In Legends Matchup, Jones Too Fast For Tito

He fought gamely, and landed his share of shots, but Tito Trinidad brought a pop gun to a pistol match, and was no match for the faster, heavier hands belonging to Roy Jones in light heavyweight, non-title matchup at Madison Square Garden on Saturday evening.

As TSS expected, Jones handily took a unanimous decision, by scores of 116-110, 116-110, 117-109, in a reasonably entertaining matchup of two legends, both long past their prime. TSS scored it 9-2 for Jones, with an extra two points for knockdowns.

Jones, who obviously has more left in the tank than Tito, knocked Trinidad to the mat twice, and it looks like this time, the retirement may be a permanent one for the Puerto Rican fight icon. He stated after, however, that he and his dad will discuss career options, and he may well fight on. The final decision will be his, he said.

The feature bout was titled “Bring on the Titans,” but may as well have been titled “Bring On Hopkins.” Jones is now a master at energy conservation, and a scrap with the too-busy Joe Calzaghe would not go well. He and the similarly conservatism minded Hopkins would be a better matchup for Jones at this stage of the game.

Jones, the 39-year-old Floridian, weighed in at 169 1/2 pounds, while Trinidad, the 35-year-old Puerto Rican, weighed in a 170 pounds on the dot.

Jones came in with a 51-4 mark, while Trinidad brought a 42-2 mark to NYC.

There were 12,162 fans in attendance at MSG, with an estimated 75% of those folks firmly in Trinidad's pocket. As Michael Buffer called out Jones' stats and name, it was impossible to hear, with all the boos obscuring the intro.

In the 12th round, Jones looked to end the show on a high note with a few hard flurries, and Trinidad mostly looked to hang in there,and finish on his feet.

Tito was still game in the 11th, but his hands were still slow, and lacked pop. He could land ten shots, but one showy Jones landing was that much more telling.

Jones scored another knockdown in the tenth with 15 seconds to go, with a jab that took his legs out, and Tito may have been saved by the bell.

In the ninth, it was more of the same, as Jones' faster and heavier hands simply made more of an impression on the Puerto Rican.

In the eighth, Tito was active but ineffective, as his shots simply couldn't compare to Roy's when Jones sat down on his shots. Roy's lead right, hooks and the odd uppercut or two made the crowd oh and ah, while Tito landed, but didn't make an impression.

In the seventh, Jones knocked Tito down, in delayed fashion. He rose with clear eyes, after taking that short right to the temple, and stayed mobile the rest of the way.

Jones looked to find his range in the last third of the sixth round, as his left hook and right started to look more damaging when they landed. Tito outworked him the first two thirds, but the old pro Jones conserved his energy, and came on late, and stole the round.

TT hit Roy low low, and Jones took a quick breather in the fifth, but he kept on moving, and staying off the ropes. But Tito was the busier, and scored several times with lefts to the head and body that weren't vicious, but were effective to a judge. Jones needed to get busier, it appeared, to make more impact.

Jones had promised to stop TT by the fourth but that didn't happen. He did land a triple left hook, and some smart rights. Trinidad, it looked like, by this time, didn't have the sort of pop at this weight to worry Roy.

In the third, Jones started out with some jabs, but he spent most of the rest of the round on the ropes, daring Tito to engage him. He pounded his own belly, and taunted Tito. The crowd ate it up, and Jones dictated the pace of the action.

In the second, Tito scored to the body and cemented the round with a right at the closing bell. Jones picked things up, with some lead rights, and few left hooks to the body of his own.

In the first, things heated up in the final 10 seconds, with Tito throwing some hooks, and Roy perking up to try and steal the round. No dice, as he spend 99% of it checking out Tito brought to the party.

Jones said afterwards that he'd be traveling to Wales to chat with Calzaghe.