Where’s Winky Wright?
By Rui Zheng
I’ve always regarded Ronald “Winky” Wright as one of the decade’s greatest fighters. Fans of boxing often criticize the defensive-minded southpaw for his lackluster style of fighting, but I find myself marveling at Wright’s ability to simultaneously pressure and outbox an opponent. The problem that has
plagued Wright’s career was that everyone wanted him to earn his big paydays, but they just didn’t want to pay to see it. In fact, Wright’s career has some eerie similarities in comparison with the career of fellow elite southpaw, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker.
Both Wright and Whitaker lost their first title shots overseas to an experienced veteran, Wright to Julio Cesar Vasquez and Whitaker to Jose Luis Ramirez. Both men would regroup and dominate their divisions behind a defensive-minded gameplan along with a terrific jab. When the time came for each individual to take on two rising stars: Fernando Vargas and Oscar De La Hoya, both Wright and Whitaker lost controversial decisions in which they outlanded their younger opponents. Not to mention that Wright and Whitaker were both involved in separate bouts resulting in a draw against two fellow undefeated pound-for-pound stalwarts in Jermain Taylor and Julio Cesar Chavez.
Wright’s style is one that incorporates no punching power whatsoever, which forces him to be dependent solely on the three judges ringside. This can be either a blessing or a curse, dependent on how each judge views Wright’s tight peek-a-boo defense when the fighter is under a flurry of punches. Wright’s opponents will often throw more punches, but the line between the punches that connect and the punches that are either blocked or parried by Wright’s gloves is often distorted.
This possibly explains my scorecards for Wright’s last two losses. In the Vargas fight, in which the overconfident Vargas entered the ring sporting a knockout percentage of 100%, I thought Wright thoroughly dominated the action en route to a personal scorecard of 116-112. His last fight with Hopkins is a more difficult affair to score as many of the rounds could’ve gone either way, however despite a grotesque cut suffered by Wright in the early rounds, I thought he had salvaged a 114-114 draw by the end of the bell.
In both instances, I was shocked to hear the scorecards of the 6 judges; in the case of Vargas, I could not believe that Vargas was given the victory and in the case of Hopkins, I thought the scorecards were entirely one-sided in favor of the Executioner.
Wright has always been one of those boxers who will be forcibly avoided as long as an alternate opponent is presented. Oscar De La Hoya would never step into the ring against Wright for obvious reasons: First of all, De La Hoya would most likely lose against the naturally bigger Wright. And second of all, De La Hoya would make the same amount of money against a lesser competition all without the risk of suffering another defeat. Similarly when the recently retired Floyd Mayweather Jr. decided to call out Winky Wright a few years ago for a megafight at 154 lbs, Wright’s management team willingly complied and made Mayweather a multimillion-dollar offer. Mayweather’s response? Well, we’re still waiting for it. It had to take the courage and competitive drive of Shane Mosley to unify the junior middleweight division for the boxing world to really embrace Wright as one of the most skilled fighters of our generation.
All the years of fighting on boxing undercards and showcasing his skills in Europe have placed Wright in a dilemma, though. He appears to be sitting back and waiting for a notable opponent to schedule a fight with him rather than taking a more meticulous route of planning comeback fights to stay sharp and remain in the boxing eye. It’s been nearly 11 months since Winky Wright’s last match and as a boxing fan, I’m disappointed at Wright’s lack of urgency considering his age. But as a human being, I can respect his decision for taking the yearlong layoff. He’s spent half his life attempting to perfect his craft, and when he finally earned his opportunity against Mosley and Trinidad, he seized it by the throat and earned his millions. What relevant fights could possibly made involving Winky Wright? How about a rematch with Jermain Taylor? Or perhaps another challenge at the middleweight championship against rising star Kelly Pavlik? And of course there are guys like Edison Miranda, Mikkel Kessler, and Jeff Lacy in the super middleweight division while fights against middleweight contender John Duddy and titleholder Arthur Abraham would surely generate interest. But the decision rests entirely on Wright’s shoulders because when his hall of fame career is all set and done, he can retire comfortably knowing that he was one of the greatest fighters in boxing history.
Boxing tidbits:
- How seriously am I taking Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s retirement? The answer is not very seriously. My assumption is that Mayweather is banking on Cotto to defeat Margarito and De La Hoya this year, paving the way for a welterweight showdown in 2009. Mayweather wants to see Cotto’s fame rise, which is entirely possible if De La Hoya selects him as his opponent for his farewell fight. Could you imagine another fight between two undefeated welterweight stars in their primes a decade after De La Hoya/Trinidad.
- Edison Miranda and Arthur Abraham will be fighting their rematch this Saturday in a bout thatwill have serious implications in the middleweight/super middleweight division. If Abraham wins, expect a possible showdown with Kelly Pavlik within the next 6 months. If Miranda wins, don’t be surprised if a fight with Mikkel Kessler or a rematch with Pavlik takes place. My prediction? Abraham via decision.
- And finally, Cuban amateur superstar Erislandy Lara (pictured left) has recently defected and is planning his professional debut in July. From sources who have seen Lara, there are talks that his talent is comparable and perhaps even superior to that of fellow Cuban defectors Joel Casamayor and Yuriorkis Gamboa. Lara is a prospect that you need to watch out for, and if he plans to fight in the middleweight division, then an already-impressive division would be even better.
Previous Articles By Rui Zheng
08/09/07 - Slow Week For Boxing? Not Exactly ...
15/09/07 Pavlik might not be ready for the big stage, but Cotto is ready to embrace it...
23/09/07 Ranking the best pound for pound fighters of all-time: Part I
23/09/07 Ranking the best pound for pound fighters of all-time: Part 2
29/12/07 The Underrated Mike Tyson
13/02/08 Things Look Ghostly for the Vengeful Taylor…
02/03/08 Klitschko disappoints and the heavyweight division is still in shambles…
17/03/08 Marquez cant catch a break ...
09/04/08 Gomez is a live underdog amidst Cotto’s rampage…
19/04/08 Cotto Should be Recognized as the “Interim Lineal” Champion…
06/06/08 Quintana hoping to punish Williams for a second time..
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