Winky Wright: Better Late Than Never?

Published

13 years ago

May 25, 2012

Winky Wright “There are no second acts in American lives,” author F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, which, of course, is so much bullspit. In boxing, there always seems to be some aging fighter raising the curtain on the second act of his ring career, and sometimes even on the third and fourth acts.

Sugar Ray Leonard’s devoted fan base dared to believe he could reinvent himself when he challenged WBC middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler in the spring of 1987, Leonard’s first fight in nearly three years and only his second in five years. The faithful were rewarded when their hero, whom so many others did not think stood a chance against the fearsome Hagler, was awarded a split decision and thus pulled off the biggest upset, or at least the most memorable one, since Muhammad Ali went to Zaire and shocked the world by taking down George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle” on Oct. 30, 1974.

Those same diehards probably convinced himself that Leonard, only 2½ months shy of his 41^st birthday and inactive for six years, could again dip into his trick bag and pull out another semi-miracle in his March 1, 1997, comeback against Hector Camacho in Atlantic City. But that old Sugary magic had all been used up, and Camacho – never known as one of boxing’s bigger blasters – sent Leonard into what proved to be his final retirement via fifth-round technical knockout.

“There comes a point in everyone’s life where you just have to accept the fact that you don’t have it anymore,” Leonard said at the postfight press conference, a grudging admission that age and ring rust can be more unbeatable opponents than even the guy standing in the opposite corner.

It will be interesting to see which Winky Wright takes the podium after his Showtime-televised June 2 middleweight bout with the much younger, and undefeated, Peter Quillin at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Will it be a ebullient and victorious Winky, replicating Leonard’s improbable feat against Hagler? Or will it be a disappointed and battered Winky, calling to mind Sugar Ray’s sad farewell against Camacho?

“I want to fight the best. I don’t want to come back just to get a win,” Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs) said of his scheduled 10-round return against the 28-year-old Quillin (26-0, 20 KOs), who is ranked No. 5 by the WBA and No. 14 by the WBO. I want to be champion. If I can’t be champion, ain’t no need for me to be doing this.”

It seems a strange time, or at least a long-delayed one, for the crafty southpaw from St. Petersburg, Fla., to rediscover his inner fire for boxing. Not only is he coming off a 38-month layoff, but he was soundly beaten in his most recent fight, a unanimous, 12-round loss on points to Paul Williams on April 11, 2009. And he lost the fight before that, another unanimous decision, to Bernard Hopkins on July 21, 2007. Those defeats mark Wright’s only ring appearances in the last 6½ years.

But there was a time, not so very long ago when you stop and think about it, that the name of Ronald “Winky” Wright came up in nearly every discussion about fighters who merited consideration as the sport’s pound-for-pound best. He was WBC/WBA junior middleweight champion who in 2004 twice dominated Shane Mosley and followed those watershed victories with an even more breathtaking performance, pitching a 12-round shutout at Felix Trinidad in 2005. And Wright was the tide that raised all boats; his longtime trainer, Dan Birmingham, was voted the Futch-Condon Award as Trainer of the Year in both of those years by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

So why would someone that accomplished choose to step away from boxing just a few years later, even if he had been, to some degree, in those setbacks to Hopkins and Williams?

“There was no one significant that wanted to fight me,” Wright said. “I want big fights, fights that mean something. I’m not going to fight just to fight. I’m fighting because I want to be the best.”

Feeling he was being ducked more than a limbo bar, Wright thus took his leave, although he never officially announced his retirement. It was more like entering a state of professional hibernation.

“My legacy is already etched in stone,” he said. “I was, like, `So you don’t want to fight me? Forget it.’ So I took time off and raised my son. I did family things, and just enjoyed life.”

But that old boxing itch, which can be salved for months and even years at a time, always threatens to turn into a rash that requires scratching. Wright had done the doting daddy thing and enjoyed it, but the joys of fatherhood can last a lifetime. Fighters don’t have nearly so much time to take advantage of the physical gifts which have been conferred upon them. So the Winkster returned to the gym with a purpose, to ascertain whether he still what it had to make a run at the championship he believes still is within his grasp.

“It takes some getting used to,” Wright, who again will have Birmingham as his chief second, said of his reintroduction to high-intensity training. “But anything worth having is worth working hard for, and I’ve worked hard for this.”

So, what kind of condition was Wright in when he decided to again tug on the gloves?

“Sometimes I would work out, and sometimes I didn’t,” he said of his lengthy hiatus. “I’m not going to say I stayed in boxing shape, but I wasn’t fat. I might have gotten up to 185, but I didn’t have a big belly or anything like that.”

