Roy Jones Jr. cruised to victory in Saturday night's clash of future Hall-of-Famers. Fighting in front of a large Puerto Rican contingent that supported his opponent Felix Trinidad, the former multi-weight class multi-belt holder, out boxed and overpowered Trinidad. Also a former multi-belt champion in multiple weight classes, "Tito" Trinidad put on a good showing after a two yearlong layoff. Trinidad connected often during the first half of the fight. But he was never able to inflict as much damage as Jones did. Tito, after all, was fighting a former heavyweight champion of the world.

    Jones, the one-time heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, clearly looked like the larger man. From some angles, the fight looked like a super middleweight taking on a welterweight. It appeared that in the 48 hours since making weight, Jones' body naturally began morphing back into the light heavyweight that it had been for most of the past decade.     Jones proved he could still evade punches by bobbing, weaving and ducking. But as the fight wore on, Jones used his evasive maneuvers less and less. Instead, Jones began absorbing a lot of Trinidad's assault - with his arms and gloves. It seemed that by the midway mark, Jones figured out that Trinidad, the smaller man, did not bring his vaunted knockout power up to the 170-pound stage. Perhaps this is why Jones opted to stand toe-to-toe with Trinidad for most of the fight's latter rounds.

    Tito, who typically comes straight at his opponent, had no antidote for Jones' arsenal. Still, Trinidad won the first two rounds of the fight as a result of his non-stop aggression. Rounds three, four and five were the closest rounds of the fight. The two fighters took turns assuming the role of the aggressor. Tito held his own during several exciting exchanges until the arrival middle rounds, when he could no longer stave off Jones' superior speed, strength and dazzling boxing brilliance.

    The following rounds saw vintage Jones: multiple single-handed hooks and lightning fast shots from all different angles. In round seven, a left hook to the temple of Trinidad dropped the former champ. Strangely, a noticeable amount of time passed between the punch and Trinidad hitting the floor. It seemed as if Trinidad's dramatic pause before falling to the canvas was deliberate on the part of Jones. Jones could have ferociously jumped on Trinidad before or after he hit the floor. However, Jones the magician, preferred to keep his show going in front of the appreciative Madison Square Garden crowd. Even Trinidad showed his admiration of Jones' work during the fight. After a Jones combination deposited Tito to the canvas again in round ten, Tito smiled and tapped Jones before heading back to his corner at the end of the round.

    The final two rounds became a showcase of Roy Jones' far-from-faded skills. Trinidad marched on as best he could, looking to land a desperation knockout punch. But every time Trinidad thought he had Jones in striking distance, Jones would reverse Tito's progress with jarring counterpunches and combinations. With about fifteen seconds left in the final round, 39 year-old Roy Jones landed a quadruple right hook to punctuate the victory.

    In no way did Saturday night feature a typical sad final performance from an aging, over-the-hill great - a scene that boxing fans have come to witness far too often. Rather, the main event was a promising sign for a legend that looked superb on his comeback trail. Perhaps Roy Jones can retread the ground that George Foreman once laid down during his legendary comeback.

    The event's undercard featured a surprisingly competitive heavyweight battle between veteran Andrew Golota and the younger Mike Mollo. By fight's end, Golota's left eye looked like something that only the best horror movie special effects crew could have crafted. Still, Golota's effective power punching earned the Polish journeyman a unanimous decision.