Toney-Jones Title Fight Could Be a Bell-Ringer : Boxing: Contrast in styles adds interest to what each super-middleweight regards as his most important and potentially lucrative fight to date.

Grudgingly, sparingly and only in mumbles when the other is well out of earshot, these two proud and preening fighters acknowledge respect for one another.

Roy Jones Jr. and James Toney are as talented as the boxing world offers and menacing in their separate ways, but neither is a fool.

For the winner of tonight’s fight at the MGM Grand Garden, what lie beyond the bout are future riches and influence not reached by a non-heavyweight since the middleweight days of Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler.

Toney, the reigning and raging International Boxing Federation super-middleweight champion, is a bruising counterpuncher and old-school technician. He predicts a knockout victory.

Jones, who is giving up his IBF middleweight belt to move up eight pounds and challenge for Toney’s title, is sly and smoothly confident. He says he expects to dominate.

But, when they meet in boxing’s most anticipated and stylistically intriguing match of the year, each has made it clear that this is the biggest fight of his career--with big consequences, big possibilities and big risks.

“James Toney, he’s a good fighter,” said the 25-year-old Jones, who is considered the more athletic, fluid, and faster-fisted boxer. “I’m not saying he’s not. I’m just better. It’s as simple as that.”

Not the least of the risks is the money. Neither fighter is guaranteed a set figure. Toney will receive 45% of the pay-per-view gross and Jones will get 35%. If the fight does well, they will collect more than the $2.5 million and $2 million, respectively, they would have earned with guarantees. If the fight does not do well, they could wind up with far less.

Risk and reward, rivalry and respect.

Toney, 26, allows that Jones (26-0, 23 knockouts) might look better in the early going, when Toney is stalking, assessing Jones’ footwork.

But Toney (44-0-2, 29 KOs) is a fighter known for his ability to adjust to his opponent, wear him down, then pounce in the later rounds.

“I can adjust to any style,” Toney said. “And once I do, it gets bloody. I will catch him. I ain’t no pretty boy, so I’m not worried about being ugly. I’m not scared to get hit. But he’s going to take some shots to try to get his, I’ll tell you that.

“He can do all that flashy stuff, maybe impress the judges for a few rounds. But when I start cracking him in the gut, it’s over. I’ll knock him out in the seventh round if he runs. If he doesn’t, it’ll be in the fourth.”

The biggest question heading into this fight is Jones’ taste for the heavy inside action Toney is sure to give him, and his ability to recover from shots.

Jones, who scores his knockouts at the ends of devastating flurries, had to eat his way up to the 168-pound super-middleweight limit, while Toney bounces around at more than 200 pounds between bouts, struggles to get down, then surges back up in the 30 hours between weigh-in and fight. At the weigh-in, Jones was 168, Toney 167.

“I’m the one taking the risks, who has to come up in weight, give up my title,” Jones said. “I’m the one who has to make all the sacrifices. I’ve stepped up.”

Toney has beaten Michael Nunn, Mike McCallum--in a rematch after a 12-round draw--Prince Charles Williams and Iran Barkley. Jones’ career, in contrast to Toney’s, has been dotted with periods of inaction and inattention, punctuated here and there with brilliant knockouts.

“We have beaten better fighters than Roy,” said Bill Miller, Toney’s trainer. “This is just another big fight. Roy has to show more to me than beating Thomas Tate and Bernard Hopkins.”

Jones laughs off comparisons of their opponents--suggesting that Toney has struggled against many of the top names--and says he will not be lured into bombing with the heavier man.

Alton Merkerson, whose arrival as Jones’ trainer last year seems to have brought more focus to his talents, says that a clean punch by Jones will send anybody at any weight to the floor, but the Jones camp is not planning a slugfest.

Miller does concede that Jones’ maneuverability could give Toney some trouble--until Toney catches up with him.

“My key for James is, he’s got to hurt him early, let him know he can hurt him and from there he can dominate,” Miller said. “His speed doesn’t mean anything if all he’s doing is running.

“Very few fighters can knock you out on the run. And Roy Jones is not one of them. Roy Jones, he doesn’t do too much jabbing. His best punch is his left hook. So you take the left hook away from him, he doesn’t have anything.”