ROY& TITO: LOOKING FOR REDEMPTION

There was Don King, on the dais inside a ballroom at the New Yorker hotel in New York City. He was dressed as Santa Claus, and, after saying “Ho, ho, ho,” he told us why.

“I’ve got something to give you,” King said.

What, the shaft?

At first glance, it might appear that way when handicapping what fans might think of the upcoming 170-pound fight between future Hall of Famers Roy Jones Jr. and Felix Trinidad Jr. on Jan. 19 at Madison Square Garden.

After all, Trinidad has not fought in 2 ½ years, or since getting schooled by Winky Wright in the most lopsided of 12-round decisions – losing by 11, 11 and 13 points. And Jones hasn’t had a significant victory since winning a majority decision over Antonio Tarver in the first of their three fights four years ago this month. Whereas Trinidad will still be just 35 when he has a birthday nine days before the fight, Jones will have turned 39 three days prior to their bout.

King, Jones and Trinidad were on hand at the New Yorker on Saturday, playing host to a news conference formally announcing this fight. It started about 4 p.m., roughly three hours before the card featuring the welterweight championship between Miguel Cotto and “Sugar” Shane Mosley began across the street at MSG.

On this frigid Big Apple night in November, King’s Santa suit was a good fit –literally and figuratively. He worked the room before the proceedings began, exchanging pleasantries.

The night before, I had dinner with a big-shot from HBO and some other reporters at an Italian restaurant in Times Square. Their names are not relevant. But we did have much discussion about Jones-Trinidad, a fight that obviously would have been much more appealing if it came a few years ago, before both fighters began having serious career troubles.

Jones (51-4, 38 KOs) had for years been considered by many – though not by this reporter – as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world before he moved from light heavyweight to heavyweight in March 2003 and took John Ruiz’s heavyweight championship via lopsided decision. Even though Ruiz will not go down as a solid champion, it was nevertheless quite an accomplishment. Eight months later, Jones moved back down to light heavyweight and won the narrow, if not controversial, decision over Tarver.

Then things went bad. Jones was knocked out in the second round by Tarver in a rematch in May 2004, and in the ninth round by Glen Johnson four months later. Remember Jones on his back on the canvas, his legs shaking? That was not good.

Jones has since fought once in each of the past three years. In 2005, he lost the rubber match with Tarver via unanimous decision; he won a decision over Prince Badi Ajamu in 2006; and he won a decision over Anthony Hanshaw in July.

In other words, Jones is a mere shadow of his former self.

Trinidad (42-2, 35 KOs) was sailing along in fine fashion, having won titles in the welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight divisions. He had a 20-0 record in world title fights and appeared almost invincible. That is until he was stopped in the 12th round by Bernard Hopkins in a middleweight title unification fight in September 2001. Trinidad then had one more fight – a victory over Hacine Cherifi in 2002 – before retiring for nearly 2 ½ years. He came back and knocked out Ricardo Mayorga in 2004 on his way to being humiliated by Wright in a May 2005 fight in which Trinidad was credited with landing less than 60 punches in 12 rounds, according to CompuBox numbers.

I’ve never been completely sold on the accuracy of these statistics, if for no other reason than it’s got to be close to impossible for a guy working these buttons to be right on the money. But in this case, it gives one a general idea of just how soundly defeated Trinidad was that night against Wright. Again, Trinidad retired.

We’re glad he’s back because he is perhaps still young enough to do some damage in this sport. But still, how much credence should we put in this fight? Does anybody care?

Maybe we should. Here are two fighters who had for many years been at or near the top of many respected pound-for-pound polls, fighting for another taste of what used to fill their respective hearts with pride and joy. There is nothing wrong with that.

Think about it for a second: Jones suffered two vicious knockouts. Trinidad was 40-0 with 32 knockouts, had the weight of his beloved Puerto Rico on his shoulders and then lost to Hopkins and eventually to Wright.

Psychologically, both of these fighters must have been hurt and could have folded their tents and called it a career for good. But here they are, looking for some redemption. We all like that story line.

The question is, how much redemption can they get from fighting each other? If Trinidad were to come back and beat Hopkins, or if Jones were to lace them up against one of the current light heavyweight champions and win, that would be some serious redemption.

It will be interesting to see how fans respond during this promotion, and they will have to respond if they want to see this fight because it will be on HBO pay-per-view. That was a bone of contention at the aforementioned dinner, but we’ll save that for another time.

One thing is certain, there figure to be no shortage of fans on hand at MSG. Trinidad, Saturday’s victory by countryman Cotto over Mosley notwithstanding, is still probably the most favorite fighter in Puerto Rico. And, of course, that popularity filters into New York City because of its large Puerto Rican population.

“Very seldom do you see a man, an icon, with the support this man has,” said HBO

pay-per-view honcho Mark Taffet, during his time on the dais.As for the respective combatants, they were at their promotional best Saturday.

“When you get an opportunity to fight a Tito Trinidad in New York City … most of the fans are going to be Latino,” Jones said, “but that’s OK, because they are going to have to watch the Roy Jones Jr. show. So, it’s all good. I look forward to him coming out there and trying to get me out of there as fast as he can. That’s the smartest thing he can do, because once I get going …”

Trinidad started by talking straight out into a large group of assembled reporters.

“I have a lot of enthusiasm to be here and not even Roy Jones Jr. will stop me,” he said.

Then a standing Trinidad turned to Jones, seated to his left.

“I have 42 wins and two losses, 35 wins by knockout, and you are going to be No 36,” Trinidad said to Jones, who just smiled.

Let’s just hope that all those who pay to be there and who pay for the HBO feed, are still smiling after this fight is over. It has every opportunity to be a stinker. But it wouldn’t exactly be a sin if we gave it a bear hug and hoped for the best.

Not an easy call.