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NEW YORK -- Roy Jones and Felix Trinidad, two faded superstars, tried to turn back the clock on Saturday night.
Jones was the only one who could.
Backed by knockdowns in seventh and 10th round, the former pound-for-pound king and four division champion pounded Trinidad to win a clear unanimous decision in a light heavyweight fight before a pro-Trinidad crowd of 12,162 at Madison Square Garden.
They were once supposed to meet -- back in 2001 when they were in their primes -- but Bernard Hopkins derailed the showdown by knocking Trinidad out. Finally meeting with their best days behind them, they still put on a good show for a crowd looking perhaps for a bit of nostalgia.
Although Jones, 39, is four years older than Trinidad he looked much fresher. He's bigger and was faster and more accurate with his punches.
Jones has also been more active, winning twice in the past 18 months while Trinidad was coming out of a 2 1/2-year retirement that followed a lopsided decision loss to Winky Wright in May 2005.
A pair of knockdowns secured the victory for Jones.
Trinidad, who weighed the contracted 170 pounds, 10 more than he had ever fought at, had some success in the early rounds while Jones seemed to be studying him. But by the end of the fight, Jones -- who was 169 1/2 pounds, his lowest since his last super middleweight title defense in October 1996, was picking Trinidad (42-3, 35 KOs) apart and landing quick shots that stunned the former three-division champion.
That Jones was able to come that far down in weight was remarkable for a man who won a piece of the heavyweight title in 2003.
"One man, 169 1/2 pounds tonight. Former heavyweight champion of the world," Jones said. "Show me another fighter who can do that."
In the end, it was clearly Jones' night. He won 117-109 on one scorecard and 116-110 on the two others. ESPN.com also had it 117-109 for Jones (52-4, 38 KOs).
"A lot of people thought I was done, but I'm still capable of doing a lot of things," Jones said. "I'm capable of beating anyone I get my mind right for. We had a beautiful training camp. I actually enjoyed training. I had beautiful sparring partners."
Trinidad didn't dispute the outcome.
"I took off two years and eight months. I take nothing away from Roy, but if I could have avoided the knockdowns, I think I could have won the fight," Trinidad said. "Roy was very fast and strong. He threw great punches. I have no excuses. He demonstrated speed and took my body punches."
Jones hit Trinidad with a lot of hard shots, two of which knocked him down. In the seventh, he nailed Trinidad on the temple with a right hand. Trinidad stepped back and fell to his knees on a delayed reaction. He rose at seven and Jones continued to fire with both hands as the crowd was on its feet. He had Trinidad wobbling again after an uppercut near the end of the round.
And in the 10th, Trinidad's shaky legs betrayed him when he went down from nothing more than a left jab and a grazing right hand. But there were only a few seconds left in the round and Jones couldn't follow up.
"I felt his power, but no way a former heavyweight champion of the world will let a super middleweight push me around," Jones said.
Afterward, Jones paid tribute to Trinidad's heart, telling him in the ring, "I can't believe you stayed in there 12 rounds with me. It was a great night and we put on a great fight. Everybody thought we were old."
Jones, who jammed a right knuckle early in the fight, said he thought he was close to knocking him out a few times: "He was slipping some real good punches and I was missing knocking him out by about an inch on some of those shots."
The win certainly sets Jones up for another big fight. He'd like to face super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe if he is able to dethrone light heavyweight champ Hopkins.
"I'll fight anyone, anywhere, anytime," Jones said. "If Calzaghe and Hopkins can't get it done, I'll go to [Calzaghe's native] Wales."
For Trinidad, however, there is probably isn't another big fight after a career filled with them.
"I fight for my fans and the people of Puerto Rico," Trinidad said. "I'm going to talk to my father but I'll make the decision if I will retire."
HBO will rebroadcast the fight next Saturday night (10 ET/PT) along with same-day taped coverage of the Alexander Povetkin-Eddie Chambers heavyweight title eliminator from Germany.
