Future Hall of Famer Toney looking to give boxing one last roll of the dice in Russia
Former four-weight world champion James ''Lights Out'' Toney will travel to Moscow this week, looking to get full acclimatized to the Russian weather ahead of his November 4th clash with WBA no.1 ranked cruiserweight contender Denis Lebedev at the Khodynka Ice Palace.
43-year-old Toney (73-6-3, 44 KO's), who has held the IBF middleweight and super middleweight titles, the IBF cruiserweight title and (very briefly, before being stripped for failing a drug test) the WBA heavyweight title, claims to be in his best shape in years.
''You ain't gonna see no lay down like Bernard Hopkins did.'' said Toney earlier this week in an interview, referencing Hopkins controversial second round loss to Chad Dawson at the weekend. Hopkins claimed he had sustained a dislocated shoulder after being shoved to the canvas by Dawson. ''I will be there to kick his ass (Ledbedev's) right in front of his people.''
Referring to Lebedev's 10th round knockout over a 42 year old Roy Jones Jr in May of this year, Toney said: ''He likes to wait until fighters from my generation get old and that's made him feel like he can fight. But I'm going to show him what a big mistake he made thinking he can pull that with me.''
Toney appears to have trimmed his 5' 10'' frame down to around 200 lbs for the first time since he last competed as a cruiserweight in 2003, outpointing the previously undefeated Vasily Jirov to win the IBF cruiserweight crown, in what remains one of the standout performances in Toney's storied career.
In recent years, the man who has beaten such fistic greats as Evander Holyfield, Iran Barkley, Mike McCallum and Michael Nunn has become a grotesque parody of himself, persistently calling out the Klitschko brothers while waddling around at anything between 240-260 lbs, and even indulging in an embarrassing and losing foray into MMA.
His most recent ring appearance in February of this year saw him tilt the Toledos at a career high 257 lbs while outpointing C-list club fighter Damon Reed. At that point the calls were unanimous for Toney to quit the sport. Surprisingly, he has chosen to get himself in real shape, and give boxing one more roll of the dice with a bout against the dangerous, once beaten Lebedev.
The Russian is a big puncher, who kayoed ex-WBO cruiserweight champ Enzo Maccarinelli in three rounds in 2009. 32 year old Lebedev (22-1, 17 KO's) dropped a decision to German based Serbian Marco Huck last December in a WBO title fight, but bounced back to hammer what might be the final nail in the coffin of Roy Jones's career in May with a 10th round knockout.
Dan Hunter is a lifelong boxing aficionado and our Boxing Editor.