Toney Earns Another Shot at a World Title

Former two-time world champion James “Lights Out” Toney again established darkness in his boxing career, scoring an impressive seventh-round knockout of Jason Robinson in an International Boxing Federation cruiserweight title-elimination bout on Sunday.

Toney’s victory at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula sets up a mandated IBF championship fight in November against champion Vassily Jirov, and Toney looks as though he will have his full arsenal.

“I’m coming for you,” Toney said from the ring of Jirov. “You’re nothing but a punk. You’ve been ducking me for two years. Now it’s time to put up or shut up.”

If Jirov was watching, he got a good look at Toney’s monstrous right hand, though it was Toney’s left hook that ultimately turned the lights out on Robinson in the scheduled 12-round bout.

“He was strong, he was rangy, it took me a few rounds to figure him out,” Toney, ranked fourth by the IBF, said of Robinson, ranked 10th.

There was nothing spectacular about the seventh round until the last 40 seconds, when Robinson staggered Toney with a left. Toney said that Robinson had pushed him, but, perhaps sensing the round could be lost, Toney turned up the heat.

He answered with a right hook that stopped Robinson, followed with left and right hooks, missed with a right uppercut, then landed the decisive left hook that put Robinson on his back.

Robinson struggled to get up when referee Pat Russell’s count reached seven, but Russell threw his arms over Robinson to end it.

It was the 11th consecutive victory, seven by knockout, for Toney, 33, of Los Angeles. He weighed 198 3/4 pounds and improved to 65-4-2 with 42 knockouts. Robinson, a former kickboxing champion from Maywood, Ill., weighed 190 and dropped to 16-3.

Toney used his right hand to also knock down Robinson at the end of the fifth round, Robinson rising to his feet at the bell.

“We put a lot of pressure on James’ shoulders,” said promoter Dan Goossen. “It’s the first time in 20 years I’ve promoted a fighter when winning wasn’t good enough. James had to come out here and do what he did tonight, because we wanted to show in action rather than words. James has proven he’s willing to go to the gym, do everything [trainer Freddie Roach] says, and come out here and beat the best in the world.”

On the undercard, Steve Forbes of Las Vegas beat David Santos of St. Petersburg, Fla., in a split decision that drew boos from the crowd. Forbes won two cards by 117-111 and lost, 115-113, on the other. Forbes (21-1) was stripped of the IBF lightweight title Saturday after weighing in 2 3/4 pounds over the 130-pound limit. The title remains vacant, though Santos (42-5) could have won it with a victory.