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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 2, 2002
Winky Wright and Jeff Lacy as co-main events on a fight card in St. Petersburg?
Don't rule it out, says Tampa attorney Jim Wilkes, who serves as the adviser to both fighters.
While the speculation on a local Wright-Lacy appearance has centered around Roy Jones Jr. headlining a card in Tampa at the St. Pete Times Forum, Wilkes hinted that Jones -- or the Times Forum, for that matter -- will not make or break his plans to bring his boys home for one night.
Wright, the IBF junior middleweight champion, is managed by Jones' manager, James Prince, and fights under Jones' company, Square Ring Inc. And Jones has a strong relationship with the deep-pocketed Steve Yerrid, the Tampa lawyer who brought Jones to the Times Forum for well-received title fights in 1996 and 2001. So naturally, if there is to be another night of title fights in the Tampa Bay area, the logical conclusion would be to follow the tried-and-true plan.
But here's a thought Wilkes finds intriguing: Even if Jones doesn't want to fight again in the bay area, have Wright and Lacy as the headliners, get it on Showtime, hold the fight in the spring at a more intimate venue and make it a hot ticket.
Unsure if Wright and Lacy could sell 19,000 tickets in the Times Forum (always a popular local boxing debate), Wilkes is confident a fight at, say, the Bayfront Center, which seats 5,000 to 7,000, would sell out in a hurry.
Other options include an outdoor fight Vegas-style at Florida Power Park or some of Tampa's smaller venues. Ticket sales rarely make or break fights, and a packed smaller arena is more attractive to the networks (and cheaper to rent) than a half-empty Times Forum.
Wilkes also seems to like the idea of a St. Petersburg fight, which would be a great opportunity to showcase some of the local fighters, trainers and gyms that have made it one of the country's better fight towns.
Wilkes said he and Gary Shaw, who signed Lacy at Main Events but left that company to start his own, are working together to make a card with Lacy and Wright on it, and thinks there is an 80 percent chance it will happen within 16 months.
"My plan is to help Gary bring a card here and doublehead them in the spring," Wilkes said. "It's something I definitely want to do."
TITLE TIME: Lacy (11-0) will fight Ross Thompson (25-6-1) Nov. 9 at the Coca-Cola Center in Oklahoma City. The fight, live on Showtime, will be the first title fight for Lacy as he tries to take away Thompson's WBC Continental Americas super middleweight title.
It is the first scheduled 12-rounder of Lacy's pro career.
FINAL NOTE: Jerson Ravelo has been added to Saturday's Showtime boxing card at the USF Sun Dome.
Ravelo, one of the promising young junior middleweights, is 11-0 with eight knockouts. He'll be fighting George Walton (11-1) in the evening's first fight.
Sarasota's China Smith (23-1, 22 knockouts) tries to win back his NBA heavyweight title in the main-event rematch against Saul Montana (36-11), beginning around 5 p.m.
Fans might remember Ravelo from the 2000 Olympic Trials in Tampa. Rated No. 1 in the 165-pound division, Ravelo was beaten by Lacy 18-8, who he had beaten previously.
The Dominican-born Ravelo did not qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, but went on to make it to the 2000 games as a member of the Dominican Republic team.