By Jim Dower: If you were one of the few boxing fans that were hoping to see James Toney get a chance to avenge his 1st round tap out loss to MMA star Randy Couture last Saturday night, you can forget about it because Couture isn’t interested at all in trying to get in the boxing ring and fight the 42-year-old Toney.

In an article at Northjersey.com, Couture had this to say about fighting Toney: “James would probably knock me out in the first round.” Couture is probably being a little overly nice to Toney, because it’s not likely that Toney would be able to knock Couture out quickly in a boxing match.

But Toney would likely dominate Couture and make him look really bad for as long as the fight lasts. I could see Toney taking Couture out in six round bout but not before that. Toney just hasn’t looked very good in the past few years and Couture could probably survive but take punishment the whole time.

It’s too bad that Couture isn’t interested in getting in the ring with Toney because a rematch between them would probably sell. It might not attract the MMA crowd if it’s a boxing match, but there would be a certain amount of crossover interest in a Toney-Couture rematch.

Toney’s promoter Dan Goosen is reportedly interested in a Couture vs. Toney boxing match. It might be doable if they limited the rounds to say three or four. That way Couture would have a better chance of making it out of the fight without getting knocked out. He’d still get beaten but who knows? Couture could open some eyes if he trains hard and if Toney looks as overweight as he did on Saturday night in their UFC 118 match.

For those who didn’t see the fight, Couture took Toney down immediately to the mat with a single leg takedown. He then mounted him and slugged him a few times, tagged him with some elbows and then mercifully chocked Toney until he tapped out at 3:19 of the round. Toney never landed anything.

He was too slow on his feet. This is why I think Couture might have a chance to beat Toney in a boxing match. This isn’t the same Toney from years ago. He’s faded badly and not looked good even against 2nd tier opposition in the past couple of years. Couture is at least as good as a 2nd tier fighter and maybe better if he worked at.