Former eight-time world champion Roy Jones Jr. (51-4, 38 KOs) predicted that he’ll be stopping Felix Trinidad (42-2, 35 KOs) in four rounds for their January 19th bout, adding also “I can fight at practically any weight right now. I can drop down to 168 pounds and take on (Joe) Calzaghe. I’ll fight him anywhere he wants. Jones Jr. is back and ready to fight.” Jones, 39, appears to have a new found love for boxing now that he’s reaching the end of his career. His mouth, however, seems the same as ever with his bold prediction of stopping Trinidad. The fight will be taking place at a 170 lb catch weight, as the 34 year-old Trinidad’s normal weight – at least in his prime, that is – class is 147 (welterweight) and will be at a decided disadvantage.
However, not many people give Trinidad much of a chance, because he’s been largely inactive, fighting only two times in the past five years with his most recent fight being a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision loss to Winky Wright in May 2005. As in the past, Trinidad called in quits after losing. Since then, he’s put on a lot of weight and looks much older than he did five years earlier. In the latest press conference, however, Trinidad appeared to have stipped off all the excess blubber, and now he just looks old.
In terms of boxing excitgement, Jones and Trinidad will likely be disappointing. Both fighters are shot and haven’t looked good in ages. In Jones’ case, he’s been beaten three times in the past four years, two of the losses being especially brutal knockouts for Jones. In the past year, Jones, 39, has been carefully selecting his opponents, fighting Prince Badi Ajamu and Anthony Hanshaw, both of which he beat.
In Hanshaw’s case, the fight was terribly close making it diffiult to tell who actually won the fight. Jones took an awful lot of punishment from Hanshaw, a fighter never to be mistaken for a champion, and it was sad to watch. Much of Jones’ flashy moves are now but a memory and he is more stationary, spending much of the rounds resting against the ropes while getting pounded away on. His fighting style now is similar to the rope a dope method that Muhammed Ali used on George Foreman.
As bad as Jones is now, he’ll probably have an easy time beating Trinidad, who is much too small for Jones. It’s too bad this fight didn’t take place seven or eight years ago when the two fighters were at their best, because it would be much more appealing than watching both go at it now. In a way, it will be intersting in that the fight will seem as if it’s in slow motion due to their diminished handspeed. At least we can see the punches from Jones rather than the blur, if that’s any consolation.