The veteran conqueror of names like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz made perfect sense as the company’s representative in this bout. On the other side of the fence he found the grand old man of the UFC, Randy Couture. Of course someone who appreciates the sport’s history as deeply as Toney was going to stand up and be counted. MMA was viewed as the biggest threat boxing had faced in the gloved era. Toney is an avowed boxing purist, as likely to cite Battling Siki and Gypsy Joe Harris in an interview as Sugar Ray Robinson or Archie Moore. While his one-man campaign was dismissed as sour grapes from a notoriously outspoken presence at the time, Toney’s defence of his sport makes perfect sense if you know anything about the man. It was at this point that James Toney began calling out the stars of the UFC, asserting boxing’s dominance over the relative newcomer. MMA was finally seen as credible and was drawing a huge following, partly made up of boxing fans disenfranchised by the politics inherent to that sport. The UFC had shaken off the outlaw image of their unregulated early days. The three-weight boxing champion had been one of the defining fighters of the 90s and early 00s, winning acclaim for his old-school style and world-class defensive acumen.īut boxing was beginning to be eclipsed by the runaway mainstream success of MMA.
Precious few boxers of note tried their hand at MMA in the decade that followed. Jimmerson was quickly submitted by future Hall of Famer Royce Gracie. His decision to fight wearing a single boxing glove, reputedly to enhance his jab while leaving his dominant hand free for bare-knuckle power-shots, made him a laughing stock. But in 2010, such ground was relatively uncharted.įringe contender Art Jimmerson had been the first professional boxer to fight in the Octagon, doing so all the way back at UFC 1. Heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev walloped ex-UFC champion Frank Mir while the iconic Evander Holyfield was destroyed by MMA star Vitor Belfort in an egregious display. Anderson Silva owns a victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in the squared circle. In 2022, we have grown accustomed to boxers and MMA fighters colliding.
A true legend of the sport, Couture is a trailblazer for another reason: his 2010 fight with boxer James ‘Lights Out’ Toney. The two-weight world champion bridged the gap between MMA’s one-night tournament beginnings, winning the UFC 13 heavyweight bracket, and the mainstream juggernaut the company is today. Forged by the savagery of his criminal father and the tenacious willpower of his indomitable mother, James ''Lights Out'' Toney overcame impossible odds to become a boxing legend.UFC great Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture turns 59 today. In the fight of the year, James Toney would reveal exactly who he was.ĭrawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with James Toney and his inner circle, Lights Outportrays the rise and fall, and rise, of a fighter who never faced a tougher opponent than himself.Īward-winning author Robert Edward Anasi searches for the clues to Toney''s identity in the tragedies of Black America and the boxing mecca of Detroit.
All he had to do was defeat a monster, Vassily ''The Tiger'' Jirov, a real-life Drago from the Iron Curtain who had destroyed every man put in front of him. In 2003, Toney was given a second chance, the opportunity to push back into the championship picture and regain his lost kingdom. For nine years, Toney wandered the margins of the sport, taking losses and gaining weight, a cautionary tale for any fighters who didn''t value their gifts and succumbed to their demons. casting him into the boxing wilderness, and the police blotter. Then in one night he lost everything, his humiliating defeat to Roy Jones, Jr. Still only 24, this ''nigga you love to hate'' seemed unstoppable. Brash, volatile and fearless, Toney also personified the 90s hiphop culture that America both feared and admired, a role he embraced with lavish spending, press conference brawls and strip-club escapes. Heralded as ''throwback'', Toney''s dazzling skills and constant activity recalled the Golden Age fighters who had been his role models. A stunning knockout of undefeated 20-1 favorite Michael Nunn had brought Toney the middleweight title and crossover celebrity. In 1994, James ''Lights Out'' Toney had battled to the top of the boxing world.
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