A Look at Tito's Comeback

Like SC, I'm totally on board with Trinidad-Jones Jr., and thrilled to see Tito come out of retirement.  We're talking about my favorite all-time fighter here, and the primary reason (with JC Chavez coming in a close second) that I became a huge boxing fan.  There's so many things I love about Trinidad (though, of course, the fact that we're both from the same place doesn't hurt):  not only has he been one of the most exciting fighters to watch in the last 20 years, he's also one of those rare guys (like Pacquiao) who never really ducked anyone.  He's beaten three Olympic gold medalists, about a dozen world champions (a handful of whom were previously undefeated), and he's all but sent a couple of them into a retirement.  After certain fighters stepped in a ring with Tito, they were simply never the same again (see Vargas, see David Reid).  

I've got to say, though:  it's pretty ballsy to come straight after Roy Jones without a tune-up fight.  But, then again, we've seen Tito do it before when he came back in 2005 against Mayorga.  And, man, did he show up that night.  It's true that Trinidad-Jones were in a kind of collison course five years ago, but, truthfully, I was kind of scared of that fight back then.  I thought Jones was just way  too big for Tito.  He still might be, though having seen him KO'ed twice in the last couple of years puts me a little bit more at ease.  But still, I'm not sure who to favor at this point.  Obviously, I would love to see Trinidad win this fight.  But I would have been more comfortable if this comeback fight were to be against, say, Felix Sturm or Cory Spinks.

Obviously, this comeback is driven by financial motivations, and, ideally, the Roy Jones fight is supposed to lead to bigger money fights down the line, such as rematches with De La Hoya, Hopkins or Vargas (should he beat Mayorga and keep fighting), or clashes with Cotto and/or Mayweather.  Trinidad, much like Oscar, doesnt care about alphabet titles at this point.  He's in it for two things: 1. money; 2. his legacy (which, in my opinion, has already been established).

All that said, here's the thing that truly worries me about Tito's comeback:  the fact that his father is coming out of retirement too.  Felix Trinidad Sr. is undoubtedly one of the shittiest trainers in the history of the sport.  I said it years before this happened, but the epitomy of his crapulence had to be the Winky fight.  I mean, look at that fight:  It's as if Tito's father trained him without ever having seen one of Winky's fights on tape.  After Trinidad won his first world title, it would have been wise for Papa to let go.  I'm not saying that Tito would've beat Hopkins or Wright with a different trainer, but had he been working with someone like Manny Steward or Freddy Roach, there's no way those fights would have been so one-sided.  Hell, then again, another trainer/manager probably wouldn't have thrown Tito in the ring with someone like Winky, where the style match-up was clearly wrong from the get go.  Papa Trinidad pretty much thought that Tito could just steamroll over any opponent--even after Hopkins (and Oscar, to some degree, before him) showed that he could be outboxed.  Hopefully, he's learned something in the last two years, though something tells me we'll see the same steamrolling Tito of old.  Not to say the man is ancient, but it is, after all, hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

One thing's for sure, there's plenty to be excited about for us boxing fans.  With Mayorga-Vargas (and Taylor-Pavlik) in September, Pacquiao-Barrera in October, Cotto-Mosley (and Calzaghe-Kessler) in November, Mayweather-Hatton in December, and now Trinidad-Jones in January (and possibly Vasquez-Marquez III in February), there's a lot to be looking forward to right now.  I can't remember the last time we had so many can't-miss fights stacked up like this.