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In the end, they don't have any choice. Winky Wright knows it. So does Felix Trinidad.
For the time being they are arguing over money because that's what happens at this stage of things but do not worry that one of the fights any fan would most want to see will be sabotaged by economics because it won't be. Some time by mid-to-late spring, the undisputed junior middleweight champion and the former welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight champion will reach an agreement because boxing will be better off for it and so will they.
They will make a deal because it's good business. They will make a deal because they need each other to maximize their earning potential. They will make a deal, most of all, because to not make a deal would leave them both facing lesser opponents for smaller paydays.
At the moment Wright's representatives are upset that promoter Don King is trying to cut what they felt was a $5 million guarantee to fight Trinidad down to $3 million. That's $3 million to risk all Wright gained in unifying the 154-pound title by beating Shane Mosley twice in succession. Risk it all against a power-punching opponent who is a truer middleweight than he is. Risk it all against a guy who's been assured of a $10 million payday, the kind of number a fighter like Wright would apologize for even dreaming about earning.
"A $3 million to $10 million split is not fair,'' said Wright's promoter, Gary Shaw last week. "It's disrespectful to the champion. I can't believe this is coming from Trinidad or his father.''
Shaw insists that the Trinidads are too sensitive to such a slight toward a proud champion like Wright because they felt the same sting of disrespect several times in negotiations with Oscar De La Hoya. It is Shaw's belief that it is King, not Trinidad, who has created the huge financial gulf that exists between the two fighters at the moment.
Perhaps so. Perhaps not. In the end it won't matter because Wright knows whether he ends up with $3 million or $4 million there is no one else out there against whom he can earn that kind of money, except perhaps De La Hoya and the Golden Boy has decided to return to the welterweight division after a brief and unhappy foray into the 160-pound class himself.
More than likely Wright will end up earning between $3.5 million to $4 million, the biggest payday of his career, to square off with Trinidad, who like De La Hoya learned a painful lesson from Bernard Hopkins about whether or not he's a true middleweight himself. What that fight taught him was if you want to fight at 160 pounds find some good junior middleweights like Wright willing to fight you at 160.
At the moment there is no one better than Wright and Trinidad's people know it. As the negotiations have dragged on there has been talk of dusting off former welterweight champion Ike Quartey, who no one has seen in years, as a possible opponent for Trinidad but there's no $10 million in that. King has also hinted at the possibility of Trinidad trying his hand with top middleweight contender Jermain Taylor or even super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy but that is nonsense. Lacy is far too big for Trinidad and the idea of taking on a young middleweight with both a size and speed advantage for less money is absurd. The fact that the same people who represent Wright also represent Lacy makes that talk even more nonsensical.
What would be equally absurd would be any idea of Taylor accepting such a match. It's just a matter of time before he ends up with Hopkins or the chance to fight for the title belts Hopkins owns. Either way, Taylor doesn't have to risk all he's achieved against a crushing puncher and far more experienced fighter. When you look at how carefully Taylor has been matched up to this point you understand that it's more likely he'd fight Mike Tyson than Felix Trinidad. In other words, that fight is not going to happen any time soon and probably not ever.
Which brings Trinidad back to Wright and vice versa. Wright (48-3, 25 KO) has already made clear he has no interest in fighting in March after two grueling preparations for his wins over Mosley so at the moment all the heavy breathing and histrionics over the negotiation problems are simply a result of both camps knowing they have plenty of time to make this deal and each trying to gain the high ground on the other in the interim with a little public posturing.
Trinidad (42-1, 35 KO) can bide his time as well. He looked razor sharp in his October comeback against Ricardo Mayorga after a 2 1/2 year layoff but Wright is a far different opponent stylistically than Mayorga, one Trinidad must put a long time into preparing for.
