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Thursday, 5:30 p.m. -- Hanging with the Blade

You never know who you're going to bump into on fight week.

On Wednesday evening, as I was walking out of the Affinia Hotel, where the media room is situated, I saw Iran "The Blade" Barkley sitting in a chair in the lobby. When I was really becoming turned on to boxing in the 1980s and early 1990s, much of the boxing world -- especially in Europe, where I lived -- revolved around the middleweights and super middleweights, and Barkley was at the center of it.

There was his huge upset knockout win over Thomas Hearns -- a victory he later repeated via decision -- and his dramatic tussles with the likes of James Toney, Roberto Duran, and Michael Nunn. (There was also his one-round blowout against Nigel Benn, but we won't mention that).

He seemed happy to be recognized, let alone asked for his opinion on the Saturday's fight between Roy Jones and Felix Trinidad.

"I'm leaning towards Roy, but it's going to be an interesting fight," he said. "Now we know, with Tarver beating Jones the way he did and Jones not being invincible, it's going to be an interesting fight." But Jones "is going to bring his speed along with him, but with power to go with it. Trinidad is going to bring mobs of Puerto Ricans, Jones is going to be in uncharted waters there all by himself. The bottom line is, when that bell rings, if you're going to lock horns and do what you've got to do."

Blade admits he's fallen on hard times since he stopped fighting, and says that, as a result, he's looking to get back in the ring to make some money, although he is far removed from his middleweight days.

"I'm looking to get a shot in the heavyweight division," he said, the kind of comment you hate to hear from an aging former fighter, but sadly so often do. "Boxing to me is purely financial. I made mistakes, and when you're younger you don't know no better and you're not getting the advice that people should be giving you. The bottom line is, you look at Roy Jones and Trinidad, they're coming back for the money. They don't need the money. I'm coming back for the money for real. I don't care about the titles. If I win another title, that's just more money for me."

The likelihood of anyone actually licensing him to get back in the ring, let alone fight for a title, is remote, however. Barkley, who was hoping somebody would give him a ticket for Saturday's fight, will likely have to find some other means of making some money. In the meantime, he is left to rue the opportunities lost and fortune squandered.

"Money doesn't come with a road map," he said. "It don't come with instructions. They give you the money, you spend it. Me coming from a low income environment, I was never taught how to manage it. You can buy three, four or five cars and a nice house: You can only drive one car at a time. If I knew then what I know now, hey, I'd do it much better. Now I'm more focused on my kids. I just want to get their life together. I'm in a good enough place. It's just got to get better." -- Kieran Mulvaney

Thursday, 12:30 p.m. -- Coach Merkerson speaks

Alton Merkerson, long-time trainer of Roy Jones, sat down alongside Don Felix Trinidad to talk with reporters about this Saturday's bout between the two legends.

Even though the two men are preparing to lead their respective charges into battle against each other in two days, they showed a great deal of respect toward each other.

Of course, that didn't stop each man from talking up his fighter at the expense of his opponent.

Here are some of coach Merkerson's comments:

Reporter: How is Roy managing with making weight?

Alton Merkerson: Everybody seems more worried about it than we are. Anytime you have a 39-year-old guy, quite naturally it's going to be pretty hard to make weight. But we don't have any complications with the weight at all.

What people fail to realize is when Roy fought at 175, most of the time he weighed in under the limit at 173.

Of course, if he did have a weight problem, I wouldn't say he had a weight problem. That would be our secret. But we're focused on the fight and not making weight. We're just talking about a couple of pounds. You can spit off a pound in a night, just spitting. You can shave your head and your groins and get that off. It's not an issue for us.

R: What are you expecting Tito to do? You expecting him to start fast?

AM: Tito is normally a slow starter, but in reference to this fight, I think that Trinidad Sr. knows he has to try to start off faster than he usually does. Our strategy is not going to change that much, because I consider Tito to be somewhat one-dimensional, so we know basically what to expect.

R: Tito has often had trouble with boxers. Do you expect him to have difficulty with some of Roy's ability and hand speed?

AM: What Roy does in the ring is to his advantage. But through the hype in this fight, and the darts thrown at each other, I don't think there's going to be too much boxing. It's just my philosophy, and knowing Roy, knowing his demeanor through all the years of training him, I see something in him for this fight that I haven't seen before. I relate it more to the second fight with Montell Griffin.

R: What do you see in Roy now compared to when he was younger?

AM: That's a very interesting question, because as you know, I had Roy in 1988 at the Olympics in Seoul. I see some of the fire in him in training, his mental and physical attributes, that I saw back in '88, all the way up to the mid-'90s.

R: What has changed since Roy's defeats to make him think he can come back?

