The 230 pound, 40-year-old Toney, who promised that he had learned his lesson and would never again appear fat and lethargic in the ring, appeared fat and lethargic in the ring. The ostensibly partisan Toney crowd (he lives in Sherman Oaks) cut loose with a fair number of boos when the decision was announced.
The first score of 115-112 for Toney induced a collective groan, the 116-110 pronouncement for Oquendo elicited cheers, and the remaining 114-113 score in Toney's favor produced the aforementioned boos from the crowd and left Oquendo (in for Tony Thompson who was out with bronchitis) with yet another controversial decision loss on an otherwise excellent resume.
There are, essentially, two James Toneys. Three if you count the hard-punching middleweight version. The first is a slippery, difficult to hit, counterpunching master of the sport. The second is the fat, lethargic fellow mentioned earlier.
Oquendo, who should be given a hearty pat on the back for a solid twelve round effort on very short notice, began the fight with appropriate caution, clearly aware of Toney's counterpunching skills. For his part, Toney started the evening by keeping his distance from Fres, who has quick hands and an 80" reach, possibly to get a feel for the Oquendo's speed and reflexes.
By backing up to take the jolt off Oquendo's shots, and firing his own jab, Toney controlled early action, making it easier to forget and forgive his extra flab. But while James was doing his thing, he wasn't really hurting Oquendo and Fres gained confidence with each round, throwing more and landing more.
Oquendo's punches aren't always the stuff of textbooks. He launched his gloves into orbit and occasionally one managed to land on Toney's face. The Oquendo jab was very effective, though, and Toney had a curiously difficult time avoiding it.
From the middle rounds Oquendo forced Toney to fight on his heels, the force of Toney's own punches, unable to move Oquendo, pushed Toney back. Every action having an equal and opposite reaction, and all that. Whataver fire there had been in Toney at the beginning of the fight had become smoldering embers by the time the final bell rang.
Before the fight, Goosen Tutor Promotions had been seeding the idea of a James Toney / Wladimir Klitschko fight to the press. While Toney and Dan Goosen got the paper victory they wanted, and maybe one more big payday down the road, Toney did nothing in the ring at Morongo to indicate that he could handle Klitschko.
Frankly, Oquendo would have a better shot at beating the "Steel Hammer" than Toney would.
