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Avila Perspective, Chap. 155: James Toney and More

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James “Lights Out” Toney clearly epitomizes the meaning of a true prizefighter.

In the last 60 years no other pugilist possessed more fighting skills than James “Lights Out” Toney nor more willingness to face the best during his era.

Yet, Toney was overlooked by voters in last year’s International Boxing Hall of Fame.

It was an egregious oversight.

You can really judge a fighter by the number of Hall of Fame fighters encountered in his career. Toney fought numerous during his career including Mike McCallum, Roy Jones Jr. and Evander Holyfield.

There could have been more if some fighters had been willing to meet with Lights Out. Instead, many took the easy way out.

Toney was and is an old school, hard core, line-em-up and knock them down kind of fighter. The word “avoid” does not exist in his vocabulary. When Toney was still a super middleweight, he always vocalized his desire to fight heavyweights like Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

People would stare at Toney as if he was delirious.

Finally, in 2003, promoter Dan Goossen took a chance and matched Toney against undefeated cruiserweight world champion Vassiliy Jirov. It was a clash of titans televised nationally that allowed fans to witness one of the most brutal fights seen in years. Toney floored Jirov in the last round and that proved to be the margin of victory.

Six months later, Toney was matched against the great former heavyweight champion Holyfield. After nine rounds of scientific brutality Holyfield’s corner threw in the white towel. It was only the second time Holyfield was ever stopped via knockout.

In April 2005, Toney was matched against WBA heavyweight titlist John Ruiz at Madison Square Garden. It was all Toney and after 12 rounds he was declared the victor by unanimous decision. But a PED test revealed Toney had traces of a banned substance used by a medical physician to treat a torn muscle suffered in an earlier fight. Not enough time had lapsed for that drug to leave his system and the world title was stripped from Toney.

Still, no fighter that encountered Toney in the boxing ring can claim they beat him up. Yes, some fighters like Roy Jones Jr. won by decision, but no one ever beat up Toney. No one. His skills were off the chart good.

The Michigan native fought out of the pocket and dared anyone to enter his realm. Even when he suffered a torn knee against Denis Lebedev in Moscow, Toney was still able to fight on one leg in a title fight loss that went 12 rounds.

Even the Klitschko brothers dared not fight Toney. Though they both towered over him by several inches, the late great trainer Emanuel Steward advised them to avoid the skilled Toney. Steward personally told me several times their style just didn’t mesh well against the Michigan prizefighter who retired after 92 pro fights.

In my opinion Toney could have fought in any era and possessed one of the best chins boxing ever saw. He was never knocked out. And when it came to fighting skills, no one ever had more than “Lights Out.”

It is time to vote Toney into the Hall of Fame.

Heavyweights in Las Vegas

A new spark to the third encounter between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder has been added to the WBC world title fight that takes place Saturday Oct. 9, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Fox pay-per-view will televise.

With Oleksandr Usyk dethroning Anthony Joshua for the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles, it should make it easier to unify all the titles with less fuss from competing media outlets. It should.

Heavyweights can be deceiving simply because of their raw power. One punch truly can change the outcome and whoever has the better chin should win. In this case it might mean Fury, but these are heavyweights.

Body shots seem to be foreign to both Fury and Wilder. Though the British heavyweight did connect with a few in their second meeting, Wilder has yet to go that direction. Whoever concentrates on the body first will win.

These are two extremely tall heavyweights who both hunt for the head. Fury has shown adeptness at using head movement to avoid blows to his cranium, but his body remains vulnerable. It’s the same with Wilder.

Liverpool

Former super welterweight titlist Liam Smith (29-3-1, 16 KOs) meets Anthony Fowler (15-1, 12 KOs) in the co-main event on Saturday Oct. 9, in Liverpool, England. DAZN will stream the fight between super welterweight contenders.

Smith lost his title to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez five years ago and lost two subsequent attempts to regain a world title. Only Alvarez was able to stop him before the final bell.

In the other co-main event Shannon Courtenay (7-1) lost the WBA bantamweight world title on the scale after weighing more than two and half pounds above the limit. Only California’s Jamie Mitchell (6-0-2) can win the title set for 10 rounds on Saturday.

Courtenay, 28, was making the first defense of the title she won earlier this year in a bruising battle with Australia’s Ebanie Bridges. The fight will proceed but only Mitchell can win the title.

