Lights Out For Toney?
By Ben Davies
Saturday August 28th 2010, surely the day a living boxing legend’s career came to an abrupt and undignified end. The overweight forlorn figure that Toney cut, represented the fish out of water that he was – and looked – as was easily beaten and submitted by MMA legend Randy Couture in their UFC 118 match up. Undoubtedly the experience was a ritual humiliation for Toney, even more so because he claimed to be representing the sport of boxing against MMA. This was the sort of humiliation he has never really suffered in his career as a boxer due to his immense skill levels and talent. However, it was also a chance for Toney to earn a big pay day which was not looking possible in the boxing ring. He’s had his pay day, now where does he go?
Dana White, the head honcho of UFC has already said he won’t give Toney another chance, this could be a blessing in disguise with the potential for Toney getting seriously hurt in the Octagon always present. And after the legendary pugilist entered the cage looking flabby at a career high 237 lbs, and unprepared (physically and in terms of MMA skill set) despite previous assertions over the serious nature of his training, it seems unlikely he will find a way into the big leagues of professional boxing ever again at the grand old age of 42.
But things could have been so different for the proud Detroit representative. UFC 118 gave him the platform to let his explosive and sharp personality reverberate around the MMA and boxing circles gaining him some new fans and notoriety. This platform could have been exploited had he actually won his match up with ‘the natural’ Randy Couture, with rumours abound about a possible boxing match up with British heavyweight World champion David Haye. Instead it looks like the ‘Hayemaker’ will now be fighting, and giving the opportunity of a huge pay day to the undeserving but well known Audley Harrison who himself had eluded to the notion that Haye was waiting to see what Toney managed in the Octagon. Indeed, Toney has probably missed out on one of the biggest pay days of his career.
Old school and one of the best natural talents the sweet science has ever witnessed, Toney has never backed away from fights with anyone and has taken on the likes of Roy Jones jr, Michael Nunn, Iran Barkley, Mike McCallum and Evander Holyfield in a career that will one day see him entered into the prestigious boxing hall of fame, and a resume that reads 72 wins (44KO’s), 6 losses and 3 draws. This will not be taken away from him but like many other boxers before him, his reputation could be tarnished if he does choose to continue fighting in any form. Steroid use (for which he has been caught) will already be a blight that detractors will highlight. More lacklustre performances in the ring or in MMA will only damage further his currently impressive legacy that has respect from the boxing community and surely cannot be built on at this stage of Toney’s life.
The worry is that Toney needs the fight games. It’s what he knows and loves doing. He talks about his love of violence with genuine passion; his other passion is lavish items. One can only hope this legend doesn’t follow the likes of Ray Mercer in pursuing money in fighting disciplines that they don’t belong to, leading to further humiliation. The sort of humiliation that such talent doesn’t warrant.
Toney will go down as a great practitioner of the sweet science. He surely would of enjoyed his 15 minutes of renewed fame in the build up to his much anticipated fight with Couture, but that feeling will now have disappeared and been replaced by embarrassment which will no doubt damage his ego. Hopefully it will be partially, at least, repaired by the pay check Dana White will be giving him which is rumoured to be around $800,000. And let’s hope he will retire with grace now and be remembered for the natural talent he possessed, with the sad epilogue witnessed on Saturday August 28th 2010 a minor part of a story that will be fondly handed down in boxing fan generations for years to come. Now is the time for Toney to turn the lights out on a wonderful and spectacular career as a fighter.
