Vassiliy Jirov vs. James Toney was a professional boxing match contested on April 26, 2003 for the IBF cruiserweight title.

After his defeat of Castro, Jirov hoped to either meet Roy Jones Jr., the then-undisputed light heavyweight champion or Toney, who was in attendance for the Jirov–Castro fight.

When the scorecards were read all three judges scored the bout a 120–106 shutout for Tarver, making his the new unified light heavyweight champion.

When asked about a potential bout with Lineal champion Dariusz Michalczewski, Tarver dismissed it saying "probably not, because of how things work over there, and I'm not about to jeopardize my career because of that."

In a hardfought bout in which a combined 1,843 punches were thrown, Toney would earn a unanimous decision victory with rather comfortable scores of 117–109 (twice) and 116–110.

[9] [10] HBO's unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman, who had Jirov winning going into the 12th round, scored the fight even 113–113.