By Brent Matteo Alderson

A lot has changed in the world since the time that Felix Trinidad and Roy Jones had first been tentatively scheduled to fight.  It was early 2001, and Roy Jones was still looking for an opponent who could test him and his perceived invincibility.  And after successfully unifying the linear welterweight title, Felix Trinidad moved up to 154-pounds in 2000 and went through two young undefeated Olympians, Fernando Vargas and David Reid, like a hot knife through butter.  Then proceeded to moved up to middleweight where he impressively blitzkrieged WBA champ William Joppy in five rounds.

Even though there weren’t any contracts or concrete plans for the match everyone knew that it was suppose to happen.  Tito and Jones graced the cover of boxing magazines and experts debated if Trinidad’s genuine greatness could test Jones’s surreal athletic ability.  Even Seth Abraham, then President of HBO sports commented, “We [HBO] have our Jumbo Jets and we know where we want to land them!”

And it didn’t seem as though there would be any problems making the fight.  The Cold war between HBO and Don King that lasted for almost a decade and made the recent problems between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions seem like a school yard scuffle, had recently ended, but as Robert Burns wrote, the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray and that’s exactly what happened. 

A power struggle between boxing’s power brokers or Roy Jones’s gigantic ego didn’t stop the bout from happening.  It was one man and one man alone that thwarted this match up and his name is Bernard Hopkins.  The Executioner was supposed to be fodder for Trinidad and after defeating Hopkins for the undisputed middleweight title, Trinidad and Roy were supposed to meet at a catch-weight, which ironically probably would have been set at 170-pounds just like it’s going to be this weekend, but Hopkins surprised the boxing world and dominated the Puerto Rican great and effectively ended his career as one of the world’s elite fighters. 

Just for here say, let’s say Hopkins had shown his age and had lost to Trinidad that night in September of 2001 (he was already in his mid-thirties by then) and Trinidad and Jones clashed in spring of 2002.  What would have happened?  At the time I thought Jones would have massacred Trinidad and I still think he would have.  Reid and Vargas had Tito down and in 2002 Jones was still in his prime and was the naturally bigger man.  In fact it was in 02 when Jones knocked out Glen Kelly with a behind the back punch and played with current IBF 175-pound titlist Clinton Woods as if he were a rag doll.

That was then and this is now.  Surprisingly I’ve become intrigued by this fight even though it’s a battle between two former greats trying to milk their careers for the very last cent in a way-past-their-primes matchup.  I just think it’s a competitive fight between two fan favorites and possibly has the makings of a damn good one because of the circumstances. 

Trinidad has only fought twice in a five and a half year period and looked horrible in getting dominated by Winky Wright two and a half years ago.  Also, he’s never weighed more than 160-pounds for a fight and now he’s fighting at 170!  Plus you can never tell what a long layoff is going to do to a guy in his thirties.  At best he’ll be a tad bit slower, but when you’re talking about a 35-year-old fighter who has only had two fights in almost a six year period you just never know.  I mean look at Sugar Ray Leonard.  He was 40 and coming off a six-year layoff, but who would have ever thought that he would be massacred by Hector Camacho, a fighter who was in his prime at junior-lightweight.
Still there is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel.  Power is the last thing to go and the one thing Trinidad has always had.  Even though Trinidad’s has his flaws, they have always been overwhelmed by his virtues which I think will make this an event worth watching.

First off Tito is a relentless puncher with an aggressive style, always marching forward in hopes of achieving an honorable and celebrated knock-out victory.  Also Felix is a very proud warrior and never leaves anything in the dressing room so it’s pretty obvious that he’s going in there to score a knock out and will probably be the aggressor in the fight, stalking Roy and looking to land his big left hook. 

Secondly Roy Jones isn’t Roy Jones anymore.  He’s not very mobile because he no longer has his legs completely under him and at times will be forced to lay on the ropes which will enable Tito to land some combinations punctuated by his awesome left hook and solid body punching. 

In actuality Jones may even be farther past his prime than Trinidad.  He hasn’t scored a knockout since 2002 and has only won two of his last five fights and that was against solid yet very average top fifteen contender type of guys. 

Did you see his last fight with Hanshaw this past July?  I recently watched it and couldn’t believe the amount of punches Roy took.  It was a hell of a fight and Roy had to dig down to win it and except for his fight with Glen Johnson it was probably the most punishment Jones has endured in a single fight, right on par with the first Tarver match. 

Throw in the fact that Jones has to make the 170 pound-limit and there’s a chance that Roy might arrive in considerably worse shape than Trinidad because after weighing in at 193 pounds against John Ruiz, Jones had a lot of problems making the 175-pound limit again.  The move back down to light heavyweight took its toll on his body and dramatically exasperated the speed of his physical decline.  Plus Roy hasn’t weighed in at 170-pounds or less since 1996.

So even though Jones is the bigger man and has been more active I think those advantages will be displaced by a number of factors.  Roy is four-years older than Trinidad, in fact he’ll be 39 a week after the fight, and that does not bode well for a fighter that generally negated boxing fundamentals throughout his career and depended on his extraordinary reflexes. Staying active is an advantage when you are winning fights and getting good work in, but not when you are taking punishment like Roy has the last four-years with the exception of the bout with Prince Ajamu. 

I still think Jones should be the favorite, but feel as though the bout has the makings of a real barn burner because both of their skills have deteriorated to the point to where it’s an even match. 

Look at Leonard-Hearns II, they were both past their primes and it was a hell of a fight.  Desperate times call for desperate measures and the loser of this bout will definitely lose the opportunity to engage in one last megafight. If Roy wins he will have placed himself in position for a fight with the winner of Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins.  And what about Tito?  Why do you think Oscar De La Hoya hasn’t confirmed an opponent for the May date he has reserved in Vegas?  Don’t you think Trinidad-De La Hoya II at 158 pounds sounds a lot more exciting than a second bout with the Pretty Boy?   

Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004 and teaches Spanish at the High School level in Southern California.  He has published articles in Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2006, and Latin Boxing Magazine.  He has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?”  Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com