By Michael Katz

Let us now praise mediocrity – it can be a lot more exciting than nothing. With no fear of losing my reputation as a cynical curmudgeon, I can extol both Roy Jones Jr. and the heavyweight division, now mutually exclusive. In the greater context of boxing’s renaissance, both its once finest practitioner and once proudest weight class, are emitting reminders of what made them better than mediocrity.

Jones showed flashes of the ability that made him the No. 1 fighter in the world when, in bittersweet revision, he dominated good old Felix Trinidad Jr. last Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Yes, I paid the $50 for the pay-per-view and I’m not going to ask Don King for my money back. Foul Pole Golota put excitement in slow motion, and with uncommon civility, outbrawled a smaller novice named Mike (Marsh) Mollo. Alex Bunema sprang an upset of Roman Karmazin and a kid in a St. Louis Cardinal cap, Devon Alexander, who hits more like Ozzie Smith than Albert Pujols, showed promise in dominating good old Chop Chop Corley.

But the star of the show was Jones, for at least giving latecomers to the game a glimpse of greatness. No, I do not agree with Emanuel Steward, the HBO cheerleader who said the network’s old standardbearer would have a chance against Joe Calzaghe. I doubt that Jones, at 39, has grown a new chin (I did, and later a third and fourth, but I suspect my beard is better than his). His hand speed has to be put in the kind of perspective that doesn’t take an Albert Einstein to understand. Against someone as slow as Trinidad, it is not too difficult to look quick. Against a 35-year-old fighter who had not won a round in 39 months, it is not too difficult to look masterful.

Trinidad at least gave the appearance of being a top fighter, winging intense left hooks to the body in a futile approximation of his old self. He was more slogger than slugger and Jones should not take this result too seriously.

But boxing will. It is axiomatic that fights make fights and Jones, by judicious matchmaking, now qualifies for a big-money match. (Incidentally, I’m not sure how much he’ll wind up making from Saturday night – Trinidad, I understand, was guaranteed $15 million and Jones and King were to split the rest, but I’m not sure there’ll be much of a “rest” – the Garden paid $8.5 million for the live gate, and I doubt if pay-per-view and sponsorships will do much more than bring the pot to what Tito was supposed to get.)

Maybe he can’t beat a Calzaghe, and it’s enlightening to know that Jones himself is picking Calzaghe over Bernard Hopkins in April, but he can make a pretty penny trying to beat that 35-year-old stalwart. “I’ll fight anybody, anywhere, anytime,” said Jones in ironic commentary on his previous life in boxing. He mentioned the winner of the Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor rematch, old friend Antonio Tarver as well as the Calzaghe-Hopkins victor. If Jones’s career can be revived so easily, maybe the heavyweight division can, too.

Fights make fights and at least the heavyweights are starting 2008 with a burst of activity. It started quietly last weekend, when Ruslan Chagaev, one of the hundreds of alphabet title-holders, defended his slice of the pie with a hum-drum 12-round decision over a 40-year-old Briton, Matt Skelton.

It picks up this Saturday night when HBO shows, along with the replay of Jones-Trinidad, the same-day tape of an “eliminator” between two undefeated fresh faces to determine a mandatory challenger for the division’s consensus leader, Wladimir Klitschko, who could inherit another “mandatory” if, as expected, he defeats fellow title-holder Sultan Ibragimov next month at Madison Square Garden.

In Berlin on Saturday, the 2004 Olympic champion, Alexander Povetkin of Russia, is an almost prohibitive 5-1 favorite to defeat light-hitting Eddie Chambers of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. I’ve never seen Povetkin, but I have to be impressed that his German connections showed so much faith in him that for his 13th pro fight, they matched him with spoiler Larry Donald, whom he virtually shut out, and then for his 14th put him in with Chris Byrd, whom he beat up and stopped. Chambers, 30-0, knows his way around the ring and is coming off decisions over a couple of gate-keepers in Dominick Guinn and Calvin Brock.

Povetkin may not be the biggest puncher on the block, but at 225 or so pounds, is about ten pounds bigger than Chambers, who has added Buddy McGirt to his corner, but not power. He has only 16 stoppages on his record, and most were against the usual fodder youngsters face early in their careers. He might give Povetkin some problems early, but having seen him a few times, I doubt if he can win on the road in Berlin unless he adds Eli Manning to the corner, as well.

Povetkin may have to wait for Wladimir, even with a victory. The youngest of the Kiev brothers is a 6-1 favorite to add Ibragimov’s WBO belt to his IBF trinket, meaning he’d also have to take on the WBO mandatory, 35-year-old Tony Thompson. Wladimir deserves to be harassed after a lazy 2007 in which he beat only Ray Austin and Lamon Brewster.

Ibragimov, a pudgy southpaw with quick hands but little else, is no great obstacle. He won his “title” last year from Shannon Briggs, who put on one of the worst performances ever seen by a so-called “champion.” Ibragimov also beat the moldy remains of Evander Holyfield and Javier Mora in 2007, but the reason he is a huge underdog is underlined by his lucky draw in 2006 with Austin, whom Wlad knocked out in two last year.

