It was an easy to sell fight for two shot fighters, since both were former elite champions and were still well known. Trinidad was coming off an almost 3 year layoff and Jones couldn't compete at the top level anymore. For what it was it wasn't a bad fight.
It was sad watching Roy too gun shy, to sit down on punches and KO a washed up Trinidad. Roy was no longer a power puncher post heavyweight.
It was a big event but everyone knew Tito was way past his best and at a weight he had not fought in, and RJJ was also way past his best but clearly the favorite. The way I remember it Tito was the fan favorite but was expected to lose and pretty much lost every round with his punches having no effect on RJJ.
My uncle was a huge Trinidad fan and he didn't even watch it. IIRC it was above SMW and Trinidad hadn't fought in almost 3 years
It had no value, but it had a nice build up and nobody got hurt. You just had to take it for what it was. From what I recall, Tito couldn't even make the agreed upon C-W.
strange that Roy is still fighting. Back then I was sure he would retire after the Calzaghe fight and that't more than 9 years ago now
Tito put up a good fight! I ordered the PPV and thought about ring magazine hyping up Jones vs De la hoya/Trinidad as potential opponents someday back in the late 90's, and always felt Jones and Trinidad would fight someday, so it was a big fight for me.
Not necessarily rummy. Jones was looked at as a completely shot fighter going up against a fighter who was looked at as a career KO artist, despite the 10 pound weight jump, it was still highly anticipated at that time, and many didn't know what was going to happen.