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October 4th, 2003. James “Lights Out” Toney takes on the legendary Evander Holyfield who was an 8-5 betting favorite. Toney weighed in at a career high 217 while Evander weighed 219.
Interestingly, this was the 2nd time in his 15 year run as a Heavyweight that Holyfield outweighed his opponent. The 1st time was in his previous bout against Chris Byrd in December 2002 where he lost via points.
Prefight records; Toney 66(42)-4-2, Holyfield 38(25)-6-2.
The 35 year old Toney making his Heavyweight debut (in his 5th division) was world champion in 3 different weight classes; Middleweight, Super Middleweight & Cruiserweight. In the combined 14 years spent competing in these weight categories, he garnered wins over top oppositions such as Prince Charles Williams, Merqui Sosa, Michael Nunn, Tim Littles, Tony Thornton, Francesco Dell' Aquila, Freddie Delgado, Vassiliy Jirov, Glenn Wolfe, Reggie Johnson, Doug DeWitt, Steve Little, Iran Barkley & Mike McCallum (2x).
As for the weathered Holyfield fighting in his 3rd weight class for the past 15 years, he was the Undisputed World Champion in the Cruiserweight and Heavyweight divisions. Throughout his 19 year pro career, he had triumphs over notable opponents in Carlos De Leon, Tyrone Booze, Chisanda Mutti, Henry Tillman, Ricky Parkey, Ossie Ocasio, James Tillis, Vaughn Bean, Pinklon Thomas, James Douglas, John Ruiz, Hasim Rahman, Bert Cooper, Michael Dokes, Ray Mercer, Michael Moorer, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman, Dwight Muhammad Qawi (2x), Alex Stewart (2x) & Mike Tyson (2x).
In the opening round, Evander had successes with his right hand as well as some lefts in the inside, and even managed to buckle Toney before the bell with a right to the body followed by a left upstairs.
Although he had a good 1st round, the 40 year old Holyfield began to look his age from the following round on as his work rate decreased with his left low most of the time due to shoulder problems while Toney began to establish his jab to find his rhythm, and connect to the body and head, whilst effectively pot-shotting and slipping punches in vintage Lights Out style.
Evander was able to occasionally land hooks particularly with the right, but Toney who was 27 pounds heavier than in his last fight appeared to have better hand speed and mobility over the ageing warrior thus beating him to the punch in most exchanges.
There were some moments where the ever confident James was struck with clean blows due to the fact that he was sticking his tongue out or signaling the judges at times when he landed good shots. However, he was not nearly fazed by Holyfield’s best shots despite being the smaller man.
The resilient Real Deal managed to rally in the 8th and found his mark with some clean hooks but due to exhaustion there was little to no pop in those connected shots. In the corner after the round, trainer Don Turner told his man he would halt the bout if he continue to absorb more punishment.
Towards the midpoint of the 9th round, Toney turned the lights off of Evander; flooring him with a barrage that ended with a left to the body.
The ever courageous Holyfield rose to his feet but was visibly dazed and not responding to referee Jay Nady’s questions thus his corner threw in the towel to save their fighter.
This was only the 2nd time in the great career of Evander Holyfield that he was stopped, and only the 3rd time he was knocked down. His last defeat via stoppage was back in November 1995, where Riddick Bowe scored a TKO5 over him in their rubber match to close the chapter of their historic rivalry.
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