By Scott Gilfoid: In what could be a possible fight between two of the older heavyweights in the division, Audley Harrison (23-3, 17 KOs) and James Toney (70-6, 43 KOs) may possibly meet in October, a fight which would be taking place in England if the fight can be made. According to Dan Rafael from ESPN, Toney’s promoter has been in talks with promoter Frank Warren about the potential of matching Harrison, now 36, against the 40 year-old Toney. Both fighters have had their share of bad luck in the last couple of years, with both of them experiencing two losses apiece.

Harrison, a former Olympic gold medal winner in Sydney, looks to have the most left between the two. At 6’5″ 250 lbs, he would have the size and reach to make it very difficult for a fighter as short as the 5’9″ Toney. Neither of these fighters can afford to lose again if they plan on remaining relevant in the heavyweight division. Toney, a former middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion, hasn’t been nearly as effective in the heavyweight division as he was at the lower weight classes.

Most of that has to do with his lack of size and power, as he’s at a size mismatch in virtually all his fights. Initially when he first started out in the heavyweight division five years ago in 2003, Toney could compensate for his lack of size with his defensive wizardry and a high volume offensive output, but his offense has dropped off dramatically in the last couple of years as his weight has ballooned upwards.

In some cases, his weight isn’t above his previous weights, but you can see that he’s carrying around more fat than he did when he started out as a heavyweight. It would seem highly unlikely that at 40, Toney will ever be able to trim down the fat to a manageable level again and be as effective as he was in 2003. Part of the problem is just the natural aging process that has set in. He’s physically probably not the same fighter he once was when he was in his mid 30s, and no amount of training is going to bring that back. However, he needs to get down in weight, perhaps a little lower than the 226 lbs he was in his last fight against Hasim Rahman.

Toney looked bad in the first two rounds, losing both of them, but then came on strong in the 3rd and hit Rahman with some good single shots to the head. The fight, though, was stopped after the third round because of a head butt that occurred in the 3rd that opened up a cut above Rahman’s left eye. Toney didn’t look in good enough shape to fight hard for a full 10 rounds, and I doubt that he would have won the fight if it had been allowed to continue.

For Harrison’s part, he is coming off a 10-round decision over George Arias last Saturday night. Although Harrison got the win, he failed to fight hard much of the time, throwing few combinations, pawing with his jab, and looking as if he were trying to conserve his energy throughout for fear that he might punch himself out. In the few times in the fight that he let his hands go and throw combinations, he looked good like the Audley of old. He looked in excellent physical form, however, showing no fat around his midsection or sides that had been there in previous fights.

If Harrison can somehow push himself more by throwing combinations and working harder, I think he’d be still more than a handful for any heavyweight in the division. Against a fighter as small as Toney, Harrison would likely beat him as easy as he did Arias last Saturday night. Harrison’s size would allow him to control the fight from the outside with his long jab, and if Toney were to creep inside, Audley still has a potent left uppercut that he could use on Toney on the inside. We may end up seeing another George Foreman vs. Joe Frazier bout, with Toney getting leveled by Harrison’s big uppercuts at close range.