Washboard abs alone, however, do not a fighter make. Wright knows this, and so does Quillin. Neither truly knows what to expect of the other, which makes this matchup intriguing.

“I got a great opponent to bring out the best in me,” Wright said of Quillin, 28. “I didn’t pick a bum to fight. This kid is undefeated. He’s hungry. He wants to prove to the world he’s a good fighter. But the guys he’s fought, they ain’t me.”

What remains to be seen is whether the Wright who’ll be on display June 2 is still the master boxer who carved up Mosley and Trinidad as if he were Zorro, or the rusty blade who lost convincingly to Williams and then faded from sight.

Quillin said he won’t make the mistake of presuming Wright has retained only a shadow of his former brilliance, even though logic dictates that that probably is the case.

“I’m preparing for the best Winky Wright,” insisted Quillin, who said he has a special incentive for coming in at his best, too.

“I saw Trinidad vs. Winky Wright,” he told media members on a joint teleconference call with his renowned opponent, who is a good bet to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame someday, regardless of the June 2 outcome. “I was kind of upset because I was a big fan of Trinidad’s. Maybe this fight can be my revenge and I’ll get the win that Felix Trinidad couldn’t get.”

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Bernard Fernandez

Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan

Published

3 days ago

March 30, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Ringside-at-the-Fontainebleau-where-Mikaela-Mayer-won-her-Rematch-with-Sandy-Ryan

LAS VEGAS, NV — The first meeting between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan last September at Madison Square Garden was punctuated with drama before the first punch was thrown. When the smoke cleared, Mayer had become a world-title-holder in a second weight class, taking away Ryan’s WBO welterweight belt via a majority decision in a fan-friendly fight.

The rematch tonight at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas was another fan-friendly fight. There were furious exchanges in several rounds and the crowd awarded both gladiators a standing ovation at the finish.

Mayer dominated the first half of the fight and held on to win by a unanimous decision. But Sandy Ryan came on strong beginning in round seven, and although Mayer was the deserving winner, the scores favoring her (98-92 and 97-93 twice) fail to reflect the competitiveness of the match-up. This is the best rivalry in women’s boxing aside from Taylor-Serrano.

Mayer, 34, improved to 21-2 (5). Up next, she hopes, in a unification fight with Lauren Price who outclassed Natasha Jonas earlier this month and currently holds the other meaningful pieces of the 147-pound puzzle. Sandy Ryan, 31, the pride of Derby, England, falls to 7-3-1.

Co-Feature

In his first defense of his WBO world welterweight title (acquired with a brutal knockout of Giovani Santillan after the title was vacated by Terence Crawford), Atlanta’s Brian Norman Jr knocked out Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas in the third round. A three-punch combination climaxed by a short left hook sent Cuevas staggering into a corner post. He got to his feet before referee Thomas Taylor started the count, but Taylor looked in Cuevas’s eyes and didn’t like what he saw and brought the bout to a halt.

The stoppage, which struck some as premature, came with one second remaining in the third stanza.

A second-generation prizefighter (his father was a fringe contender at super middleweight), the 24-year-old Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) is currently boxing’s youngest male title-holder. It was only the second pro loss for Cuevas (27-2-1) whose lone previous defeat had come early in his career in a 6-rounder he lost by split decision.

Other Bouts

In a career-best performance, 27-year-old Brooklyn featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) blasted out Jose Enrique Vivas (23-4) in the third round.

Carrington, who was named the Most Outstanding Boxer at the 2019 U.S. Olympic Trials despite being the lowest-seeded boxer in his weight class, decked Vivas with a right-left combination near the end of the second round. Vivas barely survived the round and was on a short leash when the third stanza began. After 53 seconds of round three, referee Raul Caiz Jr had seen enough and waived it off. Vivas hadn’t previously been stopped.

Cleveland welterweight Tiger Johnson, a Tokyo Olympian, scored a fifth-round stoppage over San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda. Johnson assumed control in the fourth round and sent Castaneda to his knees twice with body punches in the next frame. The second knockdown terminated the match. The official time was 2:00 of round five.

Johnson advanced to 15-0 (7 KOs). Castenada declined to 21-9.

Las Vegas junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) blasted out Stockton, California’s Giovanni Gonzalez in the second round. Vargas brought the bout to a sudden conclusion with a sweeping left hook that knocked Gonzalez out cold. The end came at the 2:00 minute mark of round two.

