Bill Calogero
Photo © Scott Foster/Fightwireimages.com
Ronald “Winky” Wright proved that he’s a “Blue Collar” fighter last Saturday night with a one-sided unanimous 12-round decision over Ike Quartey broadcast live from the St. Pete Forum in Tampa, Florida on HBO.
Wright, in a very business like manner, dominated the fight from the opening bell through the completion of the bout. Simply put, he proved to be the better fighter as the two combatants battled toe to toe in the center of the ring throughout the majority of the fight.
Every round was like watching a tape of the previous one. Both fighters came out throwing punches in bunches, each landing jabs, followed by an assortment of hooks, straight right and left combos and a few uppercuts sprinkled in. The pace at which both men fought was impressive. It was a very entertaining bout to watch. Many thought the older Quartey and the aging Wright would slow down the pace as the fight went on, but as a credit to both men, they kept it up for the duration.
In round two, Wright landed a right hand and at the same time his foot and Quartey’s foot became entangled, causing Ike to go down. It was ruled a knock down. A similar blunder by the referee happened in round seven, when Winky landed a solid shot that sent Quartey back in an awkward motion. It had appeared that Ike’s glove touched the canvas, so it too was ruled a knock down. Replays proved that his glove came nowhere close to the canvas.
Nonetheless, the decision was correct. Two of the judges at ringside scored the fight 117-110 while the third had it 117-109, all in favor of Winky Wright. TheDailySports.com scored the fight 119-107, also in favor of Winky Wright.
Wright improves to 51-3-1 (25 KOs), while Quartey drops to 38-4-1 (31 KOs). After the fight, Winky stated that he wanted to fight Oscar De La Hoya next. I thought it would be better for him to fight Jermain Taylor again. A win over Taylor would set up a De La Hoya bout anyway, so why not go for it? Then again, maybe he wants nothing to do with Taylor after he was already robbed once. Either way, the Blue-Collar man of boxing continues to prove he is deserving of his spot in the top-five of the Pound For Pound ratings.
In the co-feature bout of the evening, Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy won a VERY close majority decision over the tougher-than-he-looks Vitali Tsypko in their ten round Super Middleweight bout.
Lacy, as usual, started out very strong, but seemed to run out of gas. Tsypko was just the opposite. He started out very slow and tentative, but finished strong, making the bout very close. Two of the judges at ringside scored the fight 96-94 in favor of Lacy while the third had it even at 95-95, giving Left Hook the W. TheDailySports.com scored the fight even at 95-95 and feel very strongly that this fight should have been a draw. Nonetheless, Lacy improves to 22-1 (17 KOs) while Tsypko drops to 19-2 (10 KOs).
In other weekend action from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, ShowTime broadcasted live two title matches.
In the first bout, Antonio Margarito made his seventh successful Welterweight title defense with a unanimous 12-round decision over the very tough Joshua Clottey. This fight would have not been as one-sided as it turned out, if an injury didn’t slow down Clottey.
The first round was a feel out round for both fighters, with the round going to Margarito, but the second, third and fourth rounds, in my opinion, all were in favor of Clottey. Clottey was landing the much harder shots, including several devastating body blows, but towards the end of the 4th round, he suffered an injury to his hand causing him to finish the bout virtually using one hand.
Margarito improves to 34-4 (24 KOs) while Clottey drops to 30-2 (20 KOs). I would love to see these two go at it again simply because of how close those first four rounds were. It was clear that as a one-handed fighter, Clottey was no match for Margarito, but if he was able to use both through-out the fight along with his exceptional body punching ability, I think we would have been treated to a much better fight.
In the main event, Miguel Cotto stopped Carlos Quintana with a 5th round TKO when Carlos was not able to get off his stool for the start of the sixth round capturing the WBA Welterweight Title.
Cotto dominated the fight. In the fifth round, Miguel landed a devastating body shot to the liver of Quintana sending him to the canvas. He barely beat the count as the round ended. He was not able to continue. Cotto improves to 28-0 (23 KOs) while Quintana drops to 23-1 (18 KOs).
All in all, a good weekend for boxing on the cable networks. Both networks did a good job. I do, however, feel that Show Time produces better shows, but HBO seems to produce better fights. Too bad one can’t emerge to the front and produce both; competitive fights presented in a professional and entertaining way.
I noticed something on HBO that in my opinion turned out to be comical at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered why they (the Powers That Be At HBO) would have done it to begin with.
In the Lacy vs. Tsypko bout, all three commentators were very adamant about the skill level of Tsypko. In all three of their pre-fight analyses, they seemed to be preparing the viewer for what they were about to see. They downplayed Tsypko’s ability to be competitive against Lacy. They painted a clear picture of “The Lamb Being Led For Slaughter”.
As it turns out, the fight was very competitive. It went the distance and it was a bout that any promoter would want on a show. I just had to wonder if they thought they had a stinker on their hands and tried to prepare the viewer, or that all three experts had it wrong. Nonetheless, it was a great fight to watch.
