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Two modern day boxing legends share a boxing ring tonight when Roy Jones Jr meets Felix Trinidad over 12 rounds at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York.
For Jones Jr this is his third bout since losing a light heavyweight rubber match to local rival Antonio Tarver in October 2005. A former four weight world title holder and Olympian, Jones has won major world belts at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.
At 39, Jones is four years older than rival Trinidad. The Puerto Rican has won major world titles at welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. Trinidad’s last bout was back in May 2005 when he lost a 12 round decision to Winky Wright.
One wonders why this fight is taking place now at a time when obviously, both men are past their peak? That being said, Jones Jr, in his two fights since the Tarver defeat, has showed he still has his fleet footed boxing skills.
The fight tonight will be at catchweight of 170 pounds. Who does this favour? For me ,this favours Jones Jr. Although he has won titles at middleweight, super middleweight and heavyweight, Jones has spent the majority of his professional boxing career at the 175 pound limit.
Don’t forget that he was a world champion at that weight from 1996 through to 2004. For Trinidad, the majority of his professional career was spent at the welterweight limit and after a short visit to 154 pounds, his last fights were at 160 pounds.
So what happens on tonight? Both men are promising fireworks and an explosive fight. With Don King as promoter, who would expect anything else?
Both men are obviously past their best, but if you look back to the peak of these fighter’s careers in the 1990’s and early millennium, it’s hard to find an ideal time when these two could have actually met. For example, when Trinidad was a welterweight, Jones had already made the step through the divisions to light heavyweight. With that in mind, we should be grateful the fight is taking place at all.
Although it’s a battle of two modern day legends, it’s more of an event than anything. In analysing this fight, it’s easy to take into account the fact that Jones Jr could still be gun shy. However, both men have also shown that they can be hurt; Trinidad took a prolonged beating in his middleweight defeat to Hopkins in 2001.
The sheer curiosity of this sport is much the same as any other. There’s no doubt the Garden will be packed tonight to see a bout that 10 years ago would have featured both men at the peak at their powers.
I’m still anticipating an excellent matchup this weekend and the fact that both men have that vulnerability makes this a potentially exciting fight.
Trinidad’s power shouldn’t be underestimated, but I’m wondering how it will carry to 170 pounds? Jones, although his skills have diminished, I feel still has enough boxing smarts and still hits with enough authority to take this one by decision.
