By Rick Reeno
It was a wild Monday for Winky Wright. The former undisputed junior middleweight champion was getting ready for a planned December 11 bout against Grady Brewer in Puerto Rico. He was very much caught off-guard when BoxingScene.com, on Monday afternoon, informed his adviser Damian Ramirez, that co-promoter Cesar Sainz of San Juan City Knockout was going to withdraw his financial support for their show.
From what I was told, the co-promoter did not have the necessary funds to move the show forward. While Wright would not specify his purse, BoxingScene learned from a source with knowledge of the negotiations that Winky was only going to make $200,000 dollars for the fight. He was willing to take a significant cut in pay to fight Brewer. How significant? Well, Winky's fight with Paul Williams this past April was a 50-50 split.
"I wasn't going to make a lot of money. I just wanted to get back in the ring and give the fans a good fight. Grady isn't a world beater but he's a tough guy and he can fight. I wanted to give the fans a good fight. It's just my luck," Wright would tell BoxingScene on Monday night.
Golden Boy Promotions is working to get Wright a date in the next three months. He wants to return as soon as possible.
"I would like to fight in the second week of January. If that doesn't happen, then early February. I just want to get back in the ring. I don't want to take anything away from Paul [Williams] but the layoff took a lot [away from me]. I don't want that to happen again. I want stay active," Wright said.
Wright has two targets in 2010; WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and WBA champion Felix Sturm. Pavlik returns on December 19 against Miguel Espino. Sturm is a free agent [not according to Universum]. He told BoxingScene's Terry Dooley on Monday that he plans to fight in American in 2010 and wants a "name" opponent. There were talks last year for a Sturm-Wright clash. That never happened.
"They talked about it and talked about it and then they didn't want it. I would definitely take that fight. I want Kelly Pavlik too. I want to get back in ring, keeping fighting and keep winning and show the fans that I'm still here," Wright said.
