It was a more aggressive and confident Roy Jones Jr. that showed up at Madison Square Garden last night, as over 12,000 mostly Felix “Tito” Trinidad fans watched their man get overpowered by the naturally bigger Jones. Jones knocked Trinidad down twice and won 117-109 (twice) and 116-110. I scored it 117-109 for Jones.

The fight that was a mismatch on paper turned out to be, well, a mismatch. Jones allowed Trinidad to come forward firing combinations, as he blocked most of the punches with his high guard. Jones also continued his tendency to back up against the ropes and cover up, but he didn't seem to bothered by Trinidad's power and spent most of the succeeding rounds walking Trinidad down. Jones was tentative in rounds one and two, but demonstrated his quick hand speed by landing sharp right hand leads to Trinidad's head. He didn't use his legs as much as he has in the past, but showed decent lateral movement and threw some good combinations, hurting Trinidad whenever he went to the body. In 7th round Jones floored Trinidad with a right hook to the temple; in the 10th Jones landed a left-right that put his opponent on the canvas again, after jumping in with a lead uppercut and a blistering combination. After both knockdowns Jones showed little urgency to finish the job. Jones’ “Tito must go in fo’” promise proved also to be clever marketing, as the 4th round produced no effort by the former pound-for-pound king to stop Trinidad. Jones, 39, like the 42-year-old Bernard Hopkins, fights in spurts.

Jones, 52-4 (38), will almost certainly fight another high profile boxer this year - possibly the winner of Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins, as Jones has stated that his goal is to win the super middleweight or light heavyweight title again. The version of Jones that beat Trinidad must be taken with a grain of salt though; Trinidad was a former junior welterweight and is considered washed up. Against Trinidad, Jones gave virtually the same performance he fought in his rubber match with Antonio Tarver - a fight he lost on all three scorecards. If Jones fought the way he fought last night against Calzaghe, he wouldn't last three rounds.

Trinidad, 42-3 (35), is surely done, unless he can score a rematch with nemesis Oscar De LA Hoya, which would still be huge. If the 35-year-old Puerto Rican superstar and future Hall-of-Famer wants, he could probably stick around and beat some lesser opponents, but he is talking of retirement once again, which would make it three retirements in five years. If Trinidad really does retire, he should stay retired.

Jones-Trinidad promised to be entertaining, and it was. Did it have much significance? Not really. But with Jones' clear victory, it does create some interesting possibilities for the ensuing months. Unfortunately for Jones, the old adage “be careful what you wish for” seems dangerously too appropriate.