By Tom Donelson
Sam “the King” Soliman fights like the Tasmanian Devil. The guy throws punches from every possible angle and you're never quite certain where these punches are coming from. Like the energizer bunny, he never runs out of steam. The pace of Soliman presented boxing fans and pundits with the perception that Winky Wright- Sam Soliman fight was closer than it really was.
Throughout the fight, the fans were given the impression that Wright was in a fight of survival. Actually, Winky Wright spent most of the fight picking off 9 out of every 10 punches coming in his direction. While utilizing his defense, he nailed the game Australian with nearly half of his punches.
Right hooks and nasty body shots rained upon Soliman, whose chin and iron constitution proved to be his strongest asset. The fight was all action because Soliman just kept throwing punches, with the hope of something landing hard enough to do some major damage.
Wright calmly weathered the storm and pot shot the Australian with straight accurate punches, that on occasion caught Soliman flush and sent him reeling back. There were times, Wright had Soliman out on his feet, only to see Soliman rise from the proverbial grave. Soliman never gave up and Wright found himself being forced to fight.
In the last couple of weeks, the best middleweights have fought and the smoke started to clear at the top of the circle. Arthur Abraham dispatched the tall Nigerian boxer-puncher Kingsley Ikeke in early fashion. After pummeling Ikeke for the first four rounds, Abraham closed the show in the fifth round. He is the official IBF champion, not to be confused with being the undisputed recognized champion- which is Jermain Taylor. Abraham is one of those fighters that no one knows ,but this slugger has the ability to crash the middleweights and bring the true undisputed championship back across the Atlantic.
While some may have been disappointed with Wright’s last appearance, Soliman was a legitimate contender and the fact that Wright did not put him away is not much different from Soliman’s 38 previous bouts. No one has ever put Soliman down for the count and his losses came when he was out boxed. Wright took on a very unorthodox fighter and won.
Which brings us to the future of the middleweights. Jermain Taylor eked out two victories over Bernard Hopkins, one of boxing’s greats and no one is prepared to give Taylor much respect. As for Wright, he is one of boxing’s better boxers and what he did show in his fight with Soliman was the ability to adjust.
Against a windmill style fighter, Wright abstained from his normal boxing style and went into a slugging mode. Using a combination of right hooks and body shots, Wright took advantage of Soliman’s defensive holes and shot straight punches in between the wider Soliman’s punches. Wright quit boxing and just went with power. Not that Wright is the division’s most powerful puncher, but he did have a power advantage over Soliman.
Which brings us to the future of the middleweights. There are some talented fighters and suddenly the middleweights and super middleweights are packed with young fighters moving up and intriguing match ups. Obviously, Winky Wright vs. Jermain Taylor is the big fight over the entire middleweight horizon, but could we actually see a Taylor-Abraham or Wright vs. Abraham fight take place? Or how about someone like Felix Sturm fighting either Taylor or Wright as he comes to the United States to cleanse the defeat he suffered at the hands of Oscar De La Hoya? Both Abraham and Sturm are worthy challengers to either of leading middleweights from America.
Taylor is now the king of the middleweights, but he will have to prove himself against other young middleweights in America, and across the Atlantic. Taylor has become champion at a time when fighters with talent have resurfaced in one of boxing’s premier divisions.
