Recently, former three-division world champion American “Lights Out” James Toney (77-10-3, 47 KOs) told the media that if current two-division four-belt holder Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) had been around in his time, he definitely wouldn’t have been a match for him.
James Toney said, “Look how dominant I was against Evander Holyfield (44-10-2, 29 KOs) back then. I knocked out everyone in front of me in my era; nobody could stop me. There was nobody in my league back then. That’s the honest truth.”
The 55-year-old Toney, who captured world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight divisions, although he defeated an aging Holyfield, didn’t achieve much in the heavyweight division, losing twice to Samuel Peter. He was known as a tough customer in the ring but didn’t attain the same level of success as Usyk, who unified two weight classes.
