Columnist Dean Juipe: Toney lets his fingers do the walking for media

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002 | 10:10 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

James Toney springs into character with remarkable ease. Once perceived as boxing's definitive angry young man, he can still come out swinging at the slightest provocation.

This week, for instance, he and promoter Dan Goossen secluded themselves in the latter's Los Angeles office and got on the phone to make one-at-a-time calls to a few boxing writers.

Goossen would say his hellos and a couple of words of introduction, and then turn it over to Toney.

"I'm the best fighter in the world," Toney proclaimed, before settling into a personalized and fairly vulgar attack directed toward his Sunday opponent, fellow cruiserweight Jason Robinson.

"He's a punk," Toney said, with a handful of expletives deleted. "I'm Internet illiterate, but my man Dan showed me a few things this (guy) has been saying about me.

"He's talking a lot of (stuff), calling me 'old' and saying that I 'talk too fast.' Well, he's going to see that I punch too fast for him.

"I'll beat his (behind) and then go after his faggot manager, too."

Toney, 34, a former light heavyweight world champion, meets Robinson in a nationally televised fight from Temecula, Calif., that also features International Boxing Federation junior lightweight champ Steve Forbes of Las Vegas vs. David Santos.

Toney says he'll demolish Robinson and move into the IBF's mandatory challenger's position, assuring him a fight with Vassiliy Jirov.

Toney is 64-4-2 with 41 knockouts and Robinson, 27, is 16-2 with 10.

"This is my last run and I'm going to do it with Dan," Toney said. "I've been a fan of his for a long time and think he's a genius. He's given me motivation.

"He's going to map it out and I'm going to do it."

Goossen shares Toney's exuberance for the task at hand.

"I'm as excited as hell," he said. "I've known James for 10 years but this time the timing was right for us to get together. We're like peanut butter and jelly.

"I'm so happy to get a chance to work with him and accomplish some goals. Our feeling is that he's better than ever and we're committed to getting him back to the stardom he enjoyed about 10 years ago."

Toney lapsed into public disfavor not so much because of his personality or his four losses, but for ballooning into a heavyweight. He put on 50 pounds before regaining his self-control.

"I lost my focus," he said. "I was wrong. I did everything wrong for a while there in boxing."

Now he's at 190 pounds and, beyond this fight with Robinson, is looking ahead to Jirov.

"The fight this weekend will substantiate what we've been saying," Goossen said of Toney's recovery. "Then we hope to fight Jirov in November."

Despite the drastic weight loss, he says he feels fit.

"I'm stronger," he said. "That doesn't mean I'll be knocking everybody out, but it means I'll be able to finish strong and make what could have been a close fight more one-sided."

Forbes is 20-1 but with only five KOs. He also has fought only once in the past 20 months.

He beat Santos by decision Sept. 17, 2000, in Detroit.

"He's a good boxer," Forbes said. "But he can't box better than me. I'm quicker than he is."

Santos, 27, is 42-4. "This is the biggest fight of my life and I'm hungry for it," he said through his publicist.

The lineup: William Abelyan, 19-4-1, vs. Orlando Soto, 32-7, 12 rounds, featherweights; Fitz Vanderpool, 23-4-4, vs. Shakir Ashanti, 15-5, 10 rounds, junior middleweights; Dewey Cooper, 3-0-2, vs. Raul Fuentes, 1-4, four rounds, cruiserweights; Norman Campbell, 0-3-1, vs. Vaicka Wartanian, 4-1-1, six rounds, lightweights; Jakarta Nakura, 0-3, vs. Heman Gibson, pro debut, four rounds, heavyweights; and Kendra Lenhart, 8-9-1, vs. Valerie Mahfood, 13-4, women, 10 rounds, super middleweights. Of note: Abelyan is a Las Vegan who has yet to capitalize on his win over Guty Espadas last year; Vanderpool has risen to No. 1 in the WBC 154-pound listings; and the winner of the Lenhart vs. Mahfood fight may get Ali next. First bell is 6:15 p.m.

Jimenez, 21-1 with 10 knockouts, has lived here for several years and worked as a bellman at the MGM to supplement his income.

"I know Calzaghe's people think they have an easy fight," he said. "They don't think I've fought anyone and that I won't be sharp because I took this fight on short notice.

"But trust me, they've made a mistake. I'm fit and ready. Fighting Calzaghe was always my aim and I'm ready. I have nothing to lose."

Jimenez, 32, last fought in February when he beat Vincent Moses in suburban Los Angeles. His best win may have been one over Segundo Mercado two years ago in Las Vegas.

Calzaghe is 33-0 with 27 KOs and has expressed interest in fighting Bernard Hopkins.

Local cruiserweight Kelvin Davis has a televised fight Friday from New York with Ravea Springs. ... IBF/WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is looking at a Monday deadline to either commit to fight IBF mandatory challenger Chris Byrd, or be stripped of that belt. Should Lewis abdicate, work would begin toward making a Byrd vs. Evander Holyfield fight. ... Lou DiBella said he offered former U.S. amateur heavyweight champion Michael Bennett a non-fighting job before cutting ties with the weak-kneed boxer, who recently suffered a devastating loss and dropped to 9-3. DiBella handled Bennett as the latter came out of the Olympics but later realized the fighter had his liabilities. "He has no chin," DiBella said this week during a phone conversation. "I moved him down to cruiserweight but that didn't help. Then I offered him a job, but he wouldn't take it." 00 10.08