NEW YORK — Roy Jones Jr. was just too fast, even in a fight that happened several years too late.
Jones pranced and punched his way to a unanimous decision over Felix Trinidad on Saturday night, dominating a 170-pound matchup between two iconic boxers whose primes are well past.
Jones (52-4, 38 KOs), the sport’s erstwhile pound-for-pound king, taunted the Puerto Rican champion while clowning his way through the early rounds of his first significant victory in four years. Jones then went to work, knocking down Trinidad in the seventh and 10th rounds.
The 1990s’ most dominant boxer had lost three of his past five fights, but Jones still entered the ring wearing a gilded crown — and the 39-year-old’s once-peerless reflexes and heavy hands were enough to beat another declining dynamo.
“It took a lot,” Jones said. “I can’t believe he stayed in there 12 rounds with me. It was a great fight.”
Trinidad (42-3) hadn’t fought in 32 months since his second retirement, but Tito still is Puerto Rico’s most beloved champion, judging by the frenetic support from the Madison Square Garden crowd.
But the 35-year-old revealed the rust many expected in just his fifth fight in 61/2 years, his first since a decisive loss to Winky Wright. Fighting 10 pounds over his heaviest previous weight, Trinidad couldn’t match even Jones’ diminished reflexes.
“He was slipping some really good punches,” Jones said. “I was missing knocking him out by about an inch on some of those shots.”
Though some boxing purists disliked such an obvious senior-circuit matchup with no championship stakes, the crowd seemed to enjoy a long-imagined matchup between two of the sport’s most prodigious punchers.
It might have been the year’s best fight — if the year was still 2001.
Judge Julie Lederman scored the bout 117-109 for Jones, while Nelson Vasquez and Tom Kaczmarek saw it 116-110. The Associated Press also called it for Jones, 118-108.
“I take nothing away from Roy, but if I could have avoided the knockdowns, I think I could have won the fight,” said Trinidad, who hasn’t decided whether he’ll fight again. “Roy was very fast and strong. He threw great punches. I have no excuses. He demonstrated speed and took my body.”
Jones connected on 172 of his 482 punches (36 percent), while Trinidad was 160-for-552 (29 percent). Jones had a big lead in power punches, landing 147 to Trinidad’s 101 — including a commanding 97-52 edge for Jones in power connections over the final seven rounds.
After Jones mostly played defense in the first 21/2 rounds, he repeatedly teased Trinidad late in the third, pounding his own stomach and sticking out his chin while doing a jig. Tito was more businesslike, but mostly ineffective against Jones’ defense.
With chants of “Tito!” filling the Garden, Jones finally landed a few damaging punches in the sixth round. Jones then dropped Trinidad to his knees early in the seventh with an overhand right.
Jones soon had control of the fight, sitting back on defense and pounding Trinidad’s head at will. He floored Trinidad again late in the 10th with a jab and a straight right hand, then coasted his way to an easy win.
Golota wins: Andrew Golota won his third fight in a row in what may be his last bid for a heavyweight title, unanimously outpointing Mike Mollo on the undercard of Felix Trinidad’s return to the ring against Roy Jones Jr. Alex Bunema scored the biggest upset of the night, delivering a hard right hand that knocked former IBF champion Roman Karmazin through the ropes in the 10th round of their super welterweight fight. And rising star Devon Alexander remained perfect through 14 fights, winning an unanimous decision over aging former WBO champion DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley. Earlier in the night, former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (28-3), fighting for the first time since a decisive loss to Shane Mosley last February, easily outpointed Edvan Dos Santos-Barros.
Chagaev wins: Ruslan Chagaev wore down Matt Skelton over 12 rounds, winning a unanimous decision to retain his WBA heavyweight championship in Duesselforf, Germany.
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