By Dr. Peter Edwards
The fight is several months away, but the momentum is building by the week. Ronald "Winky" Wright, the one time undisputed junior middleweight champion is moving up in weight to challenge the comeback king, Felix "Tito" Trinidad.
Due to the obvious size difference between the two fighters, the boxing press has automatically labeled Winky Wright as a sacrificial lamb sent to slaughter. After speaking with Winky Wright, he came off as a very confident challenger who is far from an intimidated opponent.
Winky knows that the public is against him in this fight and the negativity only makes his desire to win so much stronger.
"They (press) keeps talking about a fight (against Julio Cesar Vasquez) I had eleven years ago when I only had 25 fights. I went down 5 times in that fight and still lost the fight by a few points which means I was winning almost every round." said Wright
Wright told me that he was never hurt in the Vasquez fight. He said none of the five knockdowns were clean, they were simply slips due to a particular brand of boxing shoe he wore for the fight.
Winky almost seemed angered by all the talk that he is going to get knocked out in this fight. That anger is fueling his desire to become the second fighter to upset Trinidad in a high profile fight.
"They talk about the fight like I'm just going to just stand there and get hit, like I'm not going to do anything. Nobody has ever seen me hurt, Tito's chin is suspect. I'm not going to be the one getting knocked out."
In the mind of Wright he is still an undefeated fighter. After fighting a smaller Shane Mosley in his last two fights, he now faces a much bigger fighter in Felix Trinidad. Wright knows that he has to box Trinidad and use his tricky southpaw style to frustrate his bigger opponent.
Trinidad has knockout on his mind in this fight, that mindset could play into the hands of Wright. While Tito chases Wright around the ring trying to get a knockout, Wright will look to box and pile up the points. Wright realistically admitted that he is not a knockout artist, but he feels that his opponents underestimate his power. Winky plans to test what he calls "the suspect chin" of Felix Trinidad.
"He can't knockout what he can't hit. I may not have the power of Trinidad, but I can hit. My opponents know that I can hit."
Wright said that the fight will likely go the distance so it's not unthinkable that Wright will try and stage a high paced boxing match. Mayorga was taylor made for Trinidad, Wright is not. The most avoided man in boxing is no longer being avoided, he is on the radar screen of one of the most dangerous fighters in the sport.
Wright disclosed that there is a rematch clause in the contract. Should Trinidad lose, there would be an immediate rematch held. The fact that there is a rematch clause in place shows that Trinidad is not overlooking Wright.
This fight will make either make or break one of these fighters. Only one of them will go on to a possible fight with Bernard Hopkins. There are fights that come down to heart and who wants it more, this is one of those fights.
