“Drew The Picture” Paints a Picture of his Personal Favorite Fight of All Time! James Toney Vs Vassiliy Jirov
By Andrew “Drew The Picture” Hames
Before beginning this article, I’d like to first thank Packy “Boom Boom” Goldstein for awarding me with his prestigious Chutzpah Award. With writing for such a high profile boxing website as Ringside Report ‘The Heart of Boxing” there are many perks that come with the gig. One I really enjoy is having a worldwide platform to speak my opinions which I am getting around the world now thanks to RSR. The fact that Packy reportedly doesn’t even read many articles on social media, but felt the need to recognize mine is really a long-stemmed cherry on top of the accolade. Thanks “Boom Boom” I salute you and know if you are reading articles on RSR, that they are of the quality a true boxing historian such as yourself, approves of!
Moving on to my article, I was asked by “Bad” Brad to select a fight and fighter of the past 50 years to elaborate on, and my nominations were endless, and nearly made the project difficult by way of dragging my brain through the archives to select only one of both categories. Then I remembered that over the long haul of these articles, I’ll have ample time to turn any “Honorable Mention” into a headliner, and decided to honor James Toney’s classic victory over unbeaten IBF Cruiserweight champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Vassiliy Jirov…
On April 26, 2003, Mashantucket, Connecticut was treated to perhaps the single greatest fight outside of the UConn Huskies’ frat parties to have ever take town, and the irony was only extended by the fight taking place in what many have come to call boxing’s “Loserweight” division, the 190-pound Cruiserweights. On this particular night, the division’s nickname would’ve fittingly been better described as the “Bruiserweight” division, as Toney and Jirov demonstrated what Gatti-Ward would look like if Gatti were a 190-pounder from Kazhakhstan, and Ward were a huge, black, turtle-shelling slickster fighting off will and masterful guile in equal measures…
From the opening bell, the southpaw Jirov looked to impose his greater size and punch volume by forcing an immediate war of attrition. Toney remained his poised, clinical and possum-playing self by returning pinpoint return fire between the barrages, shifting his head and torso from side to side along the ropes to create openings for uppercuts along the ropes, and firing his patented “Lights Out” overhang rights at center ring. A significant ebb and flow matchup ensued, resulting in a classical performance earning Ring Magazine’s Fight Of The Year award virtually before it even ended…
Toney went on to display both his greatness and weaknesses that would shape the remainder of his career (With “shape” being the operative word there). Entering the bout with 4 losses and recently being removed from elite status in the sport, he contended that he’d never actually lost a fight outside of beating himself, and brought that self-belief to fruition, returning from barrages of body and head shots that appeared to resurrect his fatiguing issues and swing the championship in Jirov’s direction in rounds 10 and 11, only to “come out of his shell” in a blistering 12th round by finding the proper trajectory on his left hook to catch Jirov flush on the way out of every exchange, eventually stunning and dropping him while fighting the entire round with his back to the ropes beforehand. The 117-110 scorecards turned in by judges Melvina Lathan and Glen Feldman, along with the 116-110 card by Steve Weisfeld couldn’t nearly describe the competitive nature of the prizefight that took place, as Jirov’s handlers adamantly spoke against after the bout…
I found it fitting that, going into the fight, Toney owned 4 of only 25 performances in Compubox history where a fighter was credited with landing over 400 punches in a fight, while Jirov was at the time credited for having scored the most landed punches ever in a championship fight. Equally significant was the fact that referee Steve Smoger was appointed, and as usual, he remained conspicuous by his absence in the action. Even more impressive was the fact that Toney would follow this taxing war by immediately moving up to Heavyweight, and perhaps having his last great hurrah in a 9th round stoppage of Evander Holyfield. But his performance against Jirov embodied the special qualities in both fighters, as well as Toney’s classical abilities to fight under duress and what his legacy was really all about.
Signing off until next time…
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