Gonzalez brought a 20-7-2 record which was misleading as 18 of his fights were in Tijuana where fights are frequently prearranged. However, he wasn’t afraid to trade with Vargas and paid the price.

Emiliano Vargas, with his matinee idol good looks and his boxing pedigree – he is the son of former U.S. Olympian and two-weight world title-holder “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas – is highly marketable and has the potential to be a cross-over star.

Eighteen-year-old Newark bantamweight Emmanuel “Manny” Chance, one of Top Rank’s newest signees, won his pro debut with a four-round decision over So Cal’s Miguel Guzman. Chance won all four rounds on all three cards, but this was no runaway. He left a lot of room for improvement.

There was a long intermission before the co-main and again before the main event, but the tedium was assuaged by a moving video tribute to George Foreman.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

Published

3 days ago

March 29, 2025

David A. Avila

William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

No surprise, once again William Zepeda eked out a win over the clever and resilient Tevin Farmer to remain undefeated and retain a regional lightweight title on Saturday.

There were no knockdowns in this rematch.

The Mexican punching machine Zepeda (33-0, 17 KOs) once more sought to overwhelm Farmer (33-8-1, 9 KOs) with a deluge of blows. This rematch by Golden Boy Promotions took place in the famous beach resort area of Cancun, Mexico.

It was a mere four months ago that both first clashed in Saudi Arabia with their vastly difference styles. This time the tropical setting served as the background which suited Zepeda and his lawnmower assaults. The Mexican fans were pleased.

Nothing changed in their second meeting.

Zepeda revved up the body assault and Farmer moved around casually to his right while fending off the Mexican fighter’s attacks. By the fourth round Zepeda was able to cut off Farmer’s escape routes and targeted the body with punishing shots.

The blows came in bunches.

In the fifth round Zepeda blasted away at Farmer who looked frantic for an escape. The body assault continued with the Mexican fighter pouring it on and Farmer seeming to look ready to quit. When the round ended, he waved off his corner’s appeals to stop.

Zepeda continued to dominate the next few rounds and then Farmer began rallying. At first, he cleverly smothered Zepeda’s body attacks and then began moving and hitting sporadically. It forced the Mexican fighter to pause and figure out the strategy.

Farmer, a Philadelphia fighter, showed resiliency especially when it was revealed he had suffered a hand injury.

During the last three rounds Farmer dug down deep and found ways to score and not get hit. It was Boxing 101 and the Philly fighter made it work.

But too many rounds had been put in the bank by Zepeda. Despite the late rally by Farmer one judge saw it 114-114, but two others scored it 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda who retains his interim lightweight title and place at the top of the WBC rankings.

“I knew he was a difficult fighter. This time he was even more difficult,” said Zepeda.

Farmer was downtrodden about another loss but realistic about the outcome and starting slow.

“But I dominated the last rounds,” said Farmer.

Zepeda shrugged at the similar outcome as their first encounter.

“I’m glad we both put on a great show,” said Zepeda.

Female Flyweight Battle

Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle edged past Texas fighter Marlen Esparza to win their showdown at flyweight by split decision after 10 rounds.

Valle moved up two weight divisions to meet Esparza who was slightly above the weight limit. Both showed off their contrasting styles and world class talent.

Esparza, a former unified flyweight world titlist, stayed in the pocket and was largely successful with well-placed jabs and left hooks. She repeatedly caught Valle in-between her flurries.

The current minimumweight world titlist changed tactics and found more success in the second half of the fight. She forced Esparza to make the first moves and that forced changes that benefited her style.

Neither fighter could take over the fight.

After 10 rounds one judge saw Esparza the winner 96-94, but two others saw Valle the winner 97-93 twice.

Will Valle move up and challenge the current undisputed flyweight world champion Gabriela Fundora? That’s the question.

Valle currently holds the WBC minimumweight world title.

Puerto Rico vs Mexico

Oscar Collazo (12-0, 9 KOs), the WBO, WBA minimumweight titlist, knocked out Mexico’s Edwin Cano (13-3-1, 4 KOs) with a flurry of body shots at 1:12 of the fifth round.

Collazo dominated with a relentless body attack the Mexican fighter could not defend. It was the Puerto Rican fighter’s fifth consecutive title defense.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 319: Rematches in Las Vegas, Cancun and More

Published

4 days ago

March 28, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-319-Rematches-in-Las-Vegas-Cancun-and-More

Rematches are the bedrock for prizefighting.

Return battles between rival boxers always means their first encounter was riveting and successful at the box office.