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Liam Smith (29-3-1) vs Anthony Fowler (15-1); Shannon Courtenay (7-1) vs Jamie Mitchell (6-0-2).

Sat. ESPN2 4 p.m. Edgar Berlanga (17-0) vs Marcelo Coceres (30-2-1).

Sat. FOX pay-per-view 6 p.m. Tyson Fury (30-0-1) vs Deontay Wilder (42-1-1); Robert Helenius (30-3) vs Adam Kownacki (20-1); Efe Ajagba (15-0) vs Frank Sanchez (18-0).

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Argentina’s Fernando Martinez Wins His Rematch with Kazuto Ioka

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In an excellent fight climaxed by a furious 12th round, Argentina’s Fernando Daniel Martinez came off the deck to win his rematch with Kazuto Ioka and retain his piece of the world 115-pound title. The match was staged at Ioka’s familiar stomping grounds, the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.

In their first meeting on July 7 of last year in Tokyo, Martinez was returned the winner on scores of 117-111, 116-112, and a bizarre 120-108. The rematch was slated for late December, but Martinez took ill a few hours before the weigh-in and the bout was postponed.

The 33-year-old Martinez, who came in sporting a 17-0 (9) record, was a 7-2 favorite to win the sequel, but there were plenty of reasons to favor Ioka, 36, aside from his home field advantage. The first Japanese male fighter to win world titles in four weight classes, Ioka was 3-0 in rematches and his long-time trainer Ismael Salas was on a nice roll. Salas was 2-0 last weekend in Times Square, having handled upset-maker Rolly Romero and Reito Tsutsumi who was making his pro debut.

But the fourth time was not a charm for Ioka (31-4-1) who seemingly pulled the fight out of the fire in round 10 when he pitched the Argentine to the canvas with a pair of left hooks, but then wasn’t able to capitalize on the momentum swing.

Martinez set a fast pace and had Ioka fighting off his back foot for much of the fight. Beginning in round seven, Martinez looked fatigued, but the Argentine was conserving his energy for the championship rounds. In the end, he won the bout on all three cards: 114-113, 116-112, 117-110.

Up next for Fernando Martinez may be a date with fellow unbeaten Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the lineal champion at 115. San Antonio’s Rodriguez is a huge favorite to keep his title when he defends against South Africa’s obscure Phumelela Cafu on July 19 in Frisco, Texas.

As for Ioka, had he won today’s rematch, that may have gotten him over the hump in so far as making it into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. True, winning titles in four weight classes is no great shakes when the bookends are only 10 pounds apart, but Ioka is still a worthy candidate.

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Emanuel Navarrete Survives a Bloody Battle with Charly Suarez in San Diego

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In a torrid battle Mexico’s Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete and his staccato attack staved off the herky-jerky non-stop assaults of Philippine’s Charly Suarez to win by technical decision and retain the WBO super feather world title on Saturday.

What do they feed these guys?

Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs) and his elongated arms managed to connect enough to compensate against the surprising Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs) who wowed the crowd at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

An accidental clash of heads opened a cut on the side of Navarrete’s left eye and forced a stoppage midway through the fight.

From the opening round Navarrete used his windmill style of attack with punches from different angles that caught Suarez multiple times early. It did not matter. Suarez fired back with impunity and was just as hungry to punch it out with the Mexican fighter.

It was savage.

Every time Navarrete connected solidly, he seemed to pause and check out the damage. Bad idea. Suarez would immediately counter with bombs of his own and surprise the champion with his resilience and tenacity.

Wherever they found Suarez they should look for more, because the Filipino fighter from Manila was ferocious and never out of his depth.

Around the sixth round the Mexican fighter seemed a little drained and puzzled at the tireless attacks coming from Suarez. During an exchange of blows a cut opened up on Navarrete and it was ruled an accidental clash of heads by the referee. Blood streamed down the side of Navarrete’s face and it was cleared by the ringside physician.

But at the opening of the eighth round, the fight was stopped and the ringside physician ruled the cut was too bad to continue. The California State Athletic Commission looked at tape of the round when the cut opened to decipher if it was an accidental butt or a punch that caused the cut. It was unclear so the referee’s call of accidental clash of heads stood as the final ruling.

