Jones wins one-sided decision over Trinidad

Roy Jones Jr. was just too fast, even in a fight that happened several years too late.

Jones pranced and punched his way to a unanimous decision over Felix Trinidad on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, dominating a 170-pound matchup between two iconic boxers whose primes are well past.

Jones (52-4), the sport’s erstwhile pound-for-pound king, taunted the Puerto Rican champion while clowning his way through the early rounds of his first significant victory in four years.

Jones then went to work, knocking down Trinidad in the seventh and 10th rounds.

The 1990s’ most dominant boxer had lost three of his past five fights, but Jones still entered the ring wearing a gilded crown -- and the 39-year-old’s once-peerless reflexes and heavy hands were enough to beat another declining star.

“It took a lot,” Jones said. “I can’t believe he stayed in there 12 rounds with me. It was a great fight.”

Trinidad (42-3) hadn’t fought in 32 months since his second retirement, but Tito still is Puerto Rico’s most beloved champion, judging from the frenetic support from the Madison Square Garden crowd.

But the 35-year-old revealed the rust many expected in just his fifth fight in 6 1/2 years, his first since a decisive loss to Winky Wright. Fighting 10 pounds over his highest previous weight, Trinidad couldn’t match even Jones’ diminished reflexes.

Though some boxing purists disliked such an obvious senior-circuit matchup with no championship stakes, the crowd seemed to enjoy a long-imagined matchup between two of the sport’s most prodigious punchers.

Judge Julie Lederman scored the bout 117-109 for Jones, and Nelson Vasquez and Tom Kaczmarek saw it 116-110. The Associated Press also called it for Jones, 118-108.

On the undercard, Alex Bunema of Atlanta upset Roman Karmazin of Los Angeles, delivering a hard right hand that knocked the former International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight champion through the ropes in the 10th round of their super-welterweight bout.

Bunema (29-5-2, 15 KOs) trailed on all three cards, but began asserting himself in the fifth, raising a large welt on Karmazin’s left cheek. He knocked Karmazin (34-3-1, 21) down early in the 10th. Moments later, Bunema followed a left uppercut with the right hand that ended the fight.

Andrew Golota (41-6-1, 33 Kos) won his third fight in a row in what may be his last bid for a heavyweight title, unanimously outpointing Mike Mollo in a 12-round bout.

Ruslan Chagaev wore down Matt Skelton over 12 rounds, winning a unanimous decision at Duesseldorf, Germany, to retain his World Boxing Assn. heavyweight title.

Chagaev (24-0, 17 KOs), making his first defense of the belt he won by beating Russian seven-footer Nikolai Valuev last April, weathered Skelton’s strong start and gradually took control after the third round.

He posted a one-sided win over Skelton (21-2), the 40-year-old British Commonwealth champion who took up boxing less than six years ago after a career as a kickboxer.