Boxing Outsider

James Toney claims to have a great deal of respect for mixed martial arts, but he sure isn’t showing any to upcoming opponent Randy Couture. The match is scheduled for “UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn II” at Boston’s TD Garden on August 28. It will either be a grand vindication or the biggest comeuppance in recent memory for Toney, who has promised to hit Couture “so hard his grandparents will feel it.”The odds calculators don’t seem to have the same confidence, judging Toney a 3.5-to-1 underdog. It’s his first time in the MMA ring, and despite four months of grappling training, it’s not likely that Toney will be able to defeat the three-time heavyweight and two-time light-heavyweight champion. Couture’s style involves not only boxing, but also Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, among others.Nevertheless, Toney believes that his boxing skills will translate to the ground if he’s forced onto his back. The boxer’s recent career has been a whirlwind of positive steroid tests and controversial wins, but he has still continued to rack up victories. He’s also the current IBA Heavyweight World Champion.Part of the reason fans have discredited Toney’s claims is his seeming dismissal of almost all MMA fighters. In a live chat at MMAFighting.com, Toney said that MMA fighters don’t like getting hit and can’t stand and take punches. He also said they kick “likelittle girls.” Toney did give props to fighters Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, and Georges St. Pierra as possibly being able to make the transition into boxing, but still denies that any MMA fighter could punch as hard as him.Michael David Smith, who orchestrated the chat, got fed up with Toney’s attitude, and many fans of both boxing and MMA have as well. A victory for Toney on the 28^th won’t erase that, but a loss will make sure he never lives it down.