Reviewing Classic Fights. James Toney vs Reggie Johnson. Forgotten sleeper of a fight

Toney vs Johnson is a great fight and gets overlooked. Happening 6 weeks after Toney shocked the boxing world by knocking out Michael Nunn for the middleweight title. Unbelievable that Toney or any champ would take a fight vs Reggie only 6 weeks later. Reggie is 29-1-1.

Round 1- both guys going tit for tat with each other but Reggie alittle cleaner and sharper. Reggie wins it 10-9

Round 2- starts off like the 1st round but then bang Toney is floored with a left hand from the southpaw Reggie. Legit knockdown. Reggie jumps on him but Toney cool as a cucumber weathers the storm and actually lands some good shots of his own. 10-8 Reggie. 20-17 Reggie thru 2

Round 3- very close round, both guys doing good work and both landing clean but felt Toney controlled the action. I give it to Toney but definitely a toss-up round. 29-27 Reggie thru 3

Round 4- another close round but Toney hitting the harder cleaner shots. Gave this to Toney, 10-9. 38-37 Reggie

Round 5 - Toney controls it, lands a beautiful counter right, and is starting to get the timing of Reggie. Reggie mounts some offense late but still a Toney round 10-9. 47-47 all tied up

Round 6- Toney dictates the action and Reggie lands some good counters but Toney lands good shots countering the counter. Basically Toney walking Reggie down, Reggie counters well, but Toney answers right back with his own counters. Toney 10-9, 57-56 Toney

Round 7 ,8- Toney seems to have Reggie flustered and hesitant to launch offense for fear of Toney’s counter shots. Toney lands some good body shots in round 8. Both rounds were competitive but Toney is in control. Both 10-9 rounds for Toney. 77-74 Toney thru 8

Round 9- Reggie comes out aggressive and wins 1st minute, Toney takes control in 2nd minute, but then Reggie takes the final minute. Really competitive fight, Reggie takes this round 10-9, 86-84 Toney thru 9

Round 10- another really close round both guys doing good work but felt Reggie landed the cleaner shots. 10-9 Reggie, 95-94 Toney thru 10

Round 11- hardest round to score, both guys landing, nobody really took control. I give it a 10-10 round. 105-104 toney thru 11

Round 12- both guys still landing, and Toney gets cut and bleeding. Felt like Reggie won the first half of the round and Toney got more aggressive once he was cut and Toney landed cleaner shots down the stretch. Very close round but I think Toney took it, even with the cut. 10-9 toney

115-113 toney wins. Rounds 3,10,11,12 are the key as those rounds were highly competitive. Really great fight that kinda foreshadows what we will see in Toney vs mccallum in the following years. Just felt that from round 3 on, Toney controlled the rounds, and Reggie just wasn’t busy enough in the middle rounds as he seemed hesitant due to Toney’s counters

All in all a great fight that doesn’t get talked about enough. Still crazy to me that Toney would take this fight 6 weeks after becoming champ. Was on the verge of having the shortest reign in history. Definitely a must watch.

Let me know what you think !!