- published: 11 Nov 2010
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James Nathanial Toney (born August 24, 1968) is an American professional boxer who has held world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight divisions. He grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and graduated from Huron High School. Toney currently fights in the heavyweight division in boxing and also now competes in mixed martial arts.
Toney's amateur boxing record is 33 fights, 31 wins and 2 losses with 29 KOs. He won the 1983 and 1984 West Michigan Division Junior Title (156 lb), 1987 Novice Golden Gloves in Manchester (156 lb), 1987 Michigan Silver Gloves (156 lb) and 1988 Ohio State Fair (156 lb)
Toney had his first professional fight on October 26, 1988, beating Stephen Lee by a technical knockout in the second round. He was scouted and trained by Gregory Owens as a teenager, who also was his trainer through the mid-nineties. His moniker of "Lights Out" was also given by either Gregory or his son.
On March 10, 1989, his manager Johnny "Ace" Smith was killed outside of the Page One Bar in Detroit. Jackie Kallen then became his manager. He won the Michigan Middleweight title in 1990, knocking out Philip Morefield in the 1st round.
Samuel Okon Peter (born September 6, 1980 in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria), nicknamed "The Nigerian Nightmare," is a professional heavyweight boxer and the former WBC heavyweight champion.
Peter rose to prominence as a professional fighter following a string of spectacular knockout wins in his early career, at a time when the division was fragmented. He has won a portion of the heavyweight crown and scored notable wins over: James Toney and Oleg Maskaev. Samuel Peter is also the only man to have been defeated by both Klitschko brothers (losing a total of three bouts against them).
Originally, Peter's preferred sport was soccer. In 1992, some boxers came to Peter's school to train. The curious young 11-year-old stopped by and asked if he could train along with them. He was put up against an experienced amateur and knocked him out. This marked the beginning of a successful amateur career for Peter.
Samuel Peter won the Nigerian amateur heavyweight championship and the Africa Zone 3 Heavyweight championship. He faced stiff competition as an amateur (including a knockout victory over 2000 Silver Medalist Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov of Kazakhstan). However, he prevailed and was given the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the 2000 Sydney, Australia Summer Olympics.