On April 26, 2003, Vassiliy Jirov (31-0, 27 KOs), the cruiserweight IBF champion, defends his title against former world champion James Toney (65-4-2, 42 KOs).
Vassiliy Jirov is coming in to the fight on a 31-fight win streak with a 87% KO rate; his last fight was a unanimous decision win over Jorge Castro, 1 year, 2 months, and 25 days ago. James Toney is on a 11-fight win streak with a 59% KO rate, with his last fight being a 7th round KO win over Jason Robinson, 8 months and 8 days ago.
The winning odds are at 55.4-44.6 in favor of James Toney. Vassiliy Jirov could also pull it off but he will have to put up a truly exceptional fight if he is to win.
James Toney defeated Vassiliy Jirov via unanimous decision and wins the IBF title. Toney improves his record to 66-4-2, while Jirov adds a loss to his record at 31-1.