I did some searching to see how various boxing forums reacted to the James Toney/Randy Couture fight. The well written posts tended to show a more balanced view, while those with poor spelling and grammar tended to be from a heavy anti-MMA & anti-UFC perspective. Many posters seemed intelligent and reasonable, while others came off sounding insecure and uneducated. My post comes after staying up to watch UFC 118, so please give me a pass when it comes to my own spelling and grammar.
Most feel that James Toney doesn't legitimately represent boxing, and don't like that he put boxing in a position to look bad.
Some posters suggest that Couture didn't actually "fight" at all and was a coward because he didn't exchange standing punches with Toney. They suggest that Couture should fight under boxing rules otherwise he's a coward. Some think that all mixed martial artists are 'homosexual' because of the grappling element, that they should 'man up' and fight in a boxing ring, and that MMA is not a real sport.
Others countered this by pointing out that under MMA rules it would be silly for Couture to fight to Toney's strengths. Some argued that since Couture didn't call out boxing and had already admitted he has no business in a boxing ring, then it would be pointless for him to try his hand at boxing. It was pointed out that it was Toney who had entered another sport disrespectfully and got owned for it. They say that Couture fighting Toney under boxing rules is akin to James Toney competing with Randy Couture in a Greco wrestling match. Some suggested that someone in a 'real fight' would benefit more from MMA than pure boxing, because of the vulnerability to being taken down.
Some criticisms were made of the UFC: that Toney was presented as "one of the best boxers of all time" (they disagreed) and as a legitimate HW boxer because of his two titles - and believed that this would make MMA fans think that a top HW boxer was beaten. Most didn't like that it was presented as 'Boxing vs MMA' because it proved nothing other than was already known about a boxer's chances in MMA (puncher's chance and nothing more without diversifying their skillset). Many thought the chants of "UFC... UFC..." were in bad taste. It was suggested that the whole "Toney chased me all over the country, calling me names" wasn't the real reason for the bout - that the UFC knew that James Toney wouldn't get a one-punch KO like Ray Mercer did on Sylvia, and just wanted to embarrass the world of boxing for business reasons.
It was suggested that a well known mixed martial artist wouldn't be able to get a high profile boxing fight in the same way that a well known boxer was able to get a high profile MMA fight. Some commented on how poorly MMA pays it's fighters, and that the large sum that Toney was paid for his quick loss was nothing compared to what boxing pays. Comparisons were made between how few fights a mixed martial artist needs before becoming the top dog (such as Brock Lesnar), compared to how many fights a top boxer has to have before they were given title shots. No one pointed out how often boxers fight compared to mixed martial artists.
All in all, I think the boxing fans are taking it well and had an interesting perspective on the match - as long as you ignore the obvious idiots.