LAS VEGAS -- Winky Wright became the latest addition to Golden Boy Promotions' group of fighters Saturday night, joining his own promotion company to Oscar De La Hoya's growing enterprise.
Winky Promotions announced an alliance with Golden Boy, which promoted Sugar Shane Mosley's sixth-round TKO of Fernando Vargas. De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins are the public faces of Golden Boy, with its oft-stated plan of financial transparency and post-career support for fighters.
"This is a big step for Winky Promotions," Wright said. "A lot of people thought it was going to be a joke, one of those fly-by-night promotions. We're trying to do the right thing, and take over the boxing game, and do it the right way."
After Hopkins' retirement, Mosley and featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera are the big names among Golden Boy's 30 solid fighters -- along with De La Hoya, who still hasn't booked his next fight.
Winky Promotions lists just four fighters on its Web site, so its primary asset is Wright, who fought middleweight champion Jermain Taylor to a controversial draw last month in Memphis.
Wright (50-3-1, 25 KOs) hasn't lost since 1999 while fighting his defensive style, but has employed several promoters during his career, most recently working with Gary Shaw.
De La Hoya, Hopkins, Mosley and Wright made the announcement together.
"We're aging as fighters, but we're young as promoters," Hopkins said. "Man, ain't they in trouble."