For some fighters, knowing when to call it quits is easy. When their reflexes are gone, and they?re getting hit with punches that were either slipped or blocked two or three fights ago, they walk away. When punch resistance is gone, and the paychecks are getting smaller as the losses pile up, it?s time to walk away. But there are others, like Antwun Echols, Roy Jones Jr., and James Toney, who can?t walk away.
James Toney, who began his career as a slick, powerful middleweight out of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1988, is still plying his trade 24 years later. Like Echols and Jones, signs of slowing down haven?t recently begun to appear ? they?ve been around for a while. Unlike Echols and Jones, who nowadays get knocked out when their head hits their pillow too hard, Toney still finishes fights on his feet, not matter how exhausted he is at the end. In the six losses spread throughout his hall of fame career, Toney has never been knocked out.
It is easy for anyone to say it?s time for James ?Lights Out? Toney (73-6-3, 44 KOs) to retire. As followers and fans of the sport we don?t like to see icons embarrass themselves and tarnish their legacies. It is the state athletic commissions who get the last word when it comes to the decision on who should fight and who should hang up the gloves. And unless someone is willing to step up and beat Toney into retirement, the only option we have is to refuse to watch.
In the case of James Toney, who as I said before has never been knocked out, he has become a fighter whose risk-reward ratio is unfavorable. Despite his age and weight problems, Toney can still make anyone out there struggle to earn their victory. He can still beat a lot of guys out there if given the chance. For many up-and-coming contenders, why fight James Toney when there are other former champions and contenders out there that will put up less of a fight, yet still help them move along to bigger fights and paychecks?
Up until recently, Toney called out and taunted former WBA heavyweight titlist David Haye. He called Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, the ?Klitschko Sisters?, in hopes of selling the idea of a fight between one of the two dominant heavyweights of this era and a guy on the wrong side of 40 and 50 pounds overweight. David Haye ignored Toney in his relentless pursuit of the large paycheck that came along with a unification bout with Wladimir Klitschko. The Klitschkos scoffed at Toney?s taunts.
