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If he wins tonight, the St. Petersburg fighter might finally line up a major payday.
By JOHN C. COTEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 7, 2002
Bronco McKart and St. Petersburg's Winky Wright are fighting mad, bitterly disappointed and ready to take their frustrations out.
But on each other?
They'll have to tonight at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., but after listening to them Thursday you get the sense it will be done begrudgingly.
Wright, the IBF junior middleweight champion, defends against McKart (45-3, 29 KOs) in their third meeting. The fight, on the undercard of Roy Jones Jr.'s light heavyweight defense against Clinton Woods, is expected to begin around 10 p.m. and will be televised live by HBO.
Wright (43-3, 25 KOs) won the previous two meetings by decision, the first in 1996 to capture his first world title, and last in 2000 in a boring but technically proficient and more dominating performance.
Fans weren't clamoring for a third fight, but with Fernando Vargas and Oscar De La Hoya fighting next week, Felix Trinidad retired and Shane Mosley and Vernon Forrest yet to move up into the division, who was left?
"Who wouldn't be sick of it?" McKart said of a third meeting. "That's just the way that it's all panned out and that's the way it's supposed to be, I guess. We are willing to fight each other while the other guys in the division seem to be staying away.
"The other guys who are products of the hype machine have the power behind them. Me and Winky weren't products of the hype machine."
Both fighters have their eyes on the Vargas-De La Hoya winner, and are pulling for Vargas, who has said publicly he'd give Wright a rematch of their 1998 fight, which Vargas won in a disputed decision.
"I think Oscar will win it, but I hope Vargas wins because I know Vargas will fight one or both of us," Wright said. "Oscar De La Hoya won't even mention us."
Wright's trainer, Dan Birmingham, said an impressive win by De La Hoya "knocks money right out of Wink's pocket.
"But if Vargas loses but looks good doing so, I think we'd still have a fight with him."
Regardless, a win could put Wright closer to the megabout he has hoped for in a career short of them. Other than the Vargas fight, Wright has always been on the outside looking in at the big money thrown at the De La Hoyas and Trinidads. In fact, the last time he beat McKart, he was supposed to get the winner of the Trinidad-Vargas fight, but Trinidad won, then moved up in weight.
If nothing comes of his latest chances, he hinted he would start looking for a new career.
"If I keep winning and looking good, I'll stay in boxing," Wright said. "I ... can't get a big fight against anybody and yet some of the hyped guys step right up and fight the big ones. I'll keep going until I don't feel appreciated anymore."
To feel appreciated, Wright expects to see his days fighting on undercards and for less than $2-million to end if he defeats McKart.
"I'm just asking for my just due," Wright said.
As for the Jones-Wood fight, Las Vegas oddsmakers view it as such a mismatch, they won't take bets on it.
Even Jones agrees.
"Do I think he's the guy I should be fighting? No," Jones said of the WBC's top contender. "I don't even know why they ranked him No. 1."
LUCAS WINS: Eric Lucas retained his WBC super-middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Omar Sheika in Montreal. Lucas (36-4-2) defended the title for the third time since winning it in July 2001 from Britain's Glenn Catley.
-- Information from Times wires was used in this report.