Score cards from the judges saw Navarrete the winner by scores of 78-75, 77-76 twice. He retains the WBO title.

Interim IBF Lightweight Title

The sharp-shooting Raymond “Danger” Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) maneuvered past Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the interim IBF lightweight title after 12 rounds.

Both fighters were strategic in their approach with Muratalla switching from orthodox to southpaw at various times of the fight. Neither fighter was ever able to dominant any round.

Defense proved the difference between the two lightweights. Muratalla was able to slip more blows than Abdullaev and that proved the difference. The fighter from Fontana, California was able to pierce Abdullaev’s guard more often than not, especially with counter punches.

Abdullaev was never out of the fight. The Russian fighter was able to change tactics and counter the counters midway through the fight. It proved effective especially to the body. But it was not enough to offset Muratalla’s accuracy.

There were no knockdowns and after 12 rounds the judges scored it 118-110, 119-109 twice for Muratalla who now becomes the mandatory for the IBF lightweight title should Vasyl Lomachenko return to defend it.

Muratalla was brief.

“He was a tough fighter,” said Muratalla. “My defense is something I work on a lot.”

Perla Wins

Super flyweight Perla Bazaldua (2-0) eased past Mona Ward (0-2) with a polished display of fighting at length and inside.

Combination punching and defense allowed Bazaldua to punch in-between Ward’s attacks and force the St. Louis fighter to clinch repeatedly. But Ward hung in there despite taking a lot of blows. After four rounds the Los Angeles-based Bazaldua was scored the winner 40-36 on all three cards. Bazaldua signed a long term contract with Top Rank in March.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Late Bloomer Anthony Cacace TKOs Hometown Favorite Leigh Wood in Nottingham

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Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions was at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, tonight with a card featuring hometown favorite Leigh Wood against Ireland’s Anthony “Apache” Cacace.

Wood, a former two-time WBA featherweight champion, known for dramatic comebacks in bouts he was losing, may have reached the end of the road at age 36. He had his moments tonight, rocking Cacace on several occasions and winning the eighth round, but he paid the price, returning to his corner after round eight with swelling around both of his eyes.

In the ninth, Cacace, an 11/5 favorite, hurt Wood twice with left hands, the second of which knocked Wood into the ropes, dictating a standing 8-count by referee John Latham. When the bout resumed, Cacace went for the kill and battered Wood around the ring, forcing Wood’s trainer Ben Davison to throw in the towel. The official time was 2:15 of round nine.

Akin to Wood, Northern Ireland’s Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) is also 36 years old and known as a late bloomer. This was his ninth straight win going back to 2017 (he missed all of 2018 and 2020). He formerly held the IBF 130-pound world title, a diadem he won with a stoppage of then-undefeated and heavily favored Joe Cordina, but that belt wasn’t at stake tonight as Cacace abandoned it rather than fulfill his less-lucrative mandatory. Wood falls to 28-4.

Semi-Wind-Up

Nottingham light heavyweight Ezra Taylor, fighting in his hometown for the first time since pro debut, delighted his fan base with a comprehensive 10-round decision over previously undefeated Troy Jones. Taylor, who improved to 12-0 (9) won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92.

This was Taylor’s first fight with new trainer Malik Scott, best known for his work with Deontay Wilder. The victory may have earned him a match with Commonwealth title-holder Lewis Edmondson. Jones was 12-0 heading in.

Other Bouts of Note

In his first fight as a featherweight, Liam Davies rebounded from his first defeat with a 12-round unanimous decision over Northern Ireland’s previously undefeated Kurt Walker. Davies, who improved to 17-1 (8), staved off a late rally to prevail on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111. It was the first pro loss for the 30-year-old Walker (12-1), a Tokyo Olympian.

In a mild upset, Owen Cooper, a saucy Worcestershire man, won a 10-round decision over former Josh Taylor stablemate Chris Kongo. The referee’s scorecard read 96-94.

Cooper improved to 11-1 (4). It was the third loss in 20 starts for Kongo.

A non-televised 8-rounder featured junior welterweight Sam Noakes in a stay-busy fight. A roofer by trade and the brother of British welterweight title-holder Sean Noakes, Sam improved to 17-0 (15 KOs) with a third-round stoppage of overmatched Czech import Patrik Balez (13-5-1).

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry

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