James Toney, the retired super middleweight legend, doesn’t like being compared to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. He’s made it clear in recent interviews that he thinks Canelo isn’t in the same league as fighters from his era.
Canelo has lost just twice in 66 fights. He’s never been knocked down and has won championships in four divisions. His list of victories includes big names like Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev, Danny Jacobs, Miguel Cotto, and Billy Joe Saunders. Many consider him one of the best pound-for-pound boxers and the biggest star in the sport right now. He’s currently the unified super-middleweight world champion.
But Toney, who’s 56 and was a three-weight world champion himself, isn’t impressed. He won belts at middleweight, super-middle, and cruiserweight, and even challenged twice for the heavyweight title.
On the Wise Nuts podcast, Toney said: "Canelo, he’s alright. I don’t hate him, but when people try to compare him to me, that’s wrong. That’s a total disgrace. He’s not the fighter I am."
He didn’t stop there. In an interview with The Parry, Toney added: "Let me say this, Canelo was brought up the right way, he would not last two big fights in my era. He’s soft. I’m just being real with you. He’s a good fighter, but you know what he’s not in our league."
Toney’s harshest words came in a chat with Mill City Boxing: "We put too much emphasis on Canelo. If you look at it, he’s fought all these guys who are lighter than him, or they are past their prime and all of that, you can’t compare this motherer to me, dog. I fought the best fighters in their prime. I don’t even want to talk about the motherer, because he p*es me off. I could always come out of retirement and whoop his a right now, I’d f**k him up, for real, I haven’t got a problem doing that."
Toney thinks Canelo fights lighter opponents or those past their prime, while he fought the best in their prime. He even claims he could come out of retirement and beat Canelo, though that’s unlikely given the age difference and Toney’s retired status.
Canelo will start looking for his next opponent in January. There’s talk that Terence Crawford wants to move up two divisions to challenge him, which could be an exciting match-up for fans.
