me too.
Peter-Toney II: Good Stuff, regardless of Sanctioning Body Rulings
by Steve Farhood
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By the time Jose Sulaiman completes his mission to reinvent boxing, The Sweet Science will resemble Competitive Knitting.
On September 2, James Toney clearly defeated Sam Peter in a heavyweight elimination bout, but because two of the judges saw it the wrong way, the WBC ruled a do-over. This is exactly the type of arbitrary ruling that continues to distinguish the alphabet organizations. Let’s be real: If every debatable decision resulted in a mandated immediate rematch, boxers would find themselves running in quicksand.
A fight that shouldn’t be is going to be, and as it turns out, that’s not going to be such a bad thing. Peter-Toney I was a good fight, especially by heavyweight standards, and I’d much rather watch these two re-do than Oleg Maskaev-Peter Okhello, Wlad Klitschko-Ray Austin, or Shannon Briggs-Sultan Ibragimov.
Good stuff: Peter blasting Toney with shots as big as advertised. Better stuff: Toney absorbing the blasts as if wearing titanium armor. The best stuff: Toney, who was once a blown-down middleweight, defiantly standing in the pocket and countering with skills that are rarely associated with 230-pounders.
Saturday night should provide more of the same.
Better yet, there’s reason to think both fighters will improve. Stacy McKinley has joined Pops Anderson in training Peter. The help has been much-needed for a couple of years. And Tae Bo wizard Billy Blanks has fed the roundish Toney lots of lima beans. As a result, if Showtime’s Steve Albert and Al Bernstein decide that Toney has extra gas in the later rounds, they’ll have to explain exactly what they mean.
Toney again—but this time the judges get it right.
Peter-Toney II: Good Stuff, regardless of Sanctioning Body Rulings
by Steve Farhood
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time Jose Sulaiman completes his mission to reinvent boxing, The Sweet Science will resemble Competitive Knitting.
On September 2, James Toney clearly defeated Sam Peter in a heavyweight elimination bout, but because two of the judges saw it the wrong way, the WBC ruled a do-over. This is exactly the type of arbitrary ruling that continues to distinguish the alphabet organizations. Let’s be real: If every debatable decision resulted in a mandated immediate rematch, boxers would find themselves running in quicksand.
A fight that shouldn’t be is going to be, and as it turns out, that’s not going to be such a bad thing. Peter-Toney I was a good fight, especially by heavyweight standards, and I’d much rather watch these two re-do than Oleg Maskaev-Peter Okhello, Wlad Klitschko-Ray Austin, or Shannon Briggs-Sultan Ibragimov.
Good stuff: Peter blasting Toney with shots as big as advertised. Better stuff: Toney absorbing the blasts as if wearing titanium armor. The best stuff: Toney, who was once a blown-down middleweight, defiantly standing in the pocket and countering with skills that are rarely associated with 230-pounders.
Saturday night should provide more of the same.
Better yet, there’s reason to think both fighters will improve. Stacy McKinley has joined Pops Anderson in training Peter. The help has been much-needed for a couple of years. And Tae Bo wizard Billy Blanks has fed the roundish Toney lots of lima beans. As a result, if Showtime’s Steve Albert and Al Bernstein decide that Toney has extra gas in the later rounds, they’ll have to explain exactly what they mean.
Toney again—but this time the judges get it right.
Apparently Steve Farhood (above article) and I agree that Toney won the last fight. Looking back, I had it 115-114 Toney (with JT winning the 12th). IF Toney has dropped some (and by some I mean 20+) lbs, he is the play here at -115. Sam Peter will continue to throw haymakers all day, and JT will continue to dodge them (for the most part). With the additional weight (possibly) off, Toney should be able to fight entire rounds, instead of 15 second spurts (which may have affected the judges scorecards last time around).
