Hall of Famer James Toney is regarded by many as being one of the toughest fighters to have ever graced the sport.
The 92-fight veteran from Ann Arbor, Michigan had an impressive professional career which saw him win world titles across three weight classes before his retirement in 2017.
He captured the IBF world title at middleweight and super-middleweight during the 1990s, defeating the likes of Mike McCallum, Anthony Hembrick and Iran Barkley during this period.
Toney did suffer his fair share of defeats however, falling short to a number of legendary fighters such as countrymen Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins, but through the 10 losses that he did suffer throughout his tenure, ‘Lights Out’ was never knocked out.
In a feature with The Ring Magazine, Toney shared details of his 1991 showdown with Merqui Sosa, who he claims was the hardest puncher that he ever shared the ring with ‘pound-for-pound’.
“Sam Peter is the hardest puncher I’ve fought, but pound-for-pound it’s Sosa because he hurt me the most. I’ll never forget that fight, we fought on an ESPN show in Atlantic City on a Sunday.
“I went at him like I did everyone back then and that mother f**ker hit me so hard in the third round I was seeing triple for the next three rounds. He knew how to hit and he was so awkward that I couldn’t time him and he caught me high on the head.”
Toney defeated Sosa via split decision when they clashed at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City back in 1991, flooring him in the third round. ‘El Corombo’ was unbeaten in 18 bouts going into their clash and inevitably proved to be one of Toney’s toughest ever opponents on the night.
