Toney Outfoxes and Outboxes Guinn

RENO, NV - The heavyweight division is badly in need of help, and James Toney is ready to volunteer his services.

The portly Toney might not look like a typical heavyweight, but he showed again Saturday night that he can win fans over with a passion and flair that long has been missing in boxing's premier division.

"I'm the heavyweight champion of the world. That's bottom line," Toney, of Ann Arbor, said after beating Dominick Guinn in a lopsided 12-round decision.

Actually, Toney isn't a champion anymore, unless you count the fringe IBA title that he carried in and out of the ring with him. Toney held the more highly regarded WBA title after beating John Ruiz in April, but was stripped a few days after his win for testing positive for steroids.

He blamed that test on drugs given to him after surgery for an Achilles tendon injury, but it cost him the belt and a suspension.

Toney hardly looks the bodybuilder type, standing 5-foot-9 and weighing 235 pounds.

In the 1990s he was a 168-pound champion, and now he has resurrected his career at the age of 37 as a heavyweight champ.

Against Guinn he showed the hand speed of a super middleweight and the wily skills of a veteran of 75 fights, 69 of which he has left the ring with his hand held aloft.

He pounded Guinn repeatedly with a variety of counter punches, many of them coming while he fought with the ropes on his back.

Still, he was not satisfied, saying he needs to fight on a more regular basis to get better.

"I promise you I will be better in my next fight," Toney said.

"I want to be a fighting champion, a great champion."

Toney could get a chance at another title if promoters can get together on a planned Jan. 28 fight against Chris Byrd, an in-state rival from Flint who sleepwalked his way through a decision win over DaVarryl Williamson on the same card in a fight that was booed from the first round to the 12th by the crowd at the Reno Events Center.

First, Toney will fight in November against a lesser opponent to try to keep his skills sharp.

Phil Banerjee
Contributing Editor

Information from other publications and wire services was used in the compilation of this report.