Prime Toney vs Prime Hagler. 51-49 fight in favour of the smarter fighter, James Toney. Toney by split decision.
Hagler, clearly. Like 8-4 in a 12 rounder, or 10-5/9-6 in a 15 rounder. JT is one of my all time fav fighters, but lets be real... Reggie Johnson arguably beat him. Hagler's southpaw jab and workrate would be enough to clearly win him this fight. That and Marv was just a better fighter.
Prime Hagler is the more versatile fighter. In here he would use movement and his fine skills to outbox Toney and leave little chances for Toney to counter. Hagler, competitive yet clear
toney had less than a month to train for that fight considering he had beaten nunn for the title like a month and half prior. johnson would've gotten whupped in a rematch. should've brought up the fact that tiberi legitimately beat him at 160
anyways, i pick hagler in a very close fight. toney would've given him all sorts of trouble. hagler would've had difficulty in landing his jab.
Toney was still improving at middleweight. He wasn't very consistent, looking brilliant against McCallum in the first fight, and then looking awful later against Tiberi and not as good in the rematch with McCallum. Toney loved guys to come at him so he could counter effectively. Hagler most likely would box him from the outside as he usually did, as it would be in his best interest to do so. Hagler's busy jab would give Toney all sorts of problems as it did to most opponents. So would the lateral movement. Toney would get some shots in, but Hagler had a great chin anyway. Toney would hold his own Hagler wins a competitive but clear decision.
Christ, Toney is so fucking overrated it is incredible Hagler was a better and greater fighter and there's no way he'd lose to that slob
This thread isn't about the gluttonous fuck who fought at Heavyweight. We're talking about prime Toney, a guy who beat BIG fighters like Nunn, Barkley, Prince Charles Williams and great fighters who moved up called McCallum. Hagler is overrated, his best wins coming over blown up lightweights and Jnr Middles (who was already stopped by Leonard and would soon be stopped by Barkley).
Hagler wins in a pretty good fight, but one in which he is the clear winner. Toney at 160 was too inconsistent to beat Hagler. Hagler would outbox and outwork Toney most of the way.
Toney was a very good middleweight, Hagler was an exceptional middleweight. I'll take Hagler with no doubt at all.
Toney BARELY beat McCallum, he also didnt beat Dave Tiberi or Reggie Johnson Iran Barkley? that was at 168... do you seriously doubt that Marvin Hagler would have carved Barkley up like a Turkey? you also clearly know jack shit about the middleweight division of the 1970s, the one that Hagler basically cleaned out BEFORE he ever got a shot at the title
