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By Mark Vester
It was reported by John C. Cotey of the St. Petersburg Times, that middleweight Winky Wright will not sign the contract for a Dec 2. pay-per-view rematch with midldweight champion Jermain Taylor, unless he gets a deal that feels (W)right.
A guaranteed $5-million is on the table, the fight is agreed upon in principle, but Winky is looking for a chunk of the pay-per-view money, and a better split of the pot.
"Well, nothing's signed, and we aren't done looking over the offer that they gave us. But I'm not going to take it if there aren't some changes. I definitely want a part of the pay-per-view," Wright said.
Jim Wilkes, adviser to Wright, is confident the deal can be made.
"I can't conceive of anything that stops this fight," Wilkes said. "One thing about Winky is he's never been self-destructive. Not taking it would mean passing on millions and millions of dollars."
While Wilkes wants Wright to take the deal offered by Lou DiBella, the promoter for Jermain Taylor, Wright is holding out from signing the contract, at least for the moment. Wright wants at least a 55-45 split, as was the deal in the initial bout, and is against the current 60-40 offer. Wilkes feels that Wright should take the 60-40 offer, because he will beat Taylor, and then earn 60-40 in his favor for a possible third meeting next Spring. Wilkes also admitted that Wright would earn far less against the likes of Kassim Ouma or Ike Quartey.
"We're not on the same page," Wright said, "but that's good. He's the reasonable one. But I'm the one that has got to be respected."
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