Continuing with his ongoing quest to solidify a meaningful fight, future Hall of Famer James "Lights Out" Toney informed us that he recently received a few offers at various venues, but he has yet to find an opponent. Although he was tight-lipped on any of the details, Toney believes he knows just the right man to step up to the plate and make those offers a reality: none other than Roy Jones conqueror and former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver. "Tarver, I got some money for you. Come get it, bitch," stated the always confident Toney, who is now positive that he'll be back inside the squared circle either some time before the end of the year or in early 2011.
According to Toney, he's been in contact with financial backers who are eager to put up the money for a potential "TNT", or "Toney N Tarver", showdown. The only variable that's missing in the equation is Tarver, whose signature is all it would take in order to make the intriguing matchup a reality. "The only thing left now is for old bubble gum lips to put his name on a piece of paper. I already got people willing to put the money up for the fight," Toney would explain.
This past October, Tarver made a successful debut as a heavyweight, defeating Nagy Aguilera via unanimous decision on ShoBox: The New Generation, a Showtime series designed to feature "young, talented contenders matched tough." Although Tarver is far from young, and was hardly matched tough, his performance prompted him to remark, "I think I looked great. It showed that these heavyweights, you know, if they don't land that knockout punch, they can't outbox me. They don't stand a chance...we gonna sit down with Showtime, see what they're willing to buy. We gotta get off ShoBox though. We want Showtime Championship Boxing baby." With Toney now bringing some financial backers to the table, perhaps Tarver will take him up on his opportunity to get off a series traditionally reserved for up-and-coming talent.
In the past, however, Tarver has been reluctant to step into the ring with Toney, despite claiming otherwise. We'll have to wait and see if Tarver is finally willing to walk the walk and face Toney in just his second heavyweight bout, or if he's simply all talk and will elect a softer touch. But regardless, one has to believe that with the recent string of mismatches in an a virtually dead heavyweight division, at the very least, the pre-fight smack talk between James Toney and Antonio Tarver would be worth the price of admission alone. Surely the fight couldn't be any worse than some match-ups we've seen recently in the division, like David Haye vs. Audley Harrison.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]