It’s Jones in a Waltz

Julio Gonzalez has a heart.

If only he had the quick legs, fast hands and great reflexes to go along with it, he might have made a fight out of Saturday night’s main event at Staples Center against Roy Jones Jr. in front of a crowd of 20,409.

As it was, Gonzalez was little more than a human punching bag, going down three times and stumbling around the ring as Jones pounded out an easy, unanimous decision to remain the undisputed light-heavyweight champion.

“You fought a great fight, man,” Jones told Gonzalez when it was over. “You can hold your head up. You’re tough. Be proud.”

Gonzalez, however, wasn’t buying it, tears welling in his eyes as he spoke after the fight.

“They can say all they want about my going 12 rounds with the best boxer in the world,” Gonzalez said, “but I still don’t feel good about this loss. I prepared myself to win and I obviously couldn’t do it.”

Jones won the fight, to increase his record to 45-1, but he didn’t win any new fans in his first appearance in Los Angeles.

The crowd booed him periodically through the match, showered him with more boos when the fight was over and serenaded him with still more as he left the ring.

Why?

Probably because they came expecting to see a man who claims to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world demonstrate his credentials and instead saw a man content to put on a boxing clinic and avoid any additional harm to his hands, which he says are already brittle.

The crowd had been spoiled by the semi-main event in which Erik Morales defended his World Boxing Council featherweight title by beating Injin Chi on a unanimous decision in which the action never stopped from the opening bell to the close.

Jones had Gonzalez, who lives in Huntington Beach and trains in La Habra, down in the first round with a left hook, but the promise of a repeat of Morales-Chi quickly faded.

Gonzalez wasn’t overly concerned about the first knockdown. He has been through worse. In a fight he won earlier this year, Gonzalez was knocked down three times, and nearly out the final time, against Julian Letterlough.

Gonzalez’ game plan was to cut the ring off on Jones and pound him with body shots, a Gonzalez specialty, thus testing the toughness of the flashy Jones.

That strategy worked in the second round when Jones backed off and let Gonzalez wade in.

But in the third round, Jones went back to being Jones, his hands a blur, his feet dancing, his command of the ring complete.

Jones would leap in, score with a punch and then back off, the helpless Gonzalez able to do little more than flick at Jones as if he were a pesky fly.

In the fifth round, Jones again connected with a left hook, his glove landing squarely on Gonzalez’ chin.

Again Gonzalez went down.

When he arose, the crowd anticipated the kill, but it never came.

And that’s when the boos started.

The outcome was never in doubt after that. Jones connected on 63% of his punches in that fifth round compared to 11% for Gonzalez.

Time and again Jones beat the slower Gonzalez to the punch. Gonzalez, who lost for the first time to drop to 27-1, wasn’t blessed with great speed to begin with. The effect of Jones’ blows and the exertion required to chase him around the ring slowed Gonzalez down even more.

Jones appeared to take the seventh round off altogether, content to sit against the ropes and let Gonzalez work himself to exhaustion.

In the 12th round, Gonzalez walked into a Jones right hand and went down again but managed to get to his feet and finish the fight.

All three judges gave the fight to Jones by a wide margin. Robert Byrd and Peter Trematerra had it 119-106, Larry Rozadilla 118-107. The Times scored it 118-107 for Jones.

“He’s strong,” Jones said. “When he comes back from a knockdown, he has great recovery.

“I had too much respect for him to go for the early knockdown. I planned to work the body and wear him down.”

Ultimately, it was the head shots that finished off Gonzalez.

“I thought he was very fast,” Gonzalez said. “I was surprised every time he knocked me down because I didn’t see the punches coming until I felt them.

“This was a big challenge to me and, obviously, it’s going to take a long time to get over it.”

The challenge for Jones, apparently, was to get the most out of the least. He connected on 51% of his punches to only 15% for Gonzalez. But while Gonzalez threw 609 punches, Jones threw only 375, an average of only 31 per round.

So the controversy will continue. Jones’ supporters will continue to say he is the best fighter in the world, and that he has such a high skill level that he doesn’t need to wade in and risk harm against a fighter such as Gonzalez.

And Jones’ detractors will say he does what is necessary but isn’t a finisher or a crowd pleaser, thus lacking the complete package to claim the pound-for-pound title.

But the argument over Jones may soon end. There is one man out there who can--and hopes to--settle it in a few months.

His name is Felix Trinidad.

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THE TITLE BOUTS

* Roy Jones Jr. retained his undisputed light-heavyweight world title with a unanimous decision over Julio Gonzalez.

* Erik Morales retained his WBC featherweight title with a unanimous decision over Injin Chi.

* Andrew Lewis retained his WBA welterweight title when his bout with Ricardo Mayorga was declared no contest.

Coverage of all bouts at Staples Center, D10-11