AM: What you have to understand about Roy, and I'm not making excuses, but when we fought John Ruiz, he went from walking around at 183 pounds to a solid 200 pounds. And in doing it, you have to put on muscle. There was very little fat at the weight that he had. In the meantime, we won the title from Ruiz, we were negotiating with another heavyweight, namely Mike Tyson. So what would a fighter do at that time? He would try to maintain his weight, stay focused, stay healthy, get ready for the fight. At the last minute they said, 'No that fight's not going to happen, but we've got this date we still want you to fight.' At that time, the only thing he could do was come back to light heavywieght. I advised him, 'No let's hold off and do it a little later.' When you get that high in weight, and you've got to come back all the way to 175, losing mostly muscle weight, not fat, you've got some serious problems. So Roy's body went through a transition. The first fight with Tarver, which he won, he looked very sluggish; he weathered the storm, but he won the fight. The second fight, I would have to say he was disgusted. He was really disgusted with the media and their perception of him. So they demanded a rematch. He wasn't excited. The second fight, what happened is what happened. I will say this: Anybody that gets hit right can go down. When your body's not where it's supposed to be, stuff like that happens. Now he's had time to settle down and get back to light heavyweight, he's doing exceptionally well. I'm very impressed with him.

R: Is Roy's chin suspect?

AM: Everybody's chin is suspect. Tito has been down several times in several fights. If he recovered quicker, maybe he didn't get hit clean enough. I was listening to Trinidad Sr. say that Roy is going to get knocked out, and if that's the kind of fight they want to fight, it's going to be a real early night because that's just not going to happen. -- Kieran Mulvaney

Thursday, 12:15 p.m. -- Papa Trinidad speaks

Felix Trinidad Sr. and Roy Jones' trainer Alton Merkerson sat down with reporters for 30 minutes on Thursday to talk about their respective fighters' preparations for their clash on Saturday. They sat side-by-side, showing much mutual respect even as they tossed barbs at each other's charges. Here are some of Papa Trinidad's comments and observations:

Reporter: What has happened since Tito's defeats to make you think he can come back?

Papa Trinidad: Starting with the first loss that Tito had, against Bernard Hopkins … you know what happened in that fight? It's the fight that put Hopkins at the level he's at now. He's a great champion. And he was at that time also. It was not for that reason that he defeated Tito. The Tito who fought at that time was not the Tito that we are accustomed to. Then he did the fight against Cherifi and he won that fight, by knockout in the fourth round. And then you know the fight against Mayorga. He was away for two years and then came back with that fight. Then came the fight against Winky Wright, a fight that [I wasn't pleased with]. Tito did not show the skills and abilities that he has accustomed us to, in that fight. Winky Wright's very difficult. And after Tito, he fought Jermain Taylor, and for me, Jermain was gifted a draw. The question should be for Roy Jones, because in those fights Tito did not look like a totally diminished fighter. Tito has not had difficulties from moving up and moving down [in weight].

R: Styles make fights. What do you see in Jones that matches up with the style of Tito?

PT: We don't need help from Roy Jones. Tito has his own style, he is dedicated, and he is prepared for this fight. Tito has defeated all the styles of boxing. You can see them in all his 42 fights. And the style that is before him now, he has defeated that style. Why are we so sure? Because Tito has defeated all those styles, and Roy Jones will be defeated also. Roy Jones has been a great champion, as his trainer has described him. That's why we wanted to challenge him and fight him. That's why we want to be satisfied after the fight that we will have defeated one of the greatest fighters of all time.

R: After the Wright fight, you said to the press that you don't feel quite well, that you didn't feel like you were doing the job in the corner well, so you retired. What is the difference now?

PT: First, I weigh 22 pounds less now. My health was no good. Now, after medical treatment, I am 100 percent well. At that time and today, my knowledge of boxing remains. Nothing has been erased. I recovered my potential, my strength and my energy, the same as it was at the beginning of Tito's career. And, thanks to God, what was in my past is to the side. I feel 100 percent and I have concentrated on preparing a technical team; everybody has his specific duty, and so we feel prepared to defeat one of the greatest trainers of all time.

R: How has Tito managed with making weight?

PT: Tito hasn't needed to gain weight, he has been losing weight. He started to train at 200 pounds. We started by doing some running and lifting weights. Later, I came on the scene, as did a track-and-field trainer. Before entering the ring, we were doing track-and-field training, running in the mornings, and lifting weights. Boxing training came later. First we built his body, and when his body was ready to start with boxing, we entered the ring.

R: Against Wright, you seemed to not have a Plan B. Will you have a Plan A, B and C for Jones?

PT: Before the Wright fight, I said always that Tito was going to use technical skills against him. You are right; we only brought a Plan A. He defeated us in technical skills. But lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place, so now we have A, B and C. -- Kieran Mulvaney

Kieran Mulvaney covers boxing for ESPN.com and Reuters.