The Audacity of James Toney

There have been some profoundly stupid statements made by professional boxers who think that they can cross over to compete in MMA. Well, we can add 41-year-old James Toney to the list of boxers not qualified to fight on MMA’s biggest stage.

Apart from the fact that Toney seems to have no respect for MMA fighters, what’s worse is that he has no idea what he’s getting into. Toney met with Dana White at UFC 108, which seems weird given that Dana ripped Strikeforce for signing Herschel Walker citing Walker as an older athlete.

That said, I’m one of the many haters who would watch Toney fight to see if he’d get massacred. I think it’s clear, just from listening to his interview (though I’ve seen him box, and he’s a phenomenal boxer) that he’d get destroyed by any respectable UFC heavyweight. The quotes (below the fold) speak for themselves).

When asked if he thought his style of boxing (which relies heavily on dropping his head and shoulders down below his opponent’s shoulders; which is a terrible idea in muay thai or MMA) would hurt his performance in the UFC, Toney replied:

I know a lot of them think they would f*ck me up and they gonna shoot in on me and all of that, but I ain’t going to the ground; that ain’t happening.

Toney mentioned earlier in the interview that he’d like to fight Brock Lesnar. Well, the notion that Toney, from boxing range, is going to keep from being taken down by an NCAA champion wrestler like Brock is laughable.

The interviewer didn’t even bother to ask if Toney had ever taken a leg kick before (which I maintain is one of the weapons that would keep boxers from being successful even without having to think about takedowns or the clinch game), much less if he understands that he can have his ribs broken in the clinch.

I’d love to see James Toney low on the main card for an Ultimate Fight Night event. I’d love to see him fight someone like Gabriel Gonzaga or Todd Duffee, who will be able to get him to the mat and wreck him.