The upcoming fight this Saturday night, between Roy Jones Jr. and Felix Trinidad has to be the most meaningless fight in recent years. No matter who wins, they both lose if they continue to fight and face serious (and younger) fighters. Some have compared Trinidad to Sugar Ray Leonard when he came out of retirement to take the middleweight title from Marvin Hagler in 1987. Nothing could be further from the truth. Leonard was at the top of his game when he retired in the early eighties, whereas Trinidad was not. Since recieving a gift decision over Oscar De La Hoya in 1999, Trinidad has fought a total of eight times. Losing two of those fights; one to Bernard Hopkins by 12th round KO, and the other, a UD loss to Winky Wright. In his prime Trinidad was great but it has been a while.
With Jones the situation is worse. It has been a really long time since he has looked remotely like the fighter he once was. He has been stopped by both Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson. He seems to have developed a glass jaw in the last few years.
I don't see this fight as being worthy of Pay Per View, but that is my opinion. I also don't see this as a "Long awaited fight", simply because when both were in their prime they were in two separate weight classes with at least a twenty five pound weight difference. I don't think there was ever any serious expectation of both men fighting each other in their prime.
Stranger things have happened but this is a fight that Trinidad just can't win. At a 170 pounds he won't have the punch he once did as a welterweight, and Jones, while a mere semblance of his old self, still has mobility, and mobility has always been the key to beating Trinidad. On top of that Jones is the naturally bigger man, and is used to fighting the bigger guys. I think Jones has enough left to eke out a 12 round decision in a mediocre fight on Saturday night.
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3 comments:
I missed it...I haven't considered either guy a PPV fighter for year's;same thing with Vargas and Mayorga.I am looking forward to:Marquez-Vasquez,Marquez-PacquiaoII-and (I think)I'm sticking with Oscar in Mayweather II.
"recieving a gift decision over Oscar De La Hoya"???LOL Oscar De La Hoya gave him that gift, not the judges. He didnt want to fight and ran for 3 1/2 rounds. Remember the ole saying "finish strong" Trinidada did.
I knew that would draw you out Scott, lol. I still believe it though. regardless of the last three rounds though, Oscar won at least seven rounds in that fight. Look at Trinidad's face when he is announced the winner. He was the most surprised person in the building. He knew he lost that fight. That's the reason he became so vocal after the fight.
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