James Toney says Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank spent years avoiding him.
Toney held the IBF super middleweight title from February 1993. Benn held the WBC belt at the same weight over the same stretch. The unification never got made, and Toney has a theory about why.
Speaking to FightHype alongside Ryan Garcia, he did not soften it.
For years, I was trying to get his [Conor Benn’s] dad to fight me. They all were [ducking me].
Toney had the resume to force the issue. He took the IBF middleweight title from Michael Nunn in 1991 with an 11th-round finish, then defended it against Reggie Johnson and Mike McCallum before moving up and taking the 168lb version from Iran Barkley.
Benn had won the WBC title four months earlier, stopping Mauro Galvano in Italy after the champion could not answer the bell with a cut.
Both men looked elsewhere. Benn beat Nicky Piper, Galvano in a rematch and Lou Gent, then met Eubank at Old Trafford in October 1993 with the WBC and WBO belts on the line. That fight ended in a draw and both Britons kept their titles. Toney held the IBF strap until November 1994, when Roy Jones Jr. outpointed him.
The Benn name is back in front of Toney anyway. Garcia defends his WBC welterweight title against Conor Benn on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Toney said he was surprised the son took it.
