JONES WINS OVER TRINIDAD IN A BATTLE OF AGING VETERANS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 21 Jan 2008
Eight-time world champion Roy Jones Jr. won the clash of the fading veterans at the Madison Square Garden yesterday in a non-title fight, beating Felix ?Tito? Trinidad with a unanimous decision.
Jones knocked Trinidad down in the seventh and tenth rounds, won by the judges? scores of 116-110 on two scorecards and 117-109 on another. He was the dominant force of the 1990s but at 39 already way past his prime, still showed some hand speed and power for the smaller Trinidad, who was fighting 10 lbs. above his last fighting weight.
Jones, a native of Pensacola, Florida, prevailed in his last two fights against lesser-known opponents, beating Prince Badi Ajamu and Anthony Hanshaw, both in 12-round unanimous decisions. Before that Jones had lost three consecutive bouts, two of them to Antonio Tarver.
With this victory, Jones set his record to 52-4 (38 KO), while Trinidad fell to 42-3 (35 KO). Jones teased his opponent in the early rounds, thumping his own stomach and protruding his chin, but went serious in the middle rounds constantly thrashing ?Tito? with a strong straight right hand.
Jones wants to fight for the bigger payday. He will most likely face the winner of the mega-buck fight between Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe. Other possible opponents are Jermain Taylor, Kelly Pavlik or Winky Wright. A rematch between Jones and Hopkins will be a great box-office come-on. Jones won over Hopkins by decision in 1993.
Jones was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1990s by the Boxing Writers Association of America. He captured IBF titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight divisions and was considered as the top fighter in these three weight classes by the Ring Magazine. He also won the WBA heavyweight title and has held the WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, WBF, and IBA light heavyweight championships at the same time.
"He was slipping some really good punches," said Jones. "I was missing knocking him out by about an inch on some of those shots. It took a lot. I can't believe he stayed in there 12 rounds with me. It was a great fight."
Trinidad, a Puerto Rican, won the IBF and WBC welterweight, WBA and IBF light middleweight, and WBA middleweight titles. He admitted that an absence of almost three years took a toll on his fighting skills.
"Roy was very fast and very strong," Trinidad said. "I have no excuses. He demonstrated speed and took my body punches." Tito now has lost his last two fights as he was also defeated by Wright in a 12-round decision on May 14, 2005.
Top photo: Felix Trinidad of Puerto Rico (R) fights Roy Jones of the US during their light heavyweight fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. Jones knocked down Trinidad twice en route to a 12-round unanimous decision victory Saturday in a battle of former world champions. (AFP/Don Emmert)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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