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October 29th, 1993. Undefeated James "Lights Out" Toney defended the IBF World Super Middleweight Championship against Tony Thornton aka the “Punching Postman” in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Prefight records; Toney 39(26)-0-2, Thornton 35(25)-5-1.
In February 1993, Toney dethroned IBF World Super Middleweight Champion Iran Barkley via RTD9 in arguably the best performance of his career to become World Champion in 2 weight divisions.
Note: Toney was IBF World Middleweight Champion from May 1991 to February 1993.
For his first defense, he took on the tough No. 4 ranked Tony Thornton who was a late replacement for Darrin Van Horn who pulled out allegedly due to a shoulder injury.
Entering the fight, the 33 year old Thornton had notable wins over Dave Tiberi & Merqui Sosa while the 25 year old Toney had commendable triumphs over the likes of Glenn Wolfe, Tim Littles, Michael Nunn, Iran Barkley, Doug DeWitt, Reggie Johnson, Merqui Sosa & Mike McCallum.
Overall, it was a highly competitive technical battle but Toney was evidently more effective as he had the upper hand in most of the exchanges en route to winning nearly every round.
In round 1, Thornton set the pace as the aggressor working the body to slow down Toney who consistently circled around the ring where he jabbed and countered to great effect.
Before round 4 began, referee Sam Williams spotted a hole in Toney’s left glove and instructed his corner to replace it.
In round 5, the leather in Thornton's glove penetrated Toney's left eye socket when he landed a jab at him. Toney was not badly affected as he recuperated quickly.
In round 6, an error by the timekeeper resulted in the round ending about 30 seconds before the 3:00 mark.
In round 9, Thornton was momentarily troubled by a left hook followed by a salvo of head shots.
In rounds 11 & 12, both fighters slowed down after throwing at an insanely high output for 10 rounds but Toney was clearly in control as he connected with many power shots upstairs and waded off most of Thornton’s offenses.
After 36 minutes of action, Toney retained his IBF World Super Middleweight Championship via UD12 and improved his unbeaten record to 40(26)-0-2.
The 3 judges scored the bout 116-112 & 118-110 (2x).
Throughout the course of the fight, the spectators let out choruses of boos time after time as they probably expected to witness an explosive action-packed affair rather than a high speed chess match.
In a 2017 interview with Ring Magazine, Toney who had retired with a final record of 77(47)-10-3 stated that Thornton had the hardest chin of any fighter he had ever faced;
“The punching postman from Philly! (laughs) I thought I was gonna knock him out easy. He was squared up with his chin right there for me to hit but I hit him with every punch I had and he wouldn’t budge. I hit him with my best left hook and he didn’t blink.”
Enjoy this highlight of a TACTICAL THROWBACK and remember to SUBSCRIBE for nonstop boxing awesomeness!