Six months after their first brutal battle Mikaela Mayer (20-2, 5 KOs) and Sandy Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KOs) will slug it out again for the WBO welterweight world title this time on Saturday, March 29, at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas.

ESPN will show the Top Rank card live.

“It’s important for women’s boxing to have these rivalries and this is definitely up there as one of the top ones,” Mayer told the BBC.

If you follow Mayer’s career you know that somehow drama follows. Whether its back-and-forth beefs with fellow American fighters or controversial judging due to nationalism in countries abroad. The Southern California native who now trains in Las Vegas knows how to create the drama.

For female fighters self-promotion is a necessity.

Most boxing promoters refuse to step out of the usual process set for male boxers, not for female boxers. Things remain the same and have been for the last 70 years. Social media has brought changes but that has made promoters do even less.

No longer are there press conferences, instead announcements are made on social media to be drowned among the billions of other posts. It is not killing but diluting interest in the sport.

Women innately present a different advantage that few if any promoters are recognizing. So far in the past 25 years I have only seen two or three promoters actually ignite interest in female fighters. They saw the advantages and properly boosted interest in the women.

The fight breakdown

Mayer has won world titles in the super featherweight and now the welterweight division. Those are two vastly different weight classes and prove her fighting abilities are based on skill not power or size.

Coaching Mayer since amateurs remains Al Mitchell and now Kofi Jantuah who replaced Kay Koroma the current trainer for Sandy Ryan.

That was the reason drama ignited during their first battle. Then came someone tossing paint at Ryan the day of their first fight.

More drama.

During their first fight both battled to control the initiative with Mayer out-punching the British fighter by a slender margin. It was a back-and-forth struggle with each absorbing blows and retaliating immediately.

New York City got its money’s worth.

Ryan had risen to the elite level rapidly since losing to Erica Farias three years ago. Though she was physically bigger and younger, she was out-maneuvered and defeated by the wily veteran from Argentina. In the rematch, however, Ryan made adjustments and won convincingly.

Can she make adjustments from her defeat to Mayer?

“I wanted the rematch straight away,” said Ryan on social media. “I’ve come to America again.”

Both fighters have size and reach. In their first clash it was evident that conditioning was not a concern as blows were fired nonstop in bunches. Mayer had the number of punches landed advantage and it unfolded with the judges giving her a majority decision win.

That was six months ago. Can she repeat the outcome?

Mayer has always had boiler-oven intensity. It’s not fake. Since her amateur days the slender Southern California blonde changes disposition all the way to red when lacing up the gloves. It’s something that can’t be taught.

Can she draw enough of that fire out again?

“I didn’t have to give her this rematch. I could have just sat it out, waited for Lauren Price to unify and fought for undisputed or faced someone else,” said Mayer to BBC. “That’s not the fighter I am though.”

Co-Main in Las Vegas

The co-main event pits Brian Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) facing Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas (27-1-1, 19 KOs) in a contest for the WBO welterweight title.

Norman, 24, was last seen a year ago dissecting a very good welterweight in Giovani Santillan for a knockout win in San Diego. He showed speed, skill and power in defeating Santillan in his hometown.

Cuevas has beaten some solid veteran talent but this will be his big test against Norman and his first attempt at winning a world title.

Also on the Top Rank card will be Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington and Emiliano Vargas, the son of Fernando Vargas, in separate bouts.

Golden Boy in Cancun

A rematch between undefeated William “Camaron” Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) and ex-champ Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) headlines the lightweight match on Saturday March 29, at Cancun, Mexico.

In their first encounter Zepeda was knocked down in the fourth round but rallied to win a split-decision over Farmer. It showed the flaws in Zepeda’s tornado style.

DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also includes a clash between Yokasta Valle the WBC minimumweight world titlist who is moving up to flyweight to face former flyweight champion Marlen Esparza.

Both Valle and Esparza have fast hands.

Valle is excellent darting in and out while Esparza has learned how to fight inside. It’s a toss-up fight.

Fights to Watch

Fri. DAZN 12 p.m. Cameron Vuong (7-0) vs Jordan Flynn (11-0-1); Pat Brown (0-0) vs Federico Grandone (7-4-2).

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. William Zepeda (32-0) vs Tevin Farmer (33-7-1); Yokasta Valle (32-3) vs Marlen Esparza (15-2).

Sat. ESPN 7 p.m. Mikaela Mayer (20-2) vs Sandy Ryan (7-2-1); Brian Norman Jr. (26-0) vs Derrieck Cuevas (27-1-1).

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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