Boxing Champ David Haye says James Toney is “Delusional” on UFC Career

Published on: 30th June, 2010

Boxing Champ David Haye says James Toney is "Delusional" on UFC Career  | read this item

As former boxing champion James ‘Lights Out’ Toney continues to prepare for his Mixed Martial Arts debut inside the Octagon at UFC 118 when he meets Randy Couture, Toney has often said that he plans to do both MMA and boxing and has since called out WBA heavyweight boxing champion David Haye who is actually an avid UFC fan and trains in MMA in his spare time and shares his thoughts as the voice of reason on Toney to go along with his upcoming UFC debut.

While speaking to Kevin Iole for Yahoo!Sports Haye who is 24-1 with 22 KO’s as a professional boxer says that he respects Toney as far as being one of the best fighters in the world at “The Sweet Science”, but adds that a few months of training MMA will not be enough for him to get passed someone like Randy Couture.

“James Toney is the purest of the pure at boxing,” Haye said. “He is so brilliant at boxing and his skills are so ingrained in him that he’s been an elite level fighter, in shape or not in shape, his skills alone put him on another level as a boxer.

“Six months of training isn’t going to be enough,” Haye said. “As a UFC fan, I know two or three years wouldn’t be enough. How many times has Toney sprawled in his life? 500? How many leg kicks has he taken in his life? 300? How many Kimura attempts has he defended? 140? Even if he’s done double that amount, he wouldn’t have nearly the experience needed to win a UFC fight.”

Toney has mentioned that once he beats on Randy Couture that he was going to get his fight with David Haye back in the ring, but Haye believes that Couture is going to take ‘Lights Out’ off his feet and punish him on the ground and tops it off by saying that the 41 year old former champion is “delusional” as well.

“I know from training in MMA myself that the wrestling aspect ruins your punching power,” Haye said. “After a minute of grappling, your arms, back and shoulders fill with blood and even if you then find space to throw punches, your power is suddenly crap.

“And I hit a lot harder and I’m so much faster than James, and I couldn’t land a punch on fighters when all they wanted to do was take me down to the ground. James is a much more static fighter than I am, and is going to get thrown on his back immediately by Randy. I admire Toney’s spirit and boxing skills. But he’s delusional here.”

Sounds like David Haye knows what he is talking about seeing what he has learned in his training experiences in MMA, but can James Toney prove everyone wrong as he confidently believes?

 Nelson Rodriguez AKA: Nelo2.0 is the Co - Owner of URDirt.com who is also an Editor and Author on the site. Read more from this author

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