He was never a body-beautiful at heavyweight/cruiserweight. If he drops weight and gains some mobility, it could be interesting. Man, I'm torn because I like Randy, but James is one of my all-time favorite boxers (when he was in-shape). I know James is far from what he was, but he had great handskills back in the day. And the last thing a fighter usually loses is their power.
He was never a big puncher, but he's not pillow fisted either. With 4oz MMA gloves he can certainly hurt some people.
I am going to give my thoughts on this fight again. Randy Couture is NOT a freestyle wrestling stud that can immediately shoot for a double leg and get Toney to the ground. Couture's background, and the skill that he has employed during his MMA career, is Greco-Roman wrestling. He loves to pin guys against the catch, out grapple them, work dirty boxing, and gain take downs from that position. That is really a recipe for disaster against a skilled boxer that has always been a sharp inside puncher. Toney will have more than just a punchers chance. This fight will be kept standing much longer than people think. I think Toney can potentially do well when Couture has him against the cage. The other factor is Couture's age. Everyone know he's 47 and everyone knows his chin has been cracked in each of his last fights. But what people don't mention is the fact that Couture hasn't really won a fight simply on the advantage of his wrestling in quite sometime. In his last 5 or 6 fights, Couture has been on NEARLY a level playing field in the striking department. I would go all the way back to the Couture fight to find an opponent that had a clear striking advantage against Couture. And even in that fight Couture exchanged more than he tried to clinch or get the fight to the ground. Don't be shocked if Couture has problems getting Toney to the ground, loses dirty boxing exchanges and gets tagged.
But remember one thing. Yes toney does well against the ropes, but nobody is holding his arms when he is doing it. Here, Randy can Grab his wrists and pin his arm down. Thats not legal in boxing. We will see how he adjusts.
Holy fuck look at that gut! Just because he's sweating in the pictures doesn't mean he's training hard. He might be just sweating due to the fact that his mma fight is right around the corner.
Shooting might not be his thing but he can still do it and he just might turn to it against a guy like Toney. Check his ufc debut fight against another pro boxer Tony Halme.
That's pretty dumb to suggest Couture couldn't shoot and takedown Toney. He can and will in 15 seconds. Fucking Cro Cop could probably shoot in on Toney and take him down...let alone a high level grappler like Randy.
The pro boxer Tony Halme was actually a former WWE participant Ludwig Borga who didnt know shit about boxing even though he had some kind of a career with it
Well ya but still Randy didn't choose to stand with him. He shot right away for a double and got it. He might not try shooting on UFC level fighters but on a guy like Toney why wouldn't he?
Couture is going to dance on his toes flicking jabs from both orthodox and south paw stances. He no doubt saw Roy Jones knocking Toney down with the leaping left hook so it's a lock he uses that move as well.
