An upcoming fight between former greats Roy Jones and Felix Trinidad has been dubbed the Battle of Legends; however, one has to wonder the validity behind this title.  Roy Jones has not had a good win against a named opponent since his fight against John Ruiz which was over four years ago, while the former champion Felix Trinidad's last win was against a powerful but very limited Ricardo Mayorga.

This was the first fight in Trinidad’s comeback, and in his next fight he was embarrassed by Winky Wright for 36 minutes while only managing to land a total of 58 punches.  He has taken two years off since his loss to Wright, and this come-back would be his second two year layoff, his first coming four years ago.  He has only had two fights in the past five years, and age is probably catching up to him.

Roy has had his share of embarrassment too.  After being recognized as the pound for pound best in the sport for the greater part of his career, Roy ran into a brick wall, which was actually Tarver’s left hand that completely changed his career.  Roy was counted out and in the following outing he was dominated for nine-rounds by Glen Johnson before being knocked out with a single right hand.  After taking some time off Roy came back again, only to lose to Tarver for a second time by decision.  After yet another lay-off Roy returned to the ring and he's put in two wins since his come-back, however none of them were named opponents or ranked in the top 10 of any major governing body or by Ring Magazine.

Another question that has to be asked is the contract weight for this fight, which is slated at 170 pounds.  This is a weight which neither fighter would be able to adjust too comfortably.  Roy has not had a fight lower than 175 since 1996, and Felix has never fought higher than a middleweight, which is ten pounds lower than the contract weight.

It has to be asked, is this simply a last chance effort for the two fighters to make cash off of their names?

Both fighters are popular for their past accomplishments; however, neither fighter has done anything worth mentioning in the past four years, and worst of all this fight is probably going to air on pay-per-view.

Although the two may surprise everyone including myself by putting on an excellent fight, it is not likely.  This is a classic example of a fight that does not deserve to be a pay-per-view event and receive this much publicity.  One really has  to wonder how many fans would choose to pay for this fight rather than watching a cable broadcast of Rafael Marquez and Israel Vasquez.

Boxing is getting back to the good old days when the best  fought the best.  However, this is a case of the best from six years ago fighting the best from five years ago.

8-22-2007