By Jim Dower: In a battle of old timers, 42-year-old former three division world champion James Toney (73-6-3, 44 KO’s) defeated 39-year-old journeyman Damon Reed (45-15, 32 KO’s) by a lopsided 10 round unanimous decision at the San Manuel Indian Casino, San Bernardino, California. Before this fight, Toney hadn’t fought since way back in September 2009.

While Toney looked decent in beating Reed, his weight has once again gotten up there, as he weighed a career high of 257 pounds for the fight. The 5’9″ Toney looked visibly fat around his waist, with flab hanging over his trunks and his belly looking pendulous. This was a huge departure from his last fight in 2009, where Toney weighed an slender 217. Reed wasn’t able to take advantage of Toney’s poor conditioning in the fight, however, That’s not all that surprising, though, because Reed came into the fight having lost three out of his last five bouts with all three of the defeats coming by knockout.

Toney says he wants a shot at the Klitschkos, but given how flabby he’s become and how poor he’s been looking in his fights, he can’t make a case for himself that he deserves a chance at fighting them. Toney hasn’t faced a top tier heavyweight since fighting to a three round no contest with Hasim Rahman in 2008. He’s not going to be able to fight his way into a title shot by facing B and C level fighters like some heavyweight contenders often do. He’s going to have to step it up, lose 30 pounds and try to beat a top contender to get a shot. The chances of that happening aren’t good judging by what Toney has been doing in the last three years of his career.