Rejuvenated Jones entertains MSG in unanimous win
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AP Newswire:
Roy Jones still has grand ambitions after one-sided win over Felix Trinidad
By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer
January 20, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) -- Back when Roy Jones Jr. was the best boxer in the world, most people thought his sport was dying. Now that boxing is back on the rise with one big fight after another, Jones is aching for a comeback of his own.
But even after Jones danced around Felix Trinidad to win a unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, the 39-year-old will have to wait for the big-money matchups he's craving.
After all, he didn't take those fights when he first had the chance. The 1990s' best pound-for-pound fighter was well-known for playing defense both inside and outside the ring, and now he's dropped well down the list of boxing's biggest names.
He'll have to get in line for fighters who once would have loved to meet him -- but don't tell that to Jones, who still sees himself as the biggest name in any room.
"I'm still Superman, and I'm still the guy that nobody wants to fight," said Jones, who hadn't beaten any opponent of consequence in four years until he shut down Trinidad, who hadn't fought in 32 months.
Jones' perceived reluctance to take on the biggest fights during his prime came to symbolize everything that was wrong with boxing in the 1990s. He contented himself with second-tier matchups that kept the money rolling in, but usually didn't test his unparalleled skills.
Jones famously wouldn't go to Germany to establish his supremacy as a light heavyweight against Dariusz Michalczewski, who held the WBO title from 1994-2003. Jones also could have fought Joe Calzaghe in 2002, when both were near their peaks, in a fight that would have been an epochal event in Calzaghe's native Wales -- but it never happened.
That's all over now, Jones claimed after possibly punching Trinidad into retirement. He has set his sights on a matchup with Calzaghe, the unbeaten 168-pound champion who's first expected to fight Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas on April 19.
Jones clearly thinks he can still make up for all the time he lost playing minor-league basketball and dabbling in acting instead of testing himself in the ring. After years of strenuously avoiding overseas travel, Jones and promoter Don King even claimed they would make a trip to Great Britain on Sunday to personally challenge Calzaghe.
"I'm definitely looking to make that fight," Jones said. "I'll fight anybody, anywhere, any time, and if Hopkins-Calzaghe finishes how I think it will, I'll even go to Wales and fight. I don't care."
By now, boxing's past mistakes are even clear to Jones. The sport became choked with squabbling promoters, multiple sanctioning bodies and headliners who didn't take chances. This morass allowed mixed martial arts to rise with incredible speed to a prominent place in sports.
But fighters finally got the message over the last two years, and boxing is in the midst of a long series of tantalizing matchups made with fans and legacies in mind.
Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya. Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor. Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley. Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler. Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez. Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. Finally, Mayweather and Ricky Hatton, two unbeaten fighters whose December bout closed a thoroughly memorable year.
Next month, Pavlik will fight Taylor in a rematch of last year's thrilling middleweight bout. Pacquiao takes on Juan Manuel Marquez in March, shortly after Marquez and Vazquez reprise their two unbelievable fights -- and then the big names get going, with Hopkins and Calzaghe teeing off before De La Hoya takes a tuneup fight in early May to prepare for a probable rematch with Mayweather in the fall.
So where do Jones and Trinidad fit into the future of a sport that's largely left them in the past? Both can still sell tickets and pay-per-view buys, though not as many as before.
Trinidad could be headed for his third retirement, but he seemed interested in fighting again when he joyously addressed a crowd of his unwavering Puerto Rican fans after the bout.
"I'm going to talk to my father and my people, but I will decide soon if I want to fight again," Trinidad said. "I believe I can still do it."
Meanwhile, Jones might find Calzaghe or another current champion to be more generous to him than he was to the contenders who wanted a shot at Jones' belts 10 years ago. The eight-time champion in four weight classes is determined to fight on, and his win over Trinidad is just another affirmation of what he already knows about himself.
