BJ Penn rooting for Toney to thrive against Couture
By: John Moody Posted On: August 24, 2010 at 10:07am
There is little doubt about how determined BJ Penn will be this Saturday night at UFC 118 when he seeks revenge against lightweight champion Frankie Edgar who took his title belt last spring in Abu Dhabi. His focus will be first to engage more, as he told the media last week, and then on finishing, an attribute he feels not enough young MMA fighters emphasize and possibly a lightly veiled dig at Edgar for his style of movement and distance in the first fight. However, while waiting for his turn in the locker room at the Boston Garden, don’t be surprised if UFC cameras catch ‘The Prodigy’ eyeing the debut of James Toney who bravely makes his MMA start against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture.
Aside from the boxing component, most MMA experts believe Couture has a huge edge in experience and a more diverse skill set against Toney. There is also the angle that Couture must defeat Toney to uphold the honor of MMA against the career boxer. Penn, who addressed the Toney/Couture fight on the UFC 118 conference call, will be rooting for Toney to put on a show and believes a good fight from Toney will help MMA in general.
“I really would like to see Toney do good. It only helps the sport. If Randy goes in there and runs over Toney in five seconds … that doesn’t do anything. I look for what tries to build this sport, what tries to put more fans in the seat. More fans in the seats is more money in our pockets. I would like to see Toney go out there and do good.”
While rooting for Toney, Penn acknowledges his chances may lie in the first minutes of the fight, before Randy can leverage his wrestling skills.
“With Randy it is going to be tough, he has the Greco (Roman Wrestling), he wrestled in college so he has the shot, and if they exchange he is going to get caught in some sort of clinch.”
Toney has brought one thing with him from his boxing days that will always translate well ahead of an MMA fight – trash talk! Toney has called Couture ‘princess’ and has vowed to knock him out. Penn likes that part of his game but also notes, most of such talk is just classic promotion in the fight business.
“People get confused. People think all this hype and they think all these things. You think Chael Sonnen is serious when he says all these things? Think Toney is serious when he says this stuff? They are hyping up the fight and doing their job. I would like to see Toney go out there and do something.”
Regardless of the outcome, Penn is impressed that Toney has actually followed through on his pledge to test the MMA waters.
“I remember talking to him and he said … ‘BJ, I want to get involved in this stuff.’ I thought he was just running his mouth … just having a conversation and here he is, stepping in and fighting a five-time UFC champ in his first fight. The guy has some balls.”
— Can Toney survive the first round against Couture?
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Comments
Toney is or was no run of the mill world champion – he was something very special. In his prime years at 160 & 168 (1991 to 1994) he was one of the most feared & respected boxers on the planet – Check his record on Boxrec – he ducked nobody, stayed active & fought some of the very best. He won Ring Magazine fighter of the year TWICE – 1991 age 23 & again in 2003 age 35 after years in the abyss because he would’nt stop eating & had lost the drive & desire that made him so great when he was young. His comeback run at Cruiserweight back in the early 2000′s under Freddie Roach was awesome. Even Roach has said that if Toney had the training ethic of Hopkins & Pacquiao he probably would have gone down as the best fighter of all-time. He might be a little podgy puffed-up middleweight, but he has quick, accurate hands, slick defence & freakish counter-punching ability that has made him a 1st ballot hall of famer. Toney is a throwback to another era. He has incredible skills, all the heart in the world & a proven chin of granite – all the way from 160 to Heavyweight. Toney would have been a great fighter in any era. That can’t be said of too many guys from the last 30 or so years. His big problem was his arrogance – he thought he could beat anyone without training – especially after he beat Micheal Nunn. He got lazier & lost the killer as he got richer – that’s why Jones Jr. beat him – Toney had to lose 30 pounds in a week to make weight, including being drip fed for 2 days. Despite his great achievements & the huge respect he has from fight fans – Toney is one of Boxing’s great wasted talents. He never won a real belt at 175 – what would have been his optimum weight-class – that’s because Toney virtually disappeared from sight between 1995 (after being robbed against Montell Griffin) & 2000. Such a tragedy – his best years passed him by.
Toney has had blow jobs off tougher women than Randy Couture (don’t laugh he is from Ann Arbor). Although that does’nt mean he will beat Couture – I do know Toney won’t be 1/10 th as nervous as Couture would be right now. Unlike Randy, Toney has been in with some of the great champions of the last 25 years in many divisions, against all sorts of great, yet different fighters & he has never been really hurt in all those wars. A true warrior is Toney, though sadly, despite his legendary slick defence; all the sparring he loves & classic wars against bigger guys seem to have taken its toll (his speech at least). The passing of the great trainers & their knowledge, along with many other things (I could write a novel) has contributed to the great decline of Boxing to what we see now – A Joke! Toney was blessed to have Bill Miller teach him to fight – one of the last “old-world” boxing brains active up until the mid-1990′s who was one of the founding fathers of the famous Kronk Gym in Detroit that Manny Steward now takes all the credit for.
Check this UFC fans & watch a maestro of the sweet science in his best moments. Classic Toney – He was the real deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqlz5oxknf0