Boxing opinion: Contests between over-the-hill fighters are damaging to both those in the ring and to the sport itself
“Better to live one day as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep” is an old Eastern proverb which resonates as an attitude to life which scorns a safe and secure existence in the quest for achievement and success.
However, when it comes to the world of boxing, the record shows that too many days lived as a tiger can result in you going out like a lamb.
This is certainly true of ring legend James “Lights Out” Toney, who recently came a cropper in his much-hyped and anticipated foray into Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) against Randy Couture, a veteran of the sport, in Boston.
It wasn’t just the way that Toney capitulated which made the manner of his defeat so humiliating – it was the shape he was in stepping into the Octagon ring.
Weighing in at 237lbs, the former middleweight world champion looked as though he hadn’t seen the inside of a gym in years.
Fat doesn’t come near to describing his physical condition, and allied to the onset of slurred speech which now makes it almost impossible to understand a word he says, it is high time that strict controls were in place to stop people like Toney being allowed to continue fighting not only to the detriment of themselves but also to the detriment of the sport.
Sadly, boxing is littered with the tragic consequences of fighters continuing past the point of no return. For every freak of nature like Bernard Hopkins, a man who’s managed to retain his fitness and health even though still fighting past 40 years of age, there are 10 James Toneys, those who continue to delude themselves that they still possess the physical attributes and reflexes of yesteryear, and that their best years still lie ahead.
The brutal truth is that pro-boxing needs to introduce an upper age limit, say of 35, beyond which no fighter is allowed to continue regardless of their ability to do so. The integrity of a sport constantly under attack demands no less.
The alternative is tragi-comic events like Toney’s recent MMA debacle and boxing finding itself associated with the antics of professional wrestling.
An imposed age limit within boxing would not have prevented Toney going ahead with his MMA bout, nor those who decide to do likewise, but he should have been left in no doubt that if he did he would never be allowed to box again.
The medical examination currently in place in determining whether or not a fighter is fit enough to be granted a boxing licence is too subjective at present, especially in the US.
Fighters there are able to take advantage of different regulations and requirements in different states. The fractious nature of the sport’s governing bodies needs rapid and wide-ranging reform in order to put an end to it.
The sad thing about Toney is that this is a man who genuinely deserves legendary status for his achievements as a fighter.
In his prime he was the finished article, bringing to the ring reflexes and a boxing brain that saw him not only defeat his opponents but school them in the art of hitting without being hit.
The shoulder roll he perfected, the way he rolled and slipped punches, was near transcendent at times. His fights were always guaranteed to leave you gaping in awe at the sheer artistry he displayed.
Toney, a native of Detroit who learned his craft at the city’s famed Kronk Gym, also brought to the ring a mean exterior which gave an added edge to both the man and his fights.
Even in sparring sessions, which this writer was privileged to watch during 2002-3, Toney was nothing if not entertaining.
He would conduct a constant commentary throughout, as he insulted and taunted his sparring partners. The bad-ass gangsta attitude he exuded was always more persona than substance, but as the years passed and he moved up to heavyweight the attitude grew in line with his girth.
The sad reality was that Toney began to eat shots instead of slipping them, adopting a variance of an aged Ali’s style of absorbing punishment to compensate for failing reflexes, mobility and agility.
Roy Jones Jnr, a contemporary of Toney’s and one of the few to have ever defeated the man from Detroit, is another example.
By the time he stepped into the ring against Calzaghe back in 2008 he was a mere shadow of the great fighter he was throughout the 1990s.
Yet he’s continued fighting, losing time and again against the kind of opposition he would have dismissed comfortably in bygone years.
His latest outing was against another veteran, the previously mentioned Hopkins. It was a terrible fight, which again can only damage the credibility of the sport.
The reason why so many ring greats of the past continue to sell tickets and go on fighting is because there is such a paucity of talent coming through to take their place.
Nonetheless, in recent years the trend has grown rather than diminished. It is a trend which has helped to ensure the emergence of MMA as a credible competitor in the popularity stakes.
For the sake the sport and for the sake of all involved, the time has come for boxing to take stock.
