Bernard Hopkins: "James Toney is going to get his ass kicked"

by S.C. Michaelson on Aug 12, 2010 6:16 AM EDT in News

Bernard Hopkins is not some journeyman boxer fighting in old gyms in front of 30 drunken fools. The "Executioner" is a former IBF, WBA, WBO, and WBC middleweight and super-middleweight champion including a ten-year undefeated title reign. He is regarded as one of the pound-for-pound greats in the sport, so if anyone's opinion of the James Toney/Randy Couture fight at UFC 118 should be taken heed of, it's his.

And he's speaking out.

"I think James Toney is going to get his ass kicked. For real," said Hopkins. "James Toney is out of his league."

This isn't normal trash-talking or downplaying of Toney's skills, Hopkins respects Toney's attributes and accomplishments.

"James Toney is James Toney in boxing. You gotta bow down to that, that's the man," said Hopkins. "Whether it's old James Toney or new James Toney, his record speaks for himself. He's done well, he's done more than well in boxing."

B-Hop says that it's familiarity in the environment that will determine the winner and not purely talent.

"When you step out into a situation where, against a legend too in his own sport. I believe, and I'll go on the record, that the best MMA guy or UFC guy go up against the best boxer in the world in their arena, in their arena gets their ass kicked. I don't care who it is, whether Floyd, Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, they get they ass kicked. That is not what we do."

Hopkins goes on to explain that it's the same if a UFC fighter (like Anderson Silva) would step inside the ring with a top-shelf boxer (Like Roy Jones, Jr.).

"This is a different different arena, I'm not trying to say he won't have any moments, but listen when that instinct come in when one guy is used to taking a guy down or used to taking a guy down using his forearm or chin or whatever, hey man you take that away that's like taking a lion's teeth out, he's no longer a lion."

With reports that Toney is training wrestling with King Mo Lawal and rolling BJJ with Dean Lister, two top pros in those respective arts, it appears that Toney is trying to adapt to the game. However, like Hopkins says above, Toney doesn't have the years of instincts that Couture will bring to the game. Will Toney learn enough things outside of striking to win the fight or does he even need to? We'll find out the answer at UFC 118 in Boston.

(All quotations and audio appear courtesy of Steve Cofield of Yahoo! MMA. Sorry Steve.)

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Be prepared to get dissed on twitter, B-Hop.

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.

-Sun Tze

by LYHL on Aug 12, 2010 7:42 AM EDT reply actions

I agree with Hopkins there but I also consider this scenario, although unlikely:

Couture is not a finisher, never has been. He grinds on people until they give up. While I think he will manage to catch Toney in a bad position and basically force the ref to stop the fight (crucifix or just trapped on the cage like he did with Tim Sylvia). Let’s Toney manages to simply create enough scrambles before getting put on his butt to get back up. Couture backs him up to the cage, they clinch, Couture leans on him for a while dirty boxes him, goes for single leg and Toney scrambles out. Repeat. All of a sudden 15 minutes is a long time to knock somebody out, especially for somebody like Toney, his Lights Out are not the same kind of Lights Out as Chris Lytle, its pitch f****ing black in there.

I am interested to see how Toney moves in the cage too. He is not known to moving all that much, he uses his shoulders and upper body movement to get out of the way of punches. Something that will surely put him on his ass against Couture. Despite the freakshow aspect of the whole thing I am really interested to see how it comes down and what kind of adjustments Toney does to his game.

by blawa on Aug 12, 2010 9:18 AM EDT reply actions

Your crazy, Toney's "Lights Out" ain't all that.

Couture is gonna take a minute to find range/gauge speed, then shoot in take him down and tko him. I think that’s what happens 99 times out of 100.

Ride the Tiger!

by doonerthesooner on Aug 12, 2010 9:32 AM EDT up reply actions

I generally agree with that, except Couture’s shot is not that great in the first place. Toney has knocked out a bunch of guys with single shots with big boxing gloves, He has power in his hands, that should be of no question.

by blawa on Aug 12, 2010 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah but how good is Toney's sprawl know what i'm saying?

Ride the Tiger!

by doonerthesooner on Aug 12, 2010 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t think he is going to sprawl, I think he will try to get out of the way and scramble. I never talked about sprawling. If Couture shoots from way back and does not set it up with feints, punches and kicks he will eat an uppercut in the face and that will be bad. I don’t think it happens but it could.

by blawa on Aug 12, 2010 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah...he will TRY....

"I ain't got time to breath."
Watch Tosh.O
Pain don't hurt...

by RolloTomasi on Aug 12, 2010 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Come on blawa really, man. Come on.

Ride the Tiger!

by doonerthesooner on Aug 12, 2010 5:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Couture almost never shoots.

GR wrestling works a lot more with body locks and generally focuses on attacking the hips from above the waist, rather than attacking from below. That’s a big part of why he’s the father of clinching against the cage, or walling, or whatever.

Toney is either going to get KO’d in the middle of the ring, or ground into dust after 1.5-2 rounds.

If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...

by misterjonez on Aug 12, 2010 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Toney has a true puncher's chance,

not the TIC puncher’s chance we suggest for Dan Hardy, Paul Daley or Houston Alexander.

Toney will have a true A+ hand-striking ability entering the fight. His accuracy, handspeed and power are likely to be far better than most anyone else in the sport. That should create opportunities that won’t exist for other ‘good’ strikers.

Still, Couture is legendary (deserved or not, I go with deserved) for coming up with gameplans that negate his opponent’s strengths and then applying those gameplans en route to a win. I don’t like Toney’s chances here, but it’s not like a loss hurts his stock or the spectacle in the near term, which is realistically all we’re talking about when discussing Toney’s impact on the sport.

If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...

by misterjonez on Aug 12, 2010 11:42 AM EDT reply actions

Probably the most objective thing I’ve ever heard a boxer say about MMA. It’s the simple truth, odds are a boxer will get tooled in an MMA fight, and an MMA figther will get tooled in a boxing match.

by agentsmith on Aug 12, 2010 12:22 PM EDT reply actions