Ringside Report: Trinidad v Jones

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

I sat on the train on my way to Madison Square Garden on Saturday night looking forward to an evening of boxing. Although they are passed their primes, I looked forward to seeing two legends of the ring face each other in the main event. My expectation was either an early KO by Jones or worse a 12 round dance with little to no action; after all, the fight was at a catch weight with really nothing to gain by either fighter other than a pay day and maybe some bragging rights. I’m pleased to say that I got much more than I expected.

Roy Jones has spent the last two years of his career fighting only twice in remote locations such as Boise, Idaho and Biloxi, Mississippi on independent pay-per-view cards. Although he won both fights by unanimous decision he did not receive much attention for his efforts.

His opponent the “retired” Felix Trinidad had not been in the ring since May 2005 when he lost a lopsided decision to Winky Wright, but felt the calling back to the ring to fight not only for himself but for Puerto Rico and his legions of fans.

How good could the fight be? Although it was billed as “Bring on the Titans” both fighters, past their prime, had not been impressive in any of their last bouts but on Saturday night both fighters would show they still had something left in their tanks.

Both fighters were genuinely happy to be there, sure they were getting paid millions each but you could see the expressions on their faces of being back in the limelight giving the fans the best of their abilities and enjoying every minute of it.

Even during the promotion of the fight both fighters made themselves available for public appearances, autographs, media work-outs and several pre-fight press conferences. In the past Jones was notorious for being a no-show at these types of pre-fight festivities, but maybe time has humbled him just a little bit to appreciate what he once had.

The fight itself had more action than anyone anticipated. Trinidad showed little ring rust in the early rounds winning the first two or three rounds. Jones used his speed to land the more accurate punches as the fight progressed.

Jones landed a short right hand to Trinidad’s temple which forced him to his knees after a somewhat delayed reaction. Jones continued to dominate the fight over rounds eight and nine.

During the tenth round Jones fired a combination that sent Trinidad to the canvas a second time. Although a legitimate knockdown Trinidad seemed to be off balance during the time of the knockdown and recovered well.

Jones was not able to finish off Trinidad fighting with what could be called aggressive caution and pulled further ahead on the judges’ scorecards with his boxing ability.

After the fight Jones said to Trinidad, “I can’t believe you stayed in there 12 rounds with me. We had a great fight and everyone said we were too old.”

“I tried to put him away a few times but he slipped a lot of my good punches. He was slipping a lot of my good punches and I felt like I was missing knocking him out by inches,” said Jones.

Trinidad felt that Jones won the fight but not by such a wide margin, “I take nothing away from Roy but if I could have avoided the knock downs, I think I would have won the fight. He was very fast and strong and threw great punches. I have no excuses.”

The future is uncertain for both fighters. Trinidad is now 42-3 (35) and he will have to decide is he wants to fight again or not. Jones improved to 52-4 (38) and has already said he is ready to take on all comers looking particularly at Joe Calzaghe.

UNDERCARDS

40 year old Andrew Golota improved to 41-6-1 (33) in a grueling twelve round Heavyweight bout against Mike Mollo 19-2 (12). Golota was caught in the early rounds by a few overhand rights from Mollo which caused his left eye to swell shut by the end of the seventh round.

The last four rounds of the fight were dominated by the one-eyed Golota as he was able to land several power shots that nearly had Mollo down. Mollo held Golota to prevent from going down and showed a lot of heart by withstanding the Golota onslaught and ending the fight on his feet.

After the fight Golota would say, “I hope nobody will ever call me a quitter again. I couldn’t see anything after round eight. I had to box more by feel than what I could see. He was much faster than I thought he would and he hit me too many times. I wish I had landed more combinations.”

To the contrary Mollo commented, “I couldn’t believe the number of combinations he threw for an old man. I fought the best I could. I got nervous and flustered. I wish I had done better. I didn’t fight my best fight but my hat is off to him.”

In a scheduled twelve round Super Welterweight fight Alex Bunema now 29-5-2 (15) upset Roman Karmazin 36-3-1 (23) with a tenth round stoppage.

In a fight where Karmazin dominated with his jab Bunema would begin to land his right in the seventh round which would turn the fight around. After landing multiple rights through rounds eight and nine Bunema would drop Karmazin with a double right combination and left hook in the tenth.

After beating the count Karmazin was under pressure by Bunema who hit him with a solid right that sent him into the corner where Bunema followed up with a combination that dropped Karmazin again forcing the referee to stop the bout at 1:24 of the round.

Bunema was pleased with his performance after the fight. “The fight was close until I knocked him into the corner in the tenth round. I knew he was in trouble then. I thought it was over when I hit him with the big right but he stayed up. I followed him and landed the big hook that knocked him down.”

Bunema would also say, “I was not surprised I did what I said I was going to do. Now I want a title shot against WBA champion Joachim Alcine.”

Karmazin spoke through an interpreter about his lack of energy, “He told me in between rounds that he had no power and felt really weak. He got caught and after that he never really recovered.”

Devon Alexander “The Great” remained undefeated, now 14-0 (9) after getting through veteran DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley 31-8-1 (17) in their twelve round Super Lightweight fight. Although Alexander could not stop Corley with a knock-out he would win with scores of 118-109 twice and 116-111.

After the fight Alexander said, “It felt great to go twelve rounds with a former world champion. It was hard because it was my first twelve rounder. I was pressing hard for a knockout in the early rounds but my coach told me to settle down and just do what I do. I am ready to do more and I know I will do even better in the future.”

Corley said that he felt good during the fight but should have pushed Alexander more, “I wanted to pick it up around the sixth or seventh round but it didn’t really happen. Nothing he did really surprised me because we knew he had fast hands and a nice left hand. I wish I had let my hands go more but it didn’t happen.”