The Future of an Illusion

There was nothing illusory about Jones' performance but in truth, the entire night was an illusion. -Wally Matthews

I start with the above quote because ole Wally's column today in Newsday is about the only beacon of sanity in a veritable ocean of platitudes that is today's media coverage of Roy Jones' defeat of Felix Trinidad last night. Everywhere else it's "dominant" and "rejuvenated" and "classy" of all things, that last one from the BBC who should know better.

Even Manny Steward was celebrating Roy's "rejuvenation" last night, going so far as to say that based on this performance he thought Roy would be a tough match-up for Joe Calzaghe. The Welshman now seems to be the desired next opponent for Roy, either after a Calzaghe/Hopkins fight or if the deal on the table for that bout falls through.

What I have to say to this is... ahem... has everyone gone insane? Does anyone remember what Calzaghe did to Mikkel Kessler just three short months ago? The level at which that Calzaghe/Kessler fight was contested was so much higher than what we witnessed last night as to make Jones/Trinidad seem like an exhibition sparring tour. I guarantee you this - the Kessler that Calzaghe beat in November would have knocked out either of last night's principals in under five rounds.

Boxing is a strange sport when it comes to the comparative assessment of ability at any given moment. There is no league, no truly effective and untainted ratings system, no scientific way of telling the Devil Rays from the Yankees until they're actually in the ring together. This is why the Jeff Lacy's and Jean Pascal's of the world look like fire-breathing dragon-slayers right up until the moment that they're exposed as frauds. Any fighter, no matter how dubious his talent, can look like a champion in the ring just so long as the man he's fighting is an infinitely more dubious talent.

Along this line of thinking, let me point out to those of you who doubt it that Tito Trinidad is shot. Even as far as nostalgia goes, I'd say that in his prime he was pretty heavily overrated, and I write that with full disclosure that I was always a Tito fan. Last night he admirably mustered up a pretty good imitation of his former self for about three rounds, but even that was more illusion than rejuvenation. His punches were wide and inaccurate. He didn't have anywhere near the handspeed required to counterpunch effectively and find openings in Roy's defense, so most of his blows were big, telegraphed shots to Roy's gloves and forearms. And those rare blows that did find their mark clearly had next to nothing on them. For evidence of that, all you needed to do was take note of the man who was walking through them unfazed. Roy Jones is known for a lot of things, but taking hard punches well is not one of them.

Honestly, I didn't realize it until I actually had the thing in front of me, but all that last night's fiasco really boiled down to was a freakin MASTER job of matchmaking for Roy Jones Incorporated. Felix Trinidad is a mythical figure with an unshakable hold on the passions of Puerto Ricans and the fascination of fight fans. He's also a slow, easy target of an all-but-retired fighter with nothing left in the tank boxing almost twenty pounds above his best weight. I mean, how could Roy NOT look good in there? It was a brilliant make for his cause and it has the nefarious genius of Don King written all over it.

That said, I still balk at the idea that Roy looked good. He's ridiculously stationary now, for one thing. He absorbed a lot of leather from Tito, especially in the early rounds, and even though he blocked most of it, the mere fact of the ease with which Tito hit him does not bode well for him stepping off the senior tour. On the whole, I thought he fought at about the same level that he did in his last bout against Tony Hanshaw, and on that score, let me make another observation - I'm fairly confident that Tony Hanshaw also would have beaten Felix Trinidad last night.

Basically, I'm in complete agreement with Wally Matthews' concise assessment of the affair - the entire night was an illusion. If you're listening, Roy, I say call up William Joppy, or Gatti, or Vargas, or... Christ what is Macho Camacho doing these days? I heard Prince Naseem blew up to about 180 in jail. See if he needs some money. In short, find yourself another Tito, Roy. Because man, if you dare to stray from the nostalgia dream junket and venture into the cold hard reality of Reality, I promise you it's gonna be ugly. Real ugly.