"I know you will relay this message to James Toney," stated heavyweight Jonathan Banks, who recently reached out to FightHype.com to call out future Hall of Famer James "Lights Out" Toney. Knowing that Toney is a regular here at FightHype, Banks contacted us and made his intentions clear, stating, "Tell him that I have already told Showtime that we will fight him in Detroit and he can quit claiming Detroit!"
As our fans already know, Toney has been extremely vocal about his displeasure with the inability of his promoter, Dan Goossen, to land him a meaningful fight for decent money. Banks is fresh off of a 6th round TKO victory over Travis Walker, which took place on the undercard of Wladimir Klitschko's successful title defense against Eddie Chambers. Banks is currently riding a 4-fight winning streak, 3 of those coming by knockout, while Toney has won 3 of his last 4, including a knockout and a no-contest with Hasim Rahman.
Hailing from Detroit, Banks trained at the legendary Kronk Gym. Toney, who was born in Grand Rapids, but also grew up in Detroit, will likely take offense to Banks telling him to "quit claiming Detroit!" Maybe this battle for Michigan is exactly what's needed to bring some excitement back to the heavyweight division.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]