Peter/Toney weigh-in results from Hollywood, Florida
HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—Turns out the former middleweight champion known as ‘Lights Out’ wasn’t even the only weight-challenged James Toney fighting on Don King’s Saturday night card at the Seminole Hard Rock.
A day after James (Lights Out) Toney tipped the scales at 234 (a pound more than he won for his first encounter with Samuel Peter, “but this time he’s skinny,� insists trainer Freddie Roach), James Obede Toney of Ghana weighed in at 159 for his undercard bout against former IBF junior middle champ Roman Karmazin on the Toney-Peter undercard.
James Obede Toney didn’t even have Tae Bo guru Billy Blanks going for him, but it might be noted that just eleven months ago, the Ghanaian boxer was a 185-pound cruiserweight when he fought Mickey Stackhouse in South Carolina.
After Toney and Peter weighed in on Thursday, by the way, Jose Rivera’s trainer John Scully (who used to spar with Toney years ago) accompanied the heavyweight James to dinner at the hotel coffee shop.
“I was impressed,� said Scully. “James had salad, a small piece of broiled chicken, and some vegetables – and this was after the weigh-in. You’d never have seen the old Toney eating that way.�
Friday night’s undercard weigh-in was highlighted by the performers in the only world title bout on the card. Jose Rivera scaled in at 153, while his challenger – and fellow New Englander – Travis Simms was incrementally heavier at 153¾.
Florida referees Jorge Alonso (Toney-Peter) and Tommy Kimmons (Rivera-Simms) will be working Saturday night’s Showtime bouts. Interestingly, although the Toney-Peter rematch is a non-title fight, an international panel of judges will oversee that bout, while a trio of Floridians will work the Rivera-Simms WBA title contest.
Peter Trematerra of Florida will be joined by John Keane (England) and Danny Van De Wiele (Belgium) in judging the heavyweight eliminator, while for the Rivera-Simms 154-pound title fight it will be Trematerra, Billy Ray, and Rocky Young.
Rivera and Simms have had a nodding acquaintanceship since their amateur days a dozen years ago. Although both competed in the Golden Gloves at Holyoke on multiple occasions, Simms boxed at 156, Rivera at 139, so they never met.
Although one might have supposed from the trash-talking press releases that have been flying across the internet over the past month that Rivera and Simms shared some bad blood in the past, Scully says that it’s really him that has the history with Simms.
“I almost got into it with him and his brother (identical twin Tarvis Simms) at Foxwoods back in ’96,� said Scully. “It didn’t quite become a physical altercation, but that was only because they called the Tribal Police in to break it up.�
Scully, in any case, has been enthusiastic in debunking several myths included in the ‘official’ biography Simms’ publicists had been circulating.
“He claimed he’d won the Holyoke Golden Gloves ten times, when he’d really won it twice,� said Scully. “And he claimed he was an “alternate� for the 1996 Olympic team, which he wasn’t.�
Don’t know whether this should be taken as an omen or not, but following Friday night’s weigh-in Simms and his posse were joined in the Hard Rock coffee shop by Luis Collazo, the former WBA welterweight champion who was, you might recall, the last man to defeat Rivera.