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February 08, 2006
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: WINKY WRIGHT
By G. Leon
GL: Over the weekend ********** caught up with you and Felix Trinidad. Tito says the two of you are going to be promoter of the year for 2006. What can you tell us about that partnership?
Winky Wright: "Definitely. We're definitely going to do our thing. We fought in the ring and now I feel we can help each other outside of the ring. Tito got the Latino market and I feel like I got the other side covered, so together we're going to do our thing."
GL: So Winky Promotions and Felix Trinidad are partnering up. And then Winky Promotions is joining forces with Golden Boy Promotions?
Winky Wright: "No, no no. We're not joining forces with Golden Boy; we're going to do a co-promotion with Golden Boy. Tito is joining Winky Promotions, what we're doing with Golden Boy is going to be a co-promotion."
GL: So Golden Boy Promotions is going to be involved in association with Winky Promotions for your next fight?
Winky Wright: "Yeah. That's what we're looking to do. Golden Boy brings something to the table, and they're going to help us and we're going to help them."
GL: Since I put the story out about the recent meeting with HBO, everybody under the sun has been calling me trying to find out what's going on. Some people even speculated that HBO had something to do with you and Golden Boy there at the same time. Is there any truth to that?
Winky Wright: "Nah. HBO had nothing to do with setting up the meeting. We wanted to fight Oscar De La Hoya, but when we saw that couldn't happened, we started talking about do a co-promotion to see if we could do something together. It had nothing to do with HBO at all."
GL: Did you ever authorize Gary Shaw to negotiate the Taylor fight for you?
Winky Wright: "I never authorized anything. This is what happened, they said they could get the Taylor fight, they could do this and they could do that. They said they were going to let me know what they could bring and that was that. What it is, he promoted the last fight so they just thought that he would be promoting the next fight. But they haven't been listening because I've been telling everyone that I'm doing Winky Promotions since before the last fight. We ain't advertising my company on ********** for nothing, we're trying to be real promoters."
GL: When they came back to you with what they get could for the Taylor fight...
Winky Wright: (cutting in) "I wasn't too happy. I'm not going to lie."
GL: So you weren't happy, but did you learn any new information after meeting with HBO that was different from what Gary Shaw and them came back to you with?
Winky Wright: (laughs) "I don't want to get into that right now because we're on the record, but maybe some other time, no comment for now."
GL: I spoke with Lou DiBella and he expressed concerns about not being able to move forward with the fight because lawsuits are being threatened...
Winky Wright: (cutting in) "Tell them to do what they got to do. Nobody can sue me because I don't have a contract with any promoter. How can you sue me over how I run my business? If anything I could sue you for talking on my behalf."
GL: Just to be clear, HBO had nothing to do with putting Winky Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions together, correct?
Winky Wright: "They had nothing to do with how we all got into that meeting. I was in New York and I went up there and he happened to be there. We were talking we them before about doing something with Winky Promotions and we believe that we could do some good things with Golden Boy as a co-promoter. Winky Promotions is going to be the lead company on all of the fights, but Oscar's doing his thing right now so being with a big promoter and being in the lead so I'm taking my business very seriously and I'm trying to bring something new to the game. I think it's going to work out well but if it doesn't the only one who will lose out is me, but that's a chance I'm willing to take."
GL: If you don't wind up fighting Taylor next for whatever reason, who's going to be next?
Winky Wright: "I would like to fight Jermain Taylor but if they don't want to do it or they're scared to make the fight we'll move on. I have other options."
GL: Does the Taylor fight happen for anything less than 50-50?
Winky Wright: "I definitely want the fight at 50-50, but if ain't 50-50 and I'm still getting what I think I should get, I'll be cool. It's not about the belt. I'm trying to be the best fighter out there with or without a belt but I don't need the belt so we’ll see what they want to do."
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: WINKY WRIGHT
By G. Leon
GL: Over the weekend ********** caught up with you and Felix Trinidad. Tito says the two of you are going to be promoter of the year for 2006. What can you tell us about that partnership?
Winky Wright: "Definitely. We're definitely going to do our thing. We fought in the ring and now I feel we can help each other outside of the ring. Tito got the Latino market and I feel like I got the other side covered, so together we're going to do our thing."
GL: So Winky Promotions and Felix Trinidad are partnering up. And then Winky Promotions is joining forces with Golden Boy Promotions?
Winky Wright: "No, no no. We're not joining forces with Golden Boy; we're going to do a co-promotion with Golden Boy. Tito is joining Winky Promotions, what we're doing with Golden Boy is going to be a co-promotion."
GL: So Golden Boy Promotions is going to be involved in association with Winky Promotions for your next fight?
Winky Wright: "Yeah. That's what we're looking to do. Golden Boy brings something to the table, and they're going to help us and we're going to help them."
GL: Since I put the story out about the recent meeting with HBO, everybody under the sun has been calling me trying to find out what's going on. Some people even speculated that HBO had something to do with you and Golden Boy there at the same time. Is there any truth to that?
Winky Wright: "Nah. HBO had nothing to do with setting up the meeting. We wanted to fight Oscar De La Hoya, but when we saw that couldn't happened, we started talking about do a co-promotion to see if we could do something together. It had nothing to do with HBO at all."
GL: Did you ever authorize Gary Shaw to negotiate the Taylor fight for you?
Winky Wright: "I never authorized anything. This is what happened, they said they could get the Taylor fight, they could do this and they could do that. They said they were going to let me know what they could bring and that was that. What it is, he promoted the last fight so they just thought that he would be promoting the next fight. But they haven't been listening because I've been telling everyone that I'm doing Winky Promotions since before the last fight. We ain't advertising my company on ********** for nothing, we're trying to be real promoters."
GL: When they came back to you with what they get could for the Taylor fight...
Winky Wright: (cutting in) "I wasn't too happy. I'm not going to lie."
GL: So you weren't happy, but did you learn any new information after meeting with HBO that was different from what Gary Shaw and them came back to you with?
Winky Wright: (laughs) "I don't want to get into that right now because we're on the record, but maybe some other time, no comment for now."
GL: I spoke with Lou DiBella and he expressed concerns about not being able to move forward with the fight because lawsuits are being threatened...
Winky Wright: (cutting in) "Tell them to do what they got to do. Nobody can sue me because I don't have a contract with any promoter. How can you sue me over how I run my business? If anything I could sue you for talking on my behalf."
GL: Just to be clear, HBO had nothing to do with putting Winky Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions together, correct?
Winky Wright: "They had nothing to do with how we all got into that meeting. I was in New York and I went up there and he happened to be there. We were talking we them before about doing something with Winky Promotions and we believe that we could do some good things with Golden Boy as a co-promoter. Winky Promotions is going to be the lead company on all of the fights, but Oscar's doing his thing right now so being with a big promoter and being in the lead so I'm taking my business very seriously and I'm trying to bring something new to the game. I think it's going to work out well but if it doesn't the only one who will lose out is me, but that's a chance I'm willing to take."
GL: If you don't wind up fighting Taylor next for whatever reason, who's going to be next?
Winky Wright: "I would like to fight Jermain Taylor but if they don't want to do it or they're scared to make the fight we'll move on. I have other options."
GL: Does the Taylor fight happen for anything less than 50-50?
Winky Wright: "I definitely want the fight at 50-50, but if ain't 50-50 and I'm still getting what I think I should get, I'll be cool. It's not about the belt. I'm trying to be the best fighter out there with or without a belt but I don't need the belt so we’ll see what they want to do."