started off as a Middleweight (160 lbs) to be the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Plus – I think James is great – inside and outside of the ring – he has fantastic charisma, super talent and awesome skills – I think it would be great for the Heavyweight divisions present - and obviously be great for James Toney’s legacy.
I wonder if he knocked out Rahman if he’d consider changing his nickname to James “Fat Tub of Goo” Toney…
Has a nice ring to it no? –
Buster Paris can be reached at: bparis@talkingboxing.com - and always enjoys receiving your thoughts, comments and questions
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