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Boxing News of Saturday, 6 January 2007

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Toney fights tonight

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 153?.