16.03.04 – By Don Deane – This past Saturday, Ronald “Winky” Wright stepped out of the back alley and onto Broadway as he claimed the undisputed 154lb crown. Winky fought beautifully and earned a twelve round decision over Sugar Shane Mosley. It was great to see Winky finally get the respect he deserves as well as the name recognition that comes along with beating one of the sports prized gentlemen.
Winky has spent most of his career banished to the land of the awkward fighter that nobody wants to fight, but after losses to Harry Simon and Fernando Vargas, he has spent the last 3 and a half years fighting contender after contender. During all this, as well as his long reign as WBO Junior Middleweight champ (the belt he lost to Harry Simon), Winky went largely unnoticed to the public. Because of his style and other fighters’ desire to avoid him he was labeled a boring fighter. Boring. As in what Lennox Lewis would have been had the public not been so infatuated with heavyweight boxing. Saturday Wright was far from boring, and this fight with Mosley was what middleweight boxing is all about.
Wright versus Mosley was a fantastic fight between two great boxers and people. Wright was able to confuse Mosley with his awkward style and educated guard. His rough work on the inside and use of size and strength was a great compliment to his precise body punching and crisp, accurate jabs and counters. Wright’s fight night game plan was the perfect mix of grit, heart and fundamental boxing skill.
To Mosley’s credit, he had spurts of hard punches and some decent bodywork, but as we saw in his fights with Forrest, Shane does not deal well with a fighter who uses his size advantage well. Shane has beautiful boxing skill, but he is what he is and as long as he is the small man in a big division he will always have problems with the top level, larger sized talent. After considering this as well as the result of the fight with Winky, it seems that any fight with Hopkins or Trinidad is out the window and may not have been the best idea anyway. Hopefully Mosley will remain confident and come back to our beloved sport. The fight world needs him.
But as for Winky Wright, it was his night. The lesser known fighter had every housewife, r & b listener and Hispanic boxing fan (not alleged to Tito Trinidad) in his fandom thanks to Mosley reaffirming his status as De La Hoya’s Achilles Heal. All those casual De La Hoya fans, as well as millions of other fans now know Winky as one of the all time greats, not just as “that guy who is fighting the guy who beat Oscar.” Ronald “Winky” Wright, welcome to stardom.
To all of us boxing diehards, we now know Winky as the first undisputed 154lb champion in almost three decades. Wright stood tall in his career defining moment and prevailed. To that accomplishment, the boxing world tips its cap. Ronald “Winky” Wright, welcome to greatness.