By Mark Vester

The boxing world is wondering where Winky Wright has been. The former two-time junior middleweight champion is sitting back and waiting for a big money fight to come his way. Speaking with Eric Raskin of ESPN, Wright said he's been offered plenty of fights, including one with Mikkel Kessler and another with middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, but refuses to accept anything less than a major, big money fight.

But, there are issues with Wright landing a big money fight. He's coming off a decision loss to Bernard Hopkins, which took place at a catch-weight of 170-pounds, and his style still makes him a very difficult fighter to beat. Throw in the poor attendance figures for his HBO pay-per-view with Hopkins (a little under 9000 came to the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas) and most big-name opponents will look elsewhere. Wright also demands a hefty price tag, and considering his current position - few are likely to meet his price.

Wright, as expected, does not agree with the opinions of his critics. He says the big names are ducking him and because of that he's been left out of the loop.

"Why should I go fight these lesser guys when I know I'm above them?" Wright said. "You got De La Hoya. He's a steady loser; he lost two of his last three. Taylor lost his last fight. All of these fighters lose. But they have opponents who want to fight them again. I have nobody that wants to fight me because they know they're in for a tough fight. They're ducking me, they don't want to fight. That's why I'm left out. They want me to fight Kessler. Why do I need to fight these dudes? I'm at the top. Arthur Abraham and people like that, I have no interest in them. For what?"

HBO's boxing analyst Larry Merchant offered up his own opinion to Raskin. He feels Wright is overvaluing himself and doesn't think the fighter has done anything as of late to deserve an immediate jump into a big fight. He says that Wright needs to be active and win fights in order to justify his demands.

"He doesn't want to fight tune-ups?" Merchant said. "Oscar De La Hoya's talking about a tune-up, and this guy, who's never been an attraction, wants to walk into a multimillion-dollar fight? On what basis? Winky Wright is not Oscar De La Hoya -- nobody is -- and you've got to go out and fight. He can demand all he wants, and he can wait all he wants, but the longer he waits, the farther the distance is since he last won a fight."

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