James Toney believes there is just one fighters in the sport’s history that is even greater than himself.
Known for his exceptional defensive skills, Toney became a world champion in three weight classes during his storied 29-year professional career.
The bulk of his success came during the 1990s where he held the IBF world title at middleweight and super-middleweight respectively.
Whilst he suffered his fair share of defeats along the way, Toney racked up no less than 77 victories throughout the course of his tenure, defeating the likes of Anthony Hembrick, Mike McCallum and Evander Holyfield.
Speaking on the WiseNuts Podcast, Toney made no mistake in naming the late, great Sugar Ray Robinson as the only fighter in boxing history who he considers to be better than himself.
“I’m an Ali fan myself but I’m sorry, he is not the greatest fighter of all time. It’s [Sugar] Ray Robinson and James Toney second, period. If you look at how we did, we did it the right way … I fought, Ray Robinson, we fought. Where is he from? My hometown, Detroit. We do it like nobody else can.”
Ray Robinson is widely considered by many fans to be one of, if not the greatest fighter to have ever laced up a pair of gloves. He became a six-time world champion during his 201-fight career, racking up 174 victories in total.
He held the world welterweight championship between 1946 and 1951 before he made the move up to middleweight, becoming the world champion at 160lbs on five occasions within a nine-year period.
