Future Hall of Famer James "Lights Out" Toney has been advised to sit on the sideline for another 3 weeks before he resumes his plans to begin training again. Last month, Toney injured his left knee in a one-sided loss to Denis Lebedev. Now the 43 years old, Toney is vowing to come back as a cruiserweight and give the performances that he should have given that night in Russia. "After these 3 weeks are up, it's back to business. I want to come back at cruiserweight because that will motivate me to keep the weight off. I know I can fight better than what I displayed in Russia. My knee was fucked up for real. I couldn't throw any power shots, but I couldn't quit," Toney explained.
Whether or not the knee injury would have changed the outcome of the fight is debatable, but Toney says it clearly was a major factor. "Once that happened, I couldn't pivot, I couldn't throw power shots, and I had to go against the ropes to block anything he was throwing just for the stability. He did his thing and I'm not taking anything away from him, but he did it against a one-legged fighter," Toney continued. Although he is a veteran of over 80 fights, he did admit that while he was treated very well in Russia, it was very odd fighting out of the country, something he had only did one other time in his long career. "It was a bit different, man, I ain't gonna lie. Not so much that the crowd was on his side or anything, because they treated me very well over there, but it was just different. I can't really explain it. But I would do it again in a heartbeat; they treated me great."
Many observers feel as though Toney looked weight drained and after dropping so much weight during the course of the year, his performance was affected, but Toney says that was not the case and he was very comfortable at 200 pounds. "Looking at the way I performed and the way I fought, I can see why people would say that, but honestly Percy, I felt great leading up to the fight. I wasn't drained or dehydrated or anything like that. I just gotta get this knee better," Toney added.
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