By Rick Reeno
Live from Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, junior middleweight king Ronald "Winky" Wright moves up to the middleweight division to face Felix "Tito" Trinidad. When Trinidad came out of retirement in 2004, he told the world that he only wants big fights and big fights is what Trinidad is giving the boxing public. Tito made his return to the sport on October 2nd, 2004 when he took on the always dangerous Ricardo Mayorga. Trinidad picked his spots and overpowered the iron chinned Mayorga by knocking him down three times on route to an 8th round TKO stoppage. Now Trinidad meets a fighter who was never stopped in his career, Winky Wright.
Some experts say that Trinidad is moving too fast by facing one of boxing's pound for pound best so soon in his comeback and others say Wright is too small to beat Trinidad. What Wright lacks in power he makes up in boxing skill and what Trinidad lacks in boxing skill he makes up in power, the conflicting styles make for what most expect to be an exciting fight. Most insiders expect that the winner of this bout will face the winner of July's megabout between Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor later in the year.
The main supporting bout on the pay per view pits the undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah against challenger Cosme Rivera. Rivera has defeated welterweight B class fighters like Hercules Kyvelos and Golden Johnson, but has never faced any opponent in the same league as Judah. Rivera has never been stopped and has a decent punch, but most expect this bout to be a one sided victory for Zab Judah.
****Round By Round Coverage Has Begun****
Be advised that there will be periodic updates throughout the entire pay per view card, but there will only be round by round coverage of the main supporting bout of Cosme Rivera vs. Zab Judah and the main event of Felix Trinidad vs. Winky Wright.
There will only be two fights on the undercard prior to the main event. The first bout is a junior flyweight bout between Victor Burgos vs. Wiliiam Grigsby.
HBO in their usual fashion of not mentioning the competition, made a comment about last week's 5 star bout between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo, but they wouldnt name either fighter in the mention.
HBO just made a note of next week's bout between Lamon Brewster and Andrew Golota, Jim Lampley said "let's hope they dont taste positive for anything", a joke which points to the recent troubles of James Toney.
Lampley is talking about Kostya Tszyu and said that is he moves up to 147, he can avoid fighting Floyd Mayweather. Tszyu will not be afraid Mayweather, Lampley knows that both men are tied to seperate cable networks and that is the only reason the two men are unable to fight eachother.
Grigsby-Burgos is now in the final round, Grigsby (the underdog) is winning the fight and appears to be well on his way to a 12 round decision win.
WBO and WBC lightweight champion Diego Corrales is at ringside to support his friend Winky Wright.
Will Grigsby just got the unanimous 12 round decision and is the new IBF champion at 108 pounds. Zab Judah vs. Cosme Rivera is coming up.
Michael Buffer just finished the intros for Judah and Rivera, the fight is about to start.
Round 1 - Both guys come out jabbing, huge left hand and Rivera is down on his back, the crowd goes wild. Another shot and Rivera is down again. Rivera makes it up and Zab is on the attack, Rivera is holding on. Rivera has never been stopped and is trying to survive. Larry Merchant just made a negative remark towards Diego Corrales, he asked if Rivera can spit out his mouthpiece and get a minute and a half to recover from being hurt. Zab lands another bomb in the final ten seconds and unloads some more. Huge 10-7 round for Zab.
Round 2 - Judah goes back to boxing with the jab, now lands a big counter left hand. Good right hand by Judah. Rivera seems to slow to land on Judah and is keeping his hands up way too high, the body is wide open. Judah is going around with the jab and setting up some big shots, left cross sends Rivera flying into the ropes and he bounces off all the way to the middle of the ring. Zab is landing his money punch left almost at will, Rivera is too slow to get away or counter. Big left hand at the bell by Zab. Another round for Zab.
Round 3 - Judah is back to boxing. Rivera seems to be getting his right hand in but no effect on Zab. Rivera hits a right to Zab's body. Good left down the pipe by Zab. Rivera is jabbing and Zab lands a huge uppercut out of nowhere. Judah on the attack and another bomb sends Rivera down again. Rivera beats the count and looks like he is still hurt, Joe Cortez stops the bout. Zab gets a big 3rd round TKO victory and retains the unified welterweight title.
Crowd is very hot, started a huge Tito chant the minute Judah stopped Rivera.
Zab said that he wants to fight Mosley, De La Hoya and Margarito, Zab said that he is ready for all of them. Zab just called out Kostya Tszyu and said he wants him.
Merchant is talking Don King, King said that he will match Zab against Mosley and Margarito one after another. Don said that he wants to match the winner of Trinidad-Wright against the winner of Taylor-Hopkins. Don King refuses to comment on the steroid situation with James Toney, but said that he will still be the promoter of John Ruiz. Only the main event is left.
Floyd Mayweather is now being interviewed about the upcoming pay per view bout in June against Arturo Gatti. HBO obviously killing time since Judah-Rivera ended earlier then expected and the main event is not ready to start. Mayweather said that Wright deserves this fight.
Wow, HBO must really be trying to kill time for the main event start, they are showing an entire mini-special on Michael Buffer and his career. I cant believe people paid 50 bucks to watch a Michael Buffer special.
HBO just said that the main event will not start for at least 20 minutes (11PM EST) so everyone can run for some food and drinks prior to the main event round by round.
