One Hall of Fame fighter has taken a swipe at the current heavyweight division, claiming none of them are on his level.
Boxing’s blue ribbon division finally has one ruler after Oleksandr Usyk handed Tyson Fury his only career loss to become the first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis nearly 25 years ago.
Anthony Joshua also suffered defeat at the hands of the Ukrainian, losing his titles back in 2021 and falling short once again in the rematch the following year. Since those defeats, ‘AJ’ has settled on a new trainer in Ben Davison and appears to be back to his old destructive self.
However, former three-weight world champion James Toney doesn’t give much credit to the current crop of heavyweights.
In an interview with Pro Boxing Fans, Toney was asked which current big man would have given him his hardest fight and he held nothing back with his response.
“Did you see how well I fought against Holyfield?
I’m knocking everybody out, period. Can nobody keep me off, period. There is nobody in this era that is at my level, period. True story.”
Commenting on Deontay Wilder’s knockout loss to Zhilei Zhang last month, ‘Lights Out’ says there is now no way back for ‘The Bronze Bomber’.
“Deontay Wilder, it is what it is. I told everybody how he would end up. He’s done, it’s a wrap.”
Toney himself won titles at middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight but failed to capture gold at heavyweight – having his victory over John Ruiz overturned after a failed drugs test and drawing against Hasim Rahman when the WBC belt was on the line.
