On January 26, 2008, Former Pound for Pound King Roy Jones Jr is scheduled to face off against Former Three division Champion Felix "Tito" Trinidad in a battle of legends.
Jones was last seen in action on July 14, 2007, when he outpointed the younger and previously undefeated Anthony Hanshaw by unanimous decision. Trinidad has not seen action since May of 2005, when he was simply outclassed and whitewashed for twelve rounds by Winky Wright. These stats should only begin to tell a tale of what is to come in January.
While Jones is clearly in the twilight of his career, following three defeats (Tarver by KO2, Johnson by KO9, Tarver L12), he has somewhat re surged his career with wins over Prince Badi Ajamu and Hanshaw. Trinidad doesn't appear to have the physical size or skill to duplicate what Tarver and Johnson were able to do to Jones a couple years ago.
Jones has been fighting at or above 175lbs for almost eleven years now, beginning with his victory over Mike McCallum in November of 1996. He has even gone up as high as 200lbs to take on and defeat John Ruiz for the WBA Heavyweight Title in March of 2003. Trinidad, on the other hand, has not fought beyond the class of 160lbs. Jones has the advantage over Trinidad in speed, size, and skill. Wright was too fast and elusive for Trinidad and was more less the same size as the Puerto Rican superstar.
What happens when the naturally bigger Jones, who pound for pound probably has more speed and is more athletically gifted than Wright, gets his hands on Trinidad? Trinidad is coming up to 170lbs (the agreed upon weight for this match up) and he has never previously fought at that weight before in his career. He is doing so after what will be a two and a half year layoff come fight time.
When a fighter is naturally smaller and slower than his opponent, and he's coming off such a long layoff, it spells trouble for that fighter and that trouble would appear to be evident for Trinidad. Roy Jones Jr is all wrong for Felix Trinidad. Expect Jones to lay down an old fashioned, Roy Jones, Jr - "yall mustve forgot" - type, ass whooping on Trinidad, probably stopping him in the middle rounds and sending him right back into retirement. Although we must be reminded that the fight is still months away from happening and postponements and cancellations happen in boxing. Ask Vitali Klitschko.
Roy Jones Jr is all wrong for Felix Trinidad!
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3 comments:
I'd been thinking along your lines initially, but I'm no longer so sure. Jones doesn't get on his bike like he used to -- his habit of leaning against the ropes has become more pronounced, and his reflexes aren't what they once were, making the habit all the more dangerous. I still give Trinidad a solid chance to deliver, not receive, the ass-whoopin'.
Anything is possible, Tim. As I said, Jones is in the twilight of his career. However, Tito has also been inactive. Since May 2005, he hasn't fought at all, whereas Jones is 2-1 since that time and has boxed 36 rounds. As for the ropes, you make a good argument. Jones has been laying on the ropes more often as of late. This may not necessarily be a bad thing against Tito, though. Jones is still rather elusive, even for his current age. He might be cagey enough to pick off Tito's shots when he's on the ropes (like Ali did with Foreman), and make him pay for his mistakes. As you recall, Tito had Hopkins on the ropes late in their fight and was not all that effective landing on Hopkins. He may prove to be just as ineffective against a faster and more elusive Jones. But anything can happen. Time will tell.
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