Where Mayorga was a perfect set up because he is all about aggression and standing right in front of you with minimal defensive skills, Wright is a slippery southpaw who is extremely hard to hit and difficult to draw into any engagement not of his own choosing. Mosley found that out the hard way in both of their fights and really fared no better in the second than he did in the first except in the few middle rounds when Wright inexplicably cooperated with him.
The 33-year-old Wright will offer Trinidad, 31, a difficult puzzle to solve because although he has nowhere near the punching power of his opponent he may be the best defensive fighter Trinidad has ever faced. In the past, Trinidad has appeared to have trouble with speed, as De La Hoya proved for nine rounds, and slickness, as Hopkins made emphatically clear in the only loss of Trinidad's career. Although Wright is not as quick as De La Hoya he's fast enough to avoid being hit and his long arms that seem to put his elbows into his pockets even when his hands are around his head will complicate matters further for Trinidad.
The night he faced Hopkins' slickness, Trinidad had no counter to the middleweight champion's superior technical skill and size. He kept looking to land the kind of crushing combinations that had won for him on so many other nights but he never came close to delivering a payload with bad intentions and was finally stopped in the 12th round. He will find the defensive problems no less formidable against Wright and they are compounded by his being left-handed, which is always a difficulty for any conventional opponent.
But Wright will not have the same size advantage Hopkins had and he'll be the lesser puncher, although his defensive skills will counter balance much of that. Considering all the factors involved and how much time it will take to properly prepare then, neither guy is feeling the need to rush into this. Both want the fight for the money and for the opportunity and both know a win in such a super fight lifts their marketability even higher, especially in the case of Wright who still seems to be seen by fans as a second tier champion despite his two convincing wins over Mosley.
That is why, after all the posturing and chest beating is done, the fight will be made for April or June. Winky Wright will not get $5 million to risk himself against Felix Trinidad but he won't have to settle for $3 million either. He'll get what both sides know in their hearts it will take to make it happen because this is a fight fans not only want to see but one they're willing to pay to see. That will drive these negotiations to conclusion as much as any other factor because both Wright and Trinidad understand, in the end, prize fighting is a business and the best business deal they can make at the moment is this one with each other.
For the time being they are arguing over money because that's what happens at this stage of things but do not worry that one of the fights any fan would most want to see will be sabotaged by economics because it won't be. Some time by mid-to-late spring, the undisputed junior middleweight champion and the former welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight champion will reach an agreement because boxing will be better off for it and so will they.
They will make a deal because it's good business. They will make a deal because they need each other to maximize their earning potential. They will make a deal, most of all, because to not make a deal would leave them both facing lesser opponents for smaller paydays.
At the moment Wright's representatives are upset that promoter Don King is trying to cut what they felt was a $5 million guarantee to fight Trinidad down to $3 million. That's $3 million to risk all Wright gained in unifying the 154-pound title by beating Shane Mosley twice in succession. Risk it all against a power-punching opponent who is a truer middleweight than he is. Risk it all against a guy who's been assured of a $10 million payday, the kind of number a fighter like Wright would apologize for even dreaming about earning.
"A $3 million to $10 million split is not fair,'' said Wright's promoter, Gary Shaw last week. "It's disrespectful to the champion. I can't believe this is coming from Trinidad or his father.''
Shaw insists that the Trinidads are too sensitive to such a slight toward a proud champion like Wright because they felt the same sting of disrespect several times in negotiations with Oscar De La Hoya. It is Shaw's belief that it is King, not Trinidad, who has created the huge financial gulf that exists between the two fighters at the moment.
Perhaps so. Perhaps not. In the end it won't matter because Wright knows whether he ends up with $3 million or $4 million there is no one else out there against whom he can earn that kind of money, except perhaps De La Hoya and the Golden Boy has decided to return to the welterweight division after a brief and unhappy foray into the 160-pound class himself.
More than likely Wright will end up earning between $3.5 million to $4 million, the biggest payday of his career, to square off with Trinidad, who like De La Hoya learned a painful lesson from Bernard Hopkins about whether or not he's a true middleweight himself. What that fight taught him was if you want to fight at 160 pounds find some good junior middleweights like Wright willing to fight you at 160.
