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By Cliff Rold - If they had fought in 2001 when both were still peak, I would have picked former 4-division titlist Roy Jones (51-4, 38 KO) to destroy former 3-division titlist and World welterweight champion Felix Trinidad (45-2, 35 KO) inside of three rounds.
The passage of time has not made this then rumored, and now almost signed, bout any more competitive.
It’s rare that a fight between two living legends, in this case two of my favorite fighters ever to watch, would inspire less than excitement in me. This one got a belly laugh when I heard about it on Monday.
Maybe even a bit of a belly ache.
If 2007 has been building slowly, through one solid fight after another, towards a fall schedule that is everything right about the sport, we know for sure now that 2008 will be off to a lesser start.
This is not a condemnation of either Jones or Trinidad. Both were, on their best days, great fighters. An easy case can be made that each was among the top ten to twenty, all-time, in their most dominant weight classes (Trinidad at welterweight; Jones at light-heavyweight). Definitive cases can be made for them in slightly less established weight classes (Tito at 154 and Roy at 168) as among the very best.
Read those numbers again. Even in their best days, Trinidad and Jones were always two or three weight classes apart and Jones was the faster, harder hitting man regardless of weight. This was never really a competitive fight and it probably won’t be now at the proposed catch weight of 170 lbs.
And this is no longer the time of their best days.
There is no doubting that this bout will have allure for certain fans. Puerto Rican fans love Felix Trinidad. Check that…they LOVE Felix Trinidad. Trying to argue any flaws Tito may have had in his prime with his most avid followers is like trying to argue with Tom Cruise that Lord Xenu was Hubbard’s idea of an investment portfolio.
Roy’s diehards were and are much the same. They decided that Roy was the answer in their time to Sugar Ray Robinson and no matter whom he fought, and more importantly sometimes did not fight, they were not to be dissuaded. That’s not to say Roy wasn’t great; wins over Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Montell Griffin, Virgil Hill and his balls out, gut check win over Antonio Tarver in their first bout are the collection of a great fighter.
What is bothersome is that it’s never been enough to their diehards for the rest of the world to recognize Tito or Roy as merely great; they seek higher vindication than rational minds may allow. [details]
The passage of time has not made this then rumored, and now almost signed, bout any more competitive.
It’s rare that a fight between two living legends, in this case two of my favorite fighters ever to watch, would inspire less than excitement in me. This one got a belly laugh when I heard about it on Monday.
Maybe even a bit of a belly ache.
If 2007 has been building slowly, through one solid fight after another, towards a fall schedule that is everything right about the sport, we know for sure now that 2008 will be off to a lesser start.
This is not a condemnation of either Jones or Trinidad. Both were, on their best days, great fighters. An easy case can be made that each was among the top ten to twenty, all-time, in their most dominant weight classes (Trinidad at welterweight; Jones at light-heavyweight). Definitive cases can be made for them in slightly less established weight classes (Tito at 154 and Roy at 168) as among the very best.
Read those numbers again. Even in their best days, Trinidad and Jones were always two or three weight classes apart and Jones was the faster, harder hitting man regardless of weight. This was never really a competitive fight and it probably won’t be now at the proposed catch weight of 170 lbs.
And this is no longer the time of their best days.
There is no doubting that this bout will have allure for certain fans. Puerto Rican fans love Felix Trinidad. Check that…they LOVE Felix Trinidad. Trying to argue any flaws Tito may have had in his prime with his most avid followers is like trying to argue with Tom Cruise that Lord Xenu was Hubbard’s idea of an investment portfolio.
Roy’s diehards were and are much the same. They decided that Roy was the answer in their time to Sugar Ray Robinson and no matter whom he fought, and more importantly sometimes did not fight, they were not to be dissuaded. That’s not to say Roy wasn’t great; wins over Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Montell Griffin, Virgil Hill and his balls out, gut check win over Antonio Tarver in their first bout are the collection of a great fighter.
What is bothersome is that it’s never been enough to their diehards for the rest of the world to recognize Tito or Roy as merely great; they seek higher vindication than rational minds may allow. [details]
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