The WBC has as many “champions” as all the other alphabets – three. Oleg Maskaev, its regular champion, finally gets back in the ring to face its “interim” champion, Samuel Peter, who became quite devalued when knocked down three times in his last start by Jameel McCline. Suddenly, it appears that the hard-hitting Maskaev, who seems capable of beating only Hasim Rahman and not much else, has a chance March 8 in Cancun. Peter has been held at minus $4.50, Maskaev at plus $3.

Waiting in the wings, maybe, is the WBC heavyweight champion “emeritus,” Vitali Klitschko, if he ever gets healthy enough to fight again.

There’s another fight next month, in Nuremberg, where a couple of former title-holders, 7-foot Nikolai Valuev and Sergei Liahkovich, meet to become the mandatory challenger for the WBA belt held by Chagaev. Valuev, who is coming off punching a 61-year-old security guard in St. Petersburg, is minus $2.90, Liahkovich plus $2.30.

The 330-pound Valuev denies punching the guard. “Just imagine what would have happened to that old man if I really punched him,” he said. Probably the same that will happen if he lands against Liahkovich. Not much.

There are no Thrillas in Manila coming up any time soon, but the activity should at least keep the heavyweights from falling off the planet before James Toney or Roy Jones Jr. can save them.

On the March 8 undercard in Cancun, another heavyweight matchup can be interpreted as good for the news or not – John Ruiz meets Jameel McCline. The good is that this is not for any kind of word title; the bad is that the winner, with all those belts, might get another shot. As might Golota. It makes me long for the days of Greg Page, Bonecrusher Smith, Tony Tubbs, Pinklon Thomas and the great Tim Witherspoon – Don King’s lost generation.

PENTHOUSE: Max Kellerman, who had his best night since joining HBO ringside, leading blow-by-blow man Jim Lampley to call him “Merchant-esque.” High praise, indeed….Also, let’s give the network a hand for scheduling Calzaghe-Hopkins on regular HBO and not pay-per-view.

Kudos to Ricky Hatton’s father and trainer for turning down substantial money for facing Oscar de la Hoya, sending the Golden Boy into the waiting arms of Floyd Mayweather Jr. again. Money isn’t everything if you don’t have your health.

OUTHOUSE: De la Hoya, who apparently in retribution for being spurned by Hatton, is waving a May 3 fight at the Englishman’s most logical big-reward, low-risk payday, Paulie Malignaggi. Steve Forbes, who was at his best as a junior lightweight title-holder, is the leading candidate for Oscar’s “tune-up.” Okay, de la Hoya was also once a junior lightweight title-holder, but he is a bit bigger than Forbes. At least Forbes knows how to box, which is more than you can say for the third man rumored to be in running, and I don’t mean Harry Lime. If Dmitriy Salita ever gets the assignment, de la Hoya could be accused of anti-Semitism. Salita, an orthodox Jew who won’t fight on Shabbat, would need more than a bruche to step into the lion’s den.

Dan Goossen’s taste knows no boundaries. The promoter is touting Paul Williams, his tall welterweight title-holder, as “the most feared man in boxing,” comparing him to Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Thomas Hearns and Mike Tyson.

Speaking of hype, the first Mayweather-De la Hoya bout was billed as “the world awaits.” Are we still waiting? Seems kind of like the oxymoronic movie, “Final Destination 2.” If there was a “final destination,” how can there be another one? Or two?

DIS AND DAT: Not only was it Roy Jones Jr. and Felix Trinidad Jr., the third man in the ring was Arthur Mercante Jr. (well, technically, he’s not a junior, but that’s how he used to be differentiated from his iconic dad)….How come nobody hollered at me for leaving out Fernando Montiel and Juan Diaz from my top 25 pound-for-pound? Shame on me, shame on you. Put Diaz in at No. 19, between de la Hoya and Alexander Munoz, moving Chad Dawson down to 21 and Martin Castillo to 22. Then insert Montiel, who defends against Castillo on the Feb. 16 Pavlik-Taylor card, with Paul Williams dropping to 24 and Chris John to 25. This, unfortunately, leaves out Nonito Donaire and Hugo Cazares….Good thing de la Hoya didn’t have Floyd Sr. in his corner the first time he faced Floyd Jr. Now they’ll have a selling point for the pointless rematch, I mean, something besides making a lot of money, which is okay, if all you want to do is make a lot of money (see “Citizen Kane”)….I don’t buy Jermain Taylor taking Kelly Pavlik so lightly the first time that he wasn’t in great condition and thus ran out of steam in the second round trying to finish the job. Nor do I buy hitting a huge tire with a sledgehammer is going to make a difference in the rematch. I still don’t like the idea of a fighter coming back to face the guy who knocked him out – sometimes there’s memory muscle in the chin. However, I’m also not convinced that Pavlik is a sure thing. Maybe his chin will recall how it almost gave out in that second round against a guy who couldn’t dent junior middles like Cory Spinks and Kassim Ouma. Let me be the first kid on the block to pick a double knockout….So now, in separate stories, it appears Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales are both planning to un-retire. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together and get Barrera-Morales IV. The winner can face Holyfield.