At the moment there is no one better than Wright and Trinidad's people know it. As the negotiations have dragged on there has been talk of dusting off former welterweight champion Ike Quartey, who no one has seen in years, as a possible opponent for Trinidad but there's no $10 million in that. King has also hinted at the possibility of Trinidad trying his hand with top middleweight contender Jermain Taylor or even super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy but that is nonsense. Lacy is far too big for Trinidad and the idea of taking on a young middleweight with both a size and speed advantage for less money is absurd. The fact that the same people who represent Wright also represent Lacy makes that talk even more nonsensical.
What would be equally absurd would be any idea of Taylor accepting such a match. It's just a matter of time before he ends up with Hopkins or the chance to fight for the title belts Hopkins owns. Either way, Taylor doesn't have to risk all he's achieved against a crushing puncher and far more experienced fighter. When you look at how carefully Taylor has been matched up to this point you understand that it's more likely he'd fight Mike Tyson than Felix Trinidad. In other words, that fight is not going to happen any time soon and probably not ever.
Which brings Trinidad back to Wright and vice versa. Wright (48-3, 25 KO) has already made clear he has no interest in fighting in March after two grueling preparations for his wins over Mosley so at the moment all the heavy breathing and histrionics over the negotiation problems are simply a result of both camps knowing they have plenty of time to make this deal and each trying to gain the high ground on the other in the interim with a little public posturing.
Trinidad (42-1, 35 KO) can bide his time as well. He looked razor sharp in his October comeback against Ricardo Mayorga after a 2 1/2 year layoff but Wright is a far different opponent stylistically than Mayorga, one Trinidad must put a long time into preparing for.
Where Mayorga was a perfect set up because he is all about aggression and standing right in front of you with minimal defensive skills, Wright is a slippery southpaw who is extremely hard to hit and difficult to draw into any engagement not of his own choosing. Mosley found that out the hard way in both of their fights and really fared no better in the second than he did in the first except in the few middle rounds when Wright inexplicably cooperated with him.
The 33-year-old Wright will offer Trinidad, 31, a difficult puzzle to solve because although he has nowhere near the punching power of his opponent he may be the best defensive fighter Trinidad has ever faced. In the past, Trinidad has appeared to have trouble with speed, as De La Hoya proved for nine rounds, and slickness, as Hopkins made emphatically clear in the only loss of Trinidad's career. Although Wright is not as quick as De La Hoya he's fast enough to avoid being hit and his long arms that seem to put his elbows into his pockets even when his hands are around his head will complicate matters further for Trinidad.
The night he faced Hopkins' slickness, Trinidad had no counter to the middleweight champion's superior technical skill and size. He kept looking to land the kind of crushing combinations that had won for him on so many other nights but he never came close to delivering a payload with bad intentions and was finally stopped in the 12th round. He will find the defensive problems no less formidable against Wright and they are compounded by his being left-handed, which is always a difficulty for any conventional opponent.
But Wright will not have the same size advantage Hopkins had and he'll be the lesser puncher, although his defensive skills will counter balance much of that. Considering all the factors involved and how much time it will take to properly prepare then, neither guy is feeling the need to rush into this. Both want the fight for the money and for the opportunity and both know a win in such a super fight lifts their marketability even higher, especially in the case of Wright who still seems to be seen by fans as a second tier champion despite his two convincing wins over Mosley.
That is why, after all the posturing and chest beating is done, the fight will be made for April or June. Winky Wright will not get $5 million to risk himself against Felix Trinidad but he won't have to settle for $3 million either. He'll get what both sides know in their hearts it will take to make it happen because this is a fight fans not only want to see but one they're willing to pay to see. That will drive these negotiations to conclusion as much as any other factor because both Wright and Trinidad understand, in the end, prize fighting is a business and the best business deal they can make at the moment is this one with each other.