Toney-Rahman Ends in Draw
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Stupid me, I couldn’t imagine a negative outcome before this bout. If Toney pulled off a win, he’d establish himself as a legitimate heavyweight, of which the division is in short supply. If Rahman came out victorious, he’d prove that he deserves the belt he inherited and clearly stand as the man to beat among heavyweights.
So what did we get? A $!#%@ draw.
The outcome would be a little easier to swallow if the bout had, in fact, resembled a draw, but I thought Rahman clearly dominated the fight. HBO’s Harold Lederman scored it 116-112 for Rahman, and I think he erred on the side of generosity if anything. I suppose Toney apologists (and two of the judges) could argue — as so many did after the two matches between Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins — that the crafty older man never let the younger fighter hurt him. While Hopkins’ supporters could at least point to ring generalship, however, even the most devoted Toney fan would have to admit their fighter looked bad. Plus Toney was the challenger.
Toney did manage to score regularly with his right, but Rahman never looked rattled. Toney never looked hurt either, and true to form he defended himself brilliantly, rolling away from punches and rarely getting caught up the middle; but ultimately, like Hopkins, Toney simply didn’t do enough to win most rounds. At 5′9″ no one expects him to come into a heavyweight fight looking svelte, but he looked flabby even by his own flabby standards, and the extra weight appeared to slow him some and definitely affected his stamina and balance. On a number of occasions he missed with wild rights and stumbled, unable to to stop the momentum of his massive body. As I recall he was just as heavy when he fought Ruiz, but Rahman, who looked extremely well-conditioned, bore no resemblance to The Quiet Man.
If there’s a silver lining for Rahman fans, aside from the fact that he does retain his belt, it’s that he may have put together his best 12 rounds to date. His jab looked sharp and scored often (why he hasn’t relied on it more in the past is a mystery). He fought a disciplined fight, resisting head-hunting against the expert counter-puncher. He claimed afterwards that Toney was one of the hardest punchers he’d faced, but I have trouble believing he would have weathered as many rights from a larger fighter.
Personally I hope the WBC doesn’t require a rematch. Toney has had an incredible career and he’s a slam-dunk hall-of-famer, but if he’s not committed enough to get his weight down into the 220 neighborhood, I don’t see much point in his continuing. Rahman might be required to fight a rematch against Oleg Maskaev, the Russian that knocked him out of the ring in 1999. The heavyweight landscape should be more clearly defined in April, when Byrd-Klitschko and Brewster-Liakhovich will both be settled. Unless we get another draw, or a disqualification, or a cancellation…
