Evander Holyfield vs. James Toney

Evander Holyfield vs. James Toney, billed as "The War on October 4", was a professional boxing match contested on October 4, 2003.

The War on October 4
DateOctober 4, 2003
VenueMandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada
Title(s) on the lineNone
Tale of the tape
Boxer Evander Holyfield James Toney
Nickname "The Real Deal" "Lights Out"
Hometown Atlanta Georgia, U.S. Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Pre-fight record 38–6–2 66–4–2
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 219 lb (99 kg) 217 lb (98 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition Former
4-time heavyweight champion		 IBF
Cruiserweight Champion
Result
Toney defeats Holyfield by TKO in round nine

Background

In June 2003, it was announced that former 4-time world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield would face reigning IBF cruiserweight champion James Toney in a non-title bout set for October 4, 2003.[1]

Holyfield's previous fight had been a loss to Chris Byrd in an IBF heavyweight title fight. Following the loss, Holyfield had entered negotiations with promoter Don King to face then-WBA heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. Jones' promoter claimed Holyfield was offered a $10 million purse, but negotiations fell through when Holyfield demanded an additional $2 million added on because he claimed King owed him such. After the proposed Holyfield–Jones fight fell through, Holyfield instead reached an agreement to face Toney[2] Toney had won the IBF cruiserweight title in April by defeating Vassiliy Jirov, giving him his first major title since 1994 and making him a 3-division world champion as he had previously captured titles in both the middleweight and super middleweight divisions. Toney and his promoter Dan Goossen had agreed that if Toney beat Jirov for the cruiserweight title, then he could "do what he wanted." After doing so, Toney then decided to move up to the heavyweight division.[3]

The fight

Holyfield got off to a good start in the fight, winning two of the first three rounds on two of the judge's scorecards and all three on the other judge's scorecards. However, from the fourth round on, Toney would dominate Holyfield, punishing him with a series of powerful combinations and left hooks and winning every round from then on. After punishing Holyfield for 5+ rounds, Toney was finally able to breakthrough with a knockdown in round nine after landing left hook to the body caused Holyfield to collapse to the mat. Holyfield would get back up, but his trainer Don Turner decided to stop the fight by throwing in the towel, automatically giving Toney the victory by technical knockout at 1:42 of the round.[4]

Though Holyfield admitted that "Toney did beat me up" and there were calls for his retirement following consecutive defeats, Holyfield decided to put retirement off, stating "No, I'm not going to retire, I'm going back to the drawing board."[5]

Fight card
Weight Class Weight vs. Method Round Notes
Heavyweight 200+ lb James Toney def. Evander Holyfield TKO 9/12
Super Featherweight 126 lb Joel Casamayor def. Diego Corrales TKO 6/12 Note 1
Bantamweight 118 lb Cruz Carbajal (c) def Gerardo Espinoza TKO 8/12 Note 2
Middleweight 160 lb Keith Holmes def Jason Papillion TKO 8/8

^Note 1 For IBA Super Featherweight title
^Note 2 For WBO Bantamweight title

References
  1. Holyfield to fight James Toney, UPI article, 2003-06-24, Retrieved on 2020-04-07
  2. Toney and Holyfield In Heavyweight Bout, NY Times article, 2002-06-02, Retrieved on 2020-04-08
  3. Was Toney a 'slimmed-down' heavyweight all along?, ESPN article, 2006-03-14, Retrieved on 2020-04-08
  4. Toney gets TKO of Holyfield, UPI article, 2003-10-05, Retrieved on 2020-04-06
  5. Holyfield's career may be over, ESPN article, 2003-10-05, Retrieved on 2020-04-08
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