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 Toney Still Trying to get on Pechanga Card
By David A. Avila (January 6, 2003)
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It was bad news for boxing fans when they learned this past Christmas that former two-division champ James "Lights Out" Toney would not be fighting for a cruiserweight world title and may not be on an anticipated HBO-televised fight card at all.
"We're trying to work something out with HBO" said Dan Goossen, president of Goossen-Tutor Promotions who are co-promoting the fight card at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, Calif. on Jan. 25th.
It was supposed to be Toney (65-4-2) gunning for Vassiliy Jirov's IBF cruiserweight title in a titillating co-main event along with Vernon Forrest tangling with Ricardo Mayorga in a welterweight unification bout for the WBC and WBA titles. But Jirov (31-0), training in Phoenix, suffered a rib injury.
"HBO isn't too warm on James Toney fighting a tune-up bout," said Goossen.
"We would also need to get permission from the IBF for James to fight someone else."
There had been rumors that highly ranked contender O'Neil Bell would fill in for Jirov and tangle with Toney. But a fight of that nature would require permission from various boxing sanctioning organizations and made it too difficult to make.
The new co-feature bout will have former WBA junior lightweight champion Joel Casamayor (28-1) meeting hard-hitting Nate Campbell (23-0) in a 130-pound division fight.
"We're still trying to get Toney on the fight card," Goossen said. "But as of now, we're still working on it."
Goossen said Jirov is requesting more than six weeks to recover fully from his rib injury.
"James Toney will still be at the Pechanga if any fans want to talk or take photos with him," Goossen said. "I know he has a lot of fans."
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