IS `LIGHTS OUT' OUT OF SHAPE?

Byline: ROBERT MORALES BOXING

James ``Lights Out'' Toney admitted during a recent conference call that he should have come into his fight against Hasim Rahman last March in Atlantic City in better shape.

The 5-foot-9 former middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion weighed a career-high 237 pounds. It cost him because the weight seemed to be a contributing factor in him being able to manage only a draw in a challenge to the World Boxing Council heavyweight title Rahman has had since he lost to Oleg Maskaev.

Yet, with that admission, Toney still can't figure out why everyone makes such an issue of his weight, even though his own trainer, Freddie Roach, fights with him about his weight every time they prepare for a bout.

``This is a boxing fight, this is not a Mr. Olympia contest, it's not Weight Watchers,'' Toney said Thursday prior to working out at Roach's Wild Card gym in Hollywood. He will take on Sam ``The Nigerian Nightmare'' Peter next Saturday at Staples Center in a WBC title elimination fight.

``Everybody makes a big deal about my weight,'' Toney said. ``The bottom line is my skill level. My skill level is the best in the game. In my last fight, I looked like (heck). I got sick, couldn't get it out of my system and I came in bloated.''

OK, so let's say the cold Toney contracted during training for Rahman contributed to his weight situation. Then what is the problem now? According to Roach, Toney weighed in excess of 250 pounds on Thursday, only nine days before the fight with Peter, who is one mean hombre.

Roach also said he expects Toney to weigh more than 240 come fight time. He was asked if he was concerned.

``Yes,'' Roach said without hesitation. ``He's heavy. James feels he needs the extra weight for the bigger guys. Sam Peter is a big guy, but I believe James' best asset is his speed.''

Usually, but not against Rahman, who retained his title in the draw with Toney. Most experts believe if Toney had come in about 225, he would have easily beaten Rahman.

``I thought James won the fight anyway, but yes, he would have knocked him out,'' said Roach, who said he would ``love'' to see his fighter at 225 pounds. ``James is a talented guy and I don't think the extra weight adds any power to his punches. The extra weight makes him kind of more hittable. I'm concerned with James, but I can't control that.''

No one controls Toney.

His promoter, Dan Goossen, said this week that he is not worried so much about how much his fighter weighs, but what kind of shape he is in. He said Toney could weigh 237 and be as ``strong as an ox.''

But Goossen also said Toney needs to reduce his cigar smoking.

``That's why I said what I said coming out of that (Rahman) fight, that I believed James had to cut down on his cigars,'' Goossen said. ``I felt that was a big problem. I don't care if you don't inhale them.''

Toney isn't buying that one at all.

``Everybody said it was the cigar smoke,'' he said. ``It wasn't cigar smoke, it was the 250 (illegal kidney) shots to the back (from Rahman), which I don't complain about, during the fight that slowed me down.''

Toney said he has indeed cut down on those Cuban cigars he likes so much. Then again, his breath smelled of smoke Thursday.

Alas, Toney said it will all come down to his current training regimen, which he said has taken him ``back to the basics.''

Toney said he has changed his diet from steak and pizza to chicken, turkey and pasta, or, as he said, ``all the stuff I don't like to eat.''

Also, Toney said, he has been running more than an hour every day up a grueling hill at Pierce College.

``It's called Puke Hill,'' Toney said. ``The first week I tried it, no, the first two weeks, I got halfway up and I started throwing up. It's something terrible, man.''

Toney said he has also incorporated yoga into his training.

``I know yoga is for women,'' he said, ``but I realized after that first yoga workout, that yoga ain't no joke.''

Toney, 38, of Los Angeles via Ann Arbor, Mich., is 69-4-3 with 43 knockouts. Peter, 25, is 26-1 with 22 knockouts. Showtime will televise the fight.

Castillo fined, suspended for weight trouble

Jose Luis Castillo of Mexico on Thursday was fined $250,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which also suspended Castillo's license for the rest of the year during a hearing in Reno, Nev.

The commission had filed a complaint against Castillo for not making the 135-pound weight limit for his scheduled third fight with Diego Corrales that was to be contested June 3 in Las Vegas.

The fight was canceled and both Corrales and his promoter, Gary Shaw, filed multi-million dollar lawsuits against Castillo because no one got paid.

Castillo, who at the June 2 weigh-in was 4 1/2 pounds over at 139 1/2, will be able to re-apply for his license Jan. 1. The commission also stipulated once Castillo is again licensed to fight in Nevada, he will not be able to sign for a fight under 140 pounds.

On the surface, it appears Castillo was heavily punished. But there were many calling for a lot more because of the havoc the cancelation wreaked on the sport, promoters and casinos (Caesars Palace and Wynn), as well as visitors to the city of Las Vegas who had driven across the desert or flown across the country to see Castillo-Corrales III.

Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada commission, said Friday he was pleased with the punishment doled out by the four-member board.

``Because of this failure to make weight, he has basically lost, when all is said and done, about a year of his career,'' Kizer said. ``He last fought in February, and he can't fight again until January at the earliest, which isn't a big fight month. So odds are it will probably be at least 12 months between fights for him, which is a long time.

``He got the maximum fine; he couldn't be fined anymore money, so I'm not sure how anyone can say that's lenient.''

Kizer was told that many had called for Castillo to lose his license for at least a year.

Kizer said it helped Castillo -- in the eyes of the commission -- that he turned down an offer from a camp member to have blood drained to help lose weight after everything else had failed.

``He came to the scale and weighed 139 1/2, went back to his room to lose weight,'' Kizer said. ``They poured alcohol in a bowl, lit it on fire in the bathroom and put a towel under the door to try to get a sauna effect in there and he just wasn't sweating anymore.''

Kizer said he did not know the name of the camp member who suggested this to Castillo, but he said he was glad it came out.

Castillo also failed to make 135 pounds for his second fight with Corrales. Castillo, 32, is 54-7-1 with 47 KOs. He's a former two-time lightweight champion.

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(1) James ``Lights Out'' Toney, left, has taken criticism for his weight and cigar smoking, but insists they are not related to his recent struggles.

Stan Honda/Getty Images

(2) CASTILLO

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