People Close To The Sport Of Boxing Not Giving James Toney Much Of A Chance Against Randy Couture

As boxing champion James Toney readies for his MMA debut on August 28th against Randy Couture at ufc 118, it’s interesting to see what other boxers and those close to the sport have had to say.  In sum, most people aren’t giving Toney much of a shot.

Let’s start with UFC welterweight Marcus Davis, a former boxer that retired from the sport in 2000 with a record of 17-1-2:  “I don’t think as a whole he will do very well in MMA,” Davis told  Fighters Only Magazine.  “You don’t do well as a straight-up boxer jumping to the UFC. It’s not gonna happen. I think he’s always going to have a punchers chance. Obviously, anyone who can punch like he can, has the speed and reactions he’s got, especially when wearing 4 ounce gloves, can be a threat to anyone. If he lands a punch he can knock Randy out.”

“But I don’t think that will happen. Either Randy will push him against the cage and beat him up, or he’ll shoot for the takedown. If he gets it to the ground, I don’t think Toney will get back up again.” 

Famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach also took the time to chime in to East Side Boxing:  “I think it’s a bad decision,” Roach said. “I don’t think it will work. I think the UFC is just trying to say they’re better than boxing because if James fought Couture in a boxing match James would absolutely destroy him, but if he fights him in a UFC/MMA style fight James does not have a ground game, once he goes to the ground it’s over. It’s completely two different sports and they’re just trying to use older boxers to make their sport look better.”

Then, of course, there was what Bernard Hopkins had to say to Hardcore Sports Radio:  “I don’t care who it is, whether Floyd [Mayweather], [Manny] Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins — they get their ass kicked (in MMA).  That is not what we do.”

And finally, even Toney’s own promoter, Dan Goossen, recently jumped into the fray with a media statement acknowledging that Toney is at a “severe disadvantage” against Couture and that “the odds are greatly against James.”

In the end, one of the few people from the boxing world that seems to have confidence in Toney is Toney himself- just watch an interview.  Then again, he’s really the only one that has to believe.  Even if Toney gets taken down and manhandled like some are saying he will, you have to give him credit for a gut check.  He’s the first upper level boxer, albeit on the wrong end of a storied career, to have enough guts to make the jump to MMA.  That counts for something.