But Toney said, 'I wasn't a team player and wasn't good at taking orders. Prior to his career in boxing, Toney was also a star football player after high school he received scholarship offers from Western Michigan to play quarterback and from Michigan to play as a defensive back. As a teen, Toney was often involved in street fighting and sold crack cocaine. and Buster Mathis Jr., and Toney's father himself (who was absent for Toney's upbringing) was a boxer. Growing up, Toney lived alongside the families of Floyd Mayweather Jr. At around age 11, Toney first entered a boxing gym, but did not seriously pursue the sport until graduating high school.

Toney was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. In 2001, Toney played the role of Joe Frazier in the movie Ali alongside Will Smith. In 2011, The Ring magazine ranked him as tenth on their list of the '10 best middleweight title holders of the last 50 years.' He has also made a one-time appearance in mixed martial arts, losing to Randy Couture at UFC 118. In 19, Toney was voted Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He possessed fast hand speed and respectable punching power throughout his career and is also noted for his toughness, having never lost any of his 92 professional bouts via stoppage. Toney was an exceptional counterpuncher and inside fighter, who often preferred to fight off the ropes. Stylistically a defensive boxer, Toney utilized the shoulder roll technique taught to him by veteran trainer Bill Miller, who had once trained heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles. Overall, he competed in fifteen world title fights across four weight classes.

Toney also challenged twice for a world heavyweight title in 20, and was victorious the first time but was later stripped due to a failed drug test. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF and lineal middleweight titles from 1991 to 1993, the IBF super middleweight title from 1993 to 1994, and the IBF cruiserweight title in 2003. James Nathaniel Toney (born August 24, 1968) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017.

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