HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- With master boxer Roy Jones Jr. ripping the heavyweight title belt from John Ruiz, it's opened up a cluster of possible fights said another master boxer.

The man doing the speaking is James "Lights Out" Toney.

"I have to give credit to Roy for his win," said Toney who watched the fight on television like more than 560,000 others. "What it does is open it up for everybody."

Toney said after he beats WBC cruiserweight title-holder Vassiliy Jirov (31-0, 27 KOs) in their match next April 26 at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, he plans to fight IBF heavyweight title-holder Chris Byrd for his IBF heavyweight title and whoever wants him after that.

"I'll fight anybody," said Toney (65-4-2, 42 KOs). "After Jirov, I'll fight anybody that wants some, including Lennox Lewis or Mike Tyson. I'll fight him now. I love fighting heavyweights. I own them."

Like Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore of the '40s and '50s, Jones and Toney have proven size doesn't matter. That the realm of heavyweight gargantuan sluggers is ready to be slain like so many tall stalks of wheat under a gale of wind.

"Every time I spar with a heavyweight I own them," said Toney, whose reputation as a psychological assassin is well known in many boxing gyms from Detroit to Los Angeles. "I don't know why I like beating on them, but I do."

For years Toney has used heavyweights as sparring fodder as he verbally abuses them before physically assaulting them with his wide array of punches. You can't out-think Toney, you simply have to put him on the defensive because he will hit you in the end.

When Toney and Jones fought in 1994, the Florida speedster was still a relatively unknown fighter, despite the notoriety he gained because of the debacle that occurred in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, where he was literally robbed in front of millions by the Korean judges. Jones was much less known than Toney when they fought for the IBF super middleweight title. That day, Toney was sick but decided to fight Jones anyway and lost by a wide decision.

"I was there the whole time," said Debbie Caplan, who was a publicist for Top Rank when the fight took place. "He had I.V's (intravenous tubes) in his arm and didn't look good at all. He was so dehydrated from the flu."

For those that do not remember, Jones won the fight that night and embarked toward super stardom. But since then, Jones has not fought anybody near the boxing wizardry of Toney. Many a boxing fan has yearned to see these two masters trade artillery and defensive schemes much like their predecessors the original "Mongoose" and the "Cincinnati Cobra" several decades ago.

Moore and Charles fought each other three times with the Cobra winning all three. But it didn't diminish Moore's status as one of the true master fighters of all time. A fight between Jones and Toney would be another match-up for the ages and worthy of a doctoral thesis.

"They both have so much stuff in their repertoire," said Shane Mosley, who should know a skillful fighter when he sees one. "That would be a great fight."

First, Toney needs to fight Jirov, the tough fighter from Kazakhstan, who has held the 190-pound title since 1999 when he took the title from Arthur Williams by technical knockout in the seventh round. He's defended it six times, but two previous matches with Toney have been cancelled for one reason or another.

"I'm 85 percent sure the fight will take place," Toney said. "But there's a small part of me that says he won't fight me."

Toney doesn't understand why a fighter with a title belt wouldn't defend it. Twice before he was told that Jirov would be stripped of the title if he didn't defend it. It didn't happen.

"I heard he has been saying this, saying that and saying these things about me," said Toney after sparring several rounds at the Wild Card Gym with several different fighters including actor Scott Caan, the son of James Caan. "OK, now he's making it personal so I'm going to smoke him. It's on now. I like it this way. Now it's going to be a street brawl."

And though he wants to challenge the heavyweight timber, he's not overlooking the sturdy opposition of Jirov.

"I'm totally focused on Jirov," said Toney, who will be appearing in a movie starring DMX. "I'm not thinking about the heavyweights right now. I just want to take care of business right now. Then I'll talk about whipping on the heavyweights."

With Jirov in his target sites in the next three weeks, Toney has stepped up the training regimen including running nine miles.

"He thinks he's going to catch me unprepared," snarls Toney. "There's going to be two ass-whippings that night."