HBO just made mention of an infection on Wright's neck. They said that he had an ingrown hair on his neck that got infected, he went to the hospital to get medicine in the middle of the week for the infection. HBO is now speculating about how the medicine, the infection or both, will effect Winky in the main event.
Manny Steward thinks that Winky Wright will win the fight, most experts in the arena are picking Wright to win the fight. They are doing the national anthems of Puerto Rico and the United States. The Puerto Rican national anthem is being sung now, the national anthem of the United States will follow.
I just noticed that rap mogul Damon Dash is in the ring, most likely here as part of the Winky Wright camp. Damon Dash and bxoing promoter Lou DiBella are looking to do some big things together with a mix or rap music and boxing.
Trinidad weight 169 pounds tonight, Wright weighs 168 pounds tonight.
Winky Wright is making his way down to the ring. Gets a decent reaction from the crowd.
Trinidad coming down to a huge reaction.
Huge crowd reaction for Winky Wright as Michael Buffer announces him in. Crowd is going bananas for Felix Trinidad as Buffer announces him in.
Huge Tito chant starts before the first round even starts.
Round 1 - Tito is letting Wright lead, Winky is feinting with the jab. Tito is starting slow, Wright doubling the jab and lands a small right. Wright is landing the jab and Tito is taking it. Wright blocks Tito's left and right. Wrinky with a right hand. Tito seems to jabbing along with Wright and losing the battle of jabs. Wright landing the jab at will and Tito seems to have no answer at the moment. Wright blocks some more shots from Winky. Wright easily wins the first round.
Round 2 - Wright is landing the jab at will. Wright with a right hand and now a left. Tito goes to the body of Wright and Winky comes back with a right hand and another big right hand. Tito is on the retreat to regroup. Tito's nose is bleeding and Wrigh targets the nose with his jab. Tito the body but Wright goes back upstairs. Another round for Winky.
Round 3 - HBO gave Wright the first two rounds as well. Good right hand by Winky and now a left. Wright is now jabbing at will. Hard left over the top by Wright, Winky with a right and Tito with a left. Winky lands another right hand. Winky is now sticking the jab and not allowing Tito to counter. Tito cannot seem to get inside because of the right jab of Tito. Lefthook to the body by Tito and Wright lands another right hand. Tito lands to the body and Wright keeps on jabbing.Tito jabbing and Winky jabs. Tito hits Wright after the bell with a jab. Wright gets another round.
Round 4 - Tito now getting close to Wright and starting to land some shots, now Wright is landing some big shots from a distance and getting away from Trinidad. Winky landing his jab again. Trinidad to the body and lands a right hand. Winky keeps popping with his jab and lands a right hand. Another round for Wright.
Round 5 - Winky throwing 49 jabs per round, Tito throwing 36 punches total per round. Wright is jabbing away again and Tito just cant seem to solve the puzzle of Wright's jab. They start to duel with jabs and Tito is losing. Tito the body, jabs and tries to land some big shots but Wright is blocking everything. Winky with a right. Tito gets a second warning for a low blow. Wright just landing that jab at will, Tito lands a small left. Winky keeps on jabbing. Wright gets another round, Tito is in a small hole now.
Round 6 - Winky jabbing, Tito with a good left hook and combo to the body. Wright is now coming back with the jab and landing the jab at will. Wright just jabs five times in the face of Tito and lands a big right. Wright just jabbing away. Another round for Wright.
Round 7 - Winky is just jabbing away and Tito cannot solve the puzzle and cant seem to get anything going. Tito goes to the body and Winky just keeps jabbing away. Wright backing up and keeps landing the jab, Tito cannot seem to get his shots off. Wright with another round.
Round 8 - Wright is jabbing away and lands a right hand that snaps Tito's head back. Wright blocking Tito's shots and lands a big right hand. Tito gets warned for another low blow. Tito stalking, Wright moving and making Tito miss. Another round for Wright.
Round 9 - Winky just keeps landing the jab, Tito lands a left hand to the ear of Wright. Wright with a big right hand. Winky just keeps popping the jab. Wright to the body. Winky is landing at will with everything he throws. Tito lands low again is now losing a point for a low blow. Another round for Wright.
Round 10 - Wright keeps jabbing away, a right hook by Winky and another right hook. Uppercut and a straight left hand by Winky. Winky keeps jabbing away and keeps landing at will. Another round for Wright.
Round 11 - Trinidad seems to have given up as Wright is landing jabs, right hand and jabs at will. He cant seem to get off and Winky just keeps jabbing away. The face of Tito is starting to swell up. Winky gets another round.
Round 12 - Winky is jabbing away, Tito is winging shots and missing them all. Wright to the body. Tito with a combo on top and a combo to the head, Wright not hurt and keeps coming back with the jab. Tito to the body. Wright jabbing and lands a right hand. Winky jabbing, Tito jabbing back. Crowd now chanting Winky. Big shot by Wright buckles the knees of Tito. Winky jabs away and the fight is over. Both men hug. I will never doubt Wright again as he easily won this fight and dominated Trinidad, official scores are coming up.
120-107, 119-108 and 119-108 for the winner Ronald "Winky" Wright. There is a rematch clause but after such a one-sided fight I doubt there will be a rematch.
Winky said that he will give Tito a rematch at anytime and he will face the winner of Taylor-Hopkins if there is no Trinidad rematch.
Trinidad said that he will talk to Don King and his father about a possible rematch. Trinidad further said that he may retire from the ring, he is going talk with his father and his family and see what he plans to do.