Boxing

Wright gets his man, fights Trinidad on May 14

Junior middleweight champion Winky Wright of St. Petersburg is moving up from 154 pounds to fight at 160.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published January 24, 2005

The chase is over.

After years of being ducked by the biggest names and being told he wasn't flashy enough to sell tickets for a megafight, junior middleweight champion Winky Wright of St. Petersburg has landed the man of his dreams: Felix Trinidad.

Wright confirmed Sunday that he is scheduled to meet Trinidad on May 14 in Las Vegas. The nontitle fight will be at 160 pounds and is scheduled for HBO PPV.

"It's very exciting to get the chance to prove myself," Wright said. "I've proved myself (at 154 pounds) and now I'm moving up, and I'm going to take over the middleweight division. It's great to be able to do that, finally."

Trainer Dan Birmingham, who has been with Wright (48-3, 25 KOs) since the beginning, said: "He's now got a chance to be a super champion. It's a dream come true, and we're going to beat Trinidad."

The fight likely will cost Wright, 33, his title belts. The BBC reported that WBC president Jose Sulaiman will strip Wright if he doesn't face interim champion Francisco Castillejo next. If he is stripped of his WBC belt, he'll also lose his WBA super championship. A fighter has to have at least two of the four major belts to keep super-champion status.

A win against Trinidad could set up a meeting with undisputed middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins this year.

"Wink's more of a natural middleweight anyway," Birmingham said. "He grew out of 154 years ago and struggled to make it. He'll be a happy fighter at 160."

The deal appeared dead three weeks ago when Wright's promoter, Gary Shaw, refused a $3-million offer from Trinidad promoter Don King for a fight in March.

Shaw wouldn't reveal financial details, but it's likely much closer to the $5-million that King offered Wright after his first victory over Shane Mosley last year.

Because of a rematch clause, Wright had to turn down the offer and he beat Mosley more convincingly in the rematch.

Shaw said he was pleased to get the fight scheduled, but added it still wasn't what Wright deserved.

"We were trying to protect Winky best we could," Shaw said, referring to Wright's Tampa lawyer, Jim Wilkes. "Now Winky has to do the rest in the ring. No, (we didn't really get what