On Saturday May 14, 2005, Ronald “Winky” Wright will face Felix “Tito” Trinidad in the most highly anticipated and lucrative bout of his career. Wright, recognized by Boxingtalk but not the sanctioning bodies as the junior middleweight champion of the world, will be fighting as a middleweight for the first time in his professional career. Earlier this week, Wright discussed his
upcoming super fight with Trinidad among other topics.
Throughout his career Trinidad has been known as a big puncher, while Wright has not. It has been said that styles make fights, and many wonder how Wright will attempt to stay away from Trinidad’s power. “I’m going to deal with him like I deal with everybody,” said Wright. “Tito is a great puncher, but he aint no different than anybody else. It’s easy to throw punches when they’re not coming back at you, but I’m going to be pumping the jab. I’m not going to stand there and test his power to see how hard he can hit.”
Many wanted to know whether or not moving up to middleweight would be an issue for Wright, but he was quick to dismiss any idea that he would have trouble adjusting to the higher weight. “It’s not like Tito has always been a middleweight. He was a welterweight and just put on the weight. I’m going to be a lot
stronger and I feel a lot better. It’s just that I don’t have to lose the extra six pounds. I feel I’m ready for it. May 14, I’m going to show the world.”
Until his two fights with Shane Mosely last year, Wright was having trouble securing the large paydays that all fighters covet. “Nobody wanted to fight me. Nobody wanted to give me the chance. With me, I never had a fighter give me an opportunity to win the championship unless I was his mandatory. I took everything I got.”
There are several reasons why Wright hadn’t been put into a high profile situation until recently, but Wright’s promoter Gary Shaw feels that the answer is simple. “Winky might be the best fighter in his weight in his generation. He hasn’t lost a fight in five and a half years. People didn’t fight Winky because Winky is too tough, that’s the answer.”
Nobody expects Wright to stand and trade punches with the Puerto Rican superstar, but his trainer Dan Birmingham does believe that he has the answer to the riddle that is Felix Trinidad. ““I’ve been studying the first half of the De La Hoya fight, and the second half of the Hopkins fight. That’s the blueprint to beat this guy.” Wright added, “I feel like I have way more skills than Tito. Yeah, he’s a big puncher, but he only knows one way to fight.” May 14th is more than just another fight for Winky Wright. He has been stripped of all of sanctioning body belts, and risks becoming just another slick southpaw that nobody want to fight if he loses. However, if Wright wins, his gamble will be vindicated and will put himself in position to dictate the rest of his career. It is safe to say that May 14th will be the defining moment of Winky Wright’s career.