"All my fans around the world said I was done," Jones said. "I wanted to show what I can still do."
Roy Jones still has grand ambitions after one-sided win over Felix Trinidad
By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer
January 20, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) -- Back when Roy Jones Jr. was the best boxer in the world, most people thought his sport was dying. Now that boxing is back on the rise with one big fight after another, Jones is aching for a comeback of his own.
But even after Jones danced around Felix Trinidad to win a unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, the 39-year-old will have to wait for the big-money matchups he's craving.
After all, he didn't take those fights when he first had the chance. The 1990s' best pound-for-pound fighter was well-known for playing defense both inside and outside the ring, and now he's dropped well down the list of boxing's biggest names.
He'll have to get in line for fighters who once would have loved to meet him -- but don't tell that to Jones, who still sees himself as the biggest name in any room.
"I'm still Superman, and I'm still the guy that nobody wants to fight," said Jones, who hadn't beaten any opponent of consequence in four years until he shut down Trinidad, who hadn't fought in 32 months.
Jones' perceived reluctance to take on the biggest fights during his prime came to symbolize everything that was wrong with boxing in the 1990s. He contented himself with second-tier matchups that kept the money rolling in, but usually didn't test his unparalleled skills.
Jones famously wouldn't go to Germany to establish his supremacy as a light heavyweight against Dariusz Michalczewski, who held the WBO title from 1994-2003. Jones also could have fought Joe Calzaghe in 2002, when both were near their peaks, in a fight that would have been an epochal event in Calzaghe's native Wales -- but it never happened.
That's all over now, Jones claimed after possibly punching Trinidad into retirement. He has set his sights on a matchup with Calzaghe, the unbeaten 168-pound champion who's first expected to fight Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas on April 19.
Jones clearly thinks he can still make up for all the time he lost playing minor-league basketball and dabbling in acting instead of testing himself in the ring. After years of strenuously avoiding overseas travel, Jones and promoter Don King even claimed they would make a trip to Great Britain on Sunday to personally challenge Calzaghe.
"I'm definitely looking to make that fight," Jones said. "I'll fight anybody, anywhere, any time, and if Hopkins-Calzaghe finishes how I think it will, I'll even go to Wales and fight. I don't care."
By now, boxing's past mistakes are even clear to Jones. The sport became choked with squabbling promoters, multiple sanctioning bodies and headliners who didn't take chances. This morass allowed mixed martial arts to rise with incredible speed to a prominent place in sports.
But fighters finally got the message over the last two years, and boxing is in the midst of a long series of tantalizing matchups made with fans and legacies in mind.
Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya. Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor. Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley. Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler. Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez. Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. Finally, Mayweather and Ricky Hatton, two unbeaten fighters whose December bout closed a thoroughly memorable year.
Next month, Pavlik will fight Taylor in a rematch of last year's thrilling middleweight bout. Pacquiao takes on Juan Manuel Marquez in March, shortly after Marquez and Vazquez reprise their two unbelievable fights -- and then the big names get going, with Hopkins and Calzaghe teeing off before De La Hoya takes a tuneup fight in early May to prepare for a probable rematch with Mayweather in the fall.
So where do Jones and Trinidad fit into the future of a sport that's largely left them in the past? Both can still sell tickets and pay-per-view buys, though not as many as before.
Trinidad could be headed for his third retirement, but he seemed interested in fighting again when he joyously addressed a crowd of his unwavering Puerto Rican fans after the bout.
"I'm going to talk to my father and my people, but I will decide soon if I want to fight again," Trinidad said. "I believe I can still do it."
Meanwhile, Jones might find Calzaghe or another current champion to be more generous to him than he was to the contenders who wanted a shot at Jones' belts 10 years ago. The eight-time champion in four weight classes is determined to fight on, and his win over Trinidad is just another affirmation of what he already knows about himself.
"All my fans around the world said I was done," Jones said. "I wanted to show what I can still do."
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