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Boxing
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 1, 2003
Some might be tempted to say Winky Wright is playing a dangerous game these days.
He is defending his 154-pound title against mandatory challenger J.C. Candelo tonight on the undercard of the Roy Jones-John Ruiz heavyweight title fight, but you would hardly know it.
The fight that is capturing everyone's attention is the one Wright is waging in the media to get Oscar De La Hoya into the ring.
Wright, 31 and the IBF junior middleweight champion, is discarding his image as a polite fighter by taking the fight to anyone who will listen, and he even has hired a public relations firm to assist him.
"I know that being quiet ain't going to get it," Wright said from Las Vegas after a roundtable discussion with the media. "I'm going to do my thing and tell the people and let them know."
He wants the people to know this: De La Hoya, the WBA and WBC champ, and his promoter Bob Arum want nothing to do with Wright because they believe the bout wouldn't be profitable.
While De La Hoya (35-2) is one of the most recognizable names in boxing history, St. Petersburg's Wright is not considered a marquee fighter. Forget the record -- 44-3 -- and the fact that Wright is a title holder who doesn't duck anyone and has defended his title successfully three times.
What holds up a possible fight with De La Hoya is that Wright is not a knockout artist, is far from flashy, and his quiet demeanor and polite behavior hardly have the makings of newspaper headlines and pay-per-view bonanzas.
It is rare, even, that the "Golden Boy" mentions Wright as a possible opponent as he chases revenge bouts with the two guys who beat him, Shane Mosley and the retired Felix Trinidad.
But Mosley turned down $4.5-million to fight De La Hoya, and Trinidad remains retired, nudging Wright ever so slightly toward his dream fight.
"It's working, it's definitely working," Wright said of calling De La Hoya out. "As long as people are talking about it, it's working."
Arum has been adamant that Wright needs to fight the likes of Antonio Margarito or Ricardo Mayorga to gain exposure. Wright said he would, as long as the prize is a fight with De La Hoya.
Wright hopes to take another step tonight at the Thomas and Mack Center. It will be his first fight in Las Vegas, and an impressive performance against Candelo (26-4-3 with 18 knockouts) would increase public support for a fight with De La Hoya.
"I'm just focusing on Candelo because I know if I don't beat Candelo, I don't get that big fight," he said. "I want the big prize, I want to eat the whole cake. "But I definitely don't want to just keep on fighting the mandatories. I definitely want that big fight. For now, I do what they tell me. But I ain't giving up hope."