Notebook: Blanks getting Toney into shape for rematch
Heavyweight contender James Toney has a jelly belly, but he'll never be mistaken for Santa Claus because he's not nearly that jolly.
And Toney might be even more irritable than usual these days because, as he prepares for his title elimination rematch with Samuel Peter on Jan. 6 (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET/PT), he has traded in frequent trips to Southern California's Jerry's Famous Deli for bowls of boiled lima beans. Gone, too, are Toney's beloved cigars.
The changes came about because for the past month, Toney has been working with noted conditioning guru Billy Blanks of Tae Bo exercise video fame. Blanks, who has known Toney for several years, prescribed the healthy dose of lima beans to go with a more serious fitness regimen in order to help him be in better shape when he meets Peter at the Hard Rock resort in Hollywood, Fla., with a title shot against Oleg Maskaev at stake.
The rematch was ordered after Peter (27-1, 22 KOs) won a debatable split decision against Toney (69-5-3, 43 KOs) on Sept. 2 in Los Angeles. What wasn't debatable, however, was that the jiggly Toney was not in top condition. Nor was he in peak form for his March draw against then-beltholder Hasim Rahman.
Toney, who weighed 157 on the night he won the middleweight title from Michael Nunn in 1991, weighed a flabby 233 against Peter. He was a less-flattering, career-heavy 237 against Rahman.
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| Peter |
"Think of what James accomplished fighting a big, strong, young guy like Peter in the shape he was in," said Dan Goossen, Toney's co-promoter. "The majority of people felt James won the fight. Now, imagine a well-conditioned James Toney and it's staggering how good he can be. It was astounding that for not being in 100 percent top condition, James was able to do as well as he did against those guys [Peter and Rahman]."
Toney always has struggled with his weight. But now at age 38 and 80 pounds north of where he won the first of his three world titles in three divisions, he finally has come to the realization that although his boxing skills are unquestioned, his conditioning habits need to change in order for him to have the best chance of beating bigger, stronger, younger heavyweights.
"James finally understands that there is more to being in shape than going to the gym every day and working hard in sparring," Goossen said. "It entails doing weights, agility exercises and running. And it also entails eating the right foods. Not going on a diet, but staying away from Jerry's Deli, where he would go three times a day."
While Toney continues working with boxing trainer Freddie Roach, he said he is committed to Blanks' conditioning program.
"When I agreed to go with Billy, I told him he had my whole undivided attention, that whatever needed to be done, I would do it," Toney said. "No question or arguments about anything. I would just do it. I do not see anybody in the world train like Billy Blanks. The man is in great shape. If you look at him now, you would say this is the man you want to be. I want to be the same way."
Blanks, a martial arts expert and former amateur boxer before his fitness pitchman days, has Toney on a 1,500-calories-per-day diet. It's low in fat and carbohydrates and dominated by meals of fish and chicken to go with the lima beans.
"We are on a fat burner's diet," Blanks said. "I have somebody cooking for him and he eats five meals a day, drinking a lot of water, which he has never done as much as he is doing now. So he is cleaning his body out.
"His body is going to look like it has never looked before and his performance is going to even be better. James can outbox [most of his opponents] at the weight he was. But now, he is going to be able to identify boxing with his body and be able to make them all combine together and become a total weapon."
Even though Toney's camp expects him to be in great condition, it won't divulge his current weight.
Toney, never a fan of roadwork, is also running more.
"We run in the mornings. We are doing sprints, drills," Blanks said. "We are doing what he should have done a long time ago."
What they are doing, apparently, is working.
"Before, I guess, I was not training too hard because when I went home, I would not be sleepy," Toney said. "But believe me, now I go home every night sleepy. Just try to get home, get to that couch and get to that bed."
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| Green |
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| Miranda |
Green's handlers want the fight and reached out immediately after Miranda's victory to see if it could be made. Miranda co-promoter Warriors Boxing was very receptive, and the sides are trying to get it done.
HBO, which was so impressed with Miranda (27-1, 24 KOs) and has been looking for a spot for Green (23-0, 16 KOs), also is interested. However, before it can be made, HBO would need to clear a date -- probably not before April or May -- and the sides have to come to a financial agreement.
"We'll fight any middleweight in the world," Warriors Boxing's Leon Margules told ESPN.com. "If HBO wants us to fight Allan Green, we'll fight Allan Green. We'll fight anyone, Jermain Taylor, Kelly Pavlik. We're not turning down fights. We believe we have the best middleweight in the world. Hopefully, the network will support us, especially in light of the kid being so exciting."
When Green heard about the possibility of the fight from Bobby Dobbs, matchmaker for promoter Tony Holden, he was excited.
"I would love that fight," Green told ESPN.com. "I feel like he's a strong puncher, but stylistically he's tailor-made for me. I don't want to have to wait on guys. If this fight is available at 160 [pounds], then it's the fight I want."
Plans are in the works for Green to stay busy with an untelevised bout Jan. 26 in his native Oklahoma, but he hopes to face Miranda after that.
"He's a good fighter," Green said. "I've seen him fight a few times. I'm not overwhelmed by what he did to Willie Gibbs. [Gibbs has] been a corpse for some time. He has not been the same since he fought Daniel Edouard [a fourth-round knockout loss in 2004]. I expected what I saw. Allan Green is a totally different animal than Willie Gibbs."
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| Cotto |
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| Urkal |
Cotto dispatched Quintana in the fifth round, and now Urkal (38-3, 12 KOs), a 36-year-old former European champ, is anxious for his title shot, which is expected to come March 3.
The key question is on which American TV network will the fight take place? Showtime televised Cotto-Quintana and had an exclusive negotiating window with Top Rank for Cotto's next fight. That window expired without the sides making a deal, and now Top Rank is shopping the fight to HBO, which is anxious to bring Cotto back after its poor decision to let him go to Showtime in the first place. Both networks have made offers, but whatever HBO offers, Showtime still has the right to match it.
Neither network is looking to buy just the Cotto-Urkal bout, however. They are interested in it only as a means of also securing the rights to Cotto's next fight, assuming he beats Urkal. That bout is expected to be June 9 at New York's Madison Square Garden against fellow titlist Antonio Margarito. The fight would be Cotto's third in a row on the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York, where Cotto is a big draw. Cotto, Puerto Rico's No. 1 active fighter, drew a big crowd to the Garden on the same weekend this year when he outpointed New Yorker Paulie Malignaggi in a junior welterweight title fight.
Urkal knows Cotto is a formidable opponent, but is looking forward to his title shot.
"Cotto is a tough nut to crack," Urkal said. "But I am in the shape of my life for the chance of my life." Urkal's three defeats came in junior welterweight title bouts, a 2001 decision loss to Kostya Tszyu and a pair of losses in 2004 to Vivian Harris, one via majority decision and one on an 11th-round TKO.
"I have certainly learned from those defeats," Urkal said. "The most important thing in life is to bounce back from defeats, and that is what I have accomplished by putting myself in a position to challenge Cotto. I came so close three times. But you have to take the positives out of it. There could have hardly been a better motivation. I am ready, and I am hungry."
"All of Mayweather's fights are the same and they're not exactly spectacles, not edge-of-your-seat stuff. They carried him into to the Baldomir fight dressed like Russell Crowe, a warrior, but he ended up fighting more like Sheryl Crow. He has great skill but he doesn't have you on the edge of your seat."