That’s right, IBA heavyweight boxing champion James Toney (1-0) appears set to make his return to mixed martial arts this fall against legend Ken ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ Shamrock (28-15-2) at an unspecified date and venue.
News of the bout first surfaced on BJPenn.com, who reported the fight would happen in El Paso, Texas on Sept. 23, but MMAFighting.com confirmed with Toney’s management that no date or venue had been set.
“The earliest date as I know it would be late September, and the latest would be late October,” said (Trevor) Sherman, who added that Texas, California and Nevada were the three potential sites discussed, with Texas as the most likely destination.
No news was given as to what promotion, if any, this bout would be associated with. Sherman did tell MMAFighting that a “reality series could be attached to the bout.”
Toney made his first mma debut last August at UFC 118 against former champion Randy Couture. Toney campaigned hard for a shot in the top mma promotion and finally got one against ‘Captain America’ in the co-main event of the Edgar vs. Penn 2 event. Couture would secure a quick takedown and would end the fight by arm-triangle choke submission at 3:19 of the first round.
Shamrock will likely use Couture’s game plan against the boxing champ rather than standing toe-to-toe. ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ is 2-2 in his last four fights and hasn’t competed at all in 2011. His last fight was was a first round TKO loss, due to injury, last November at a King of the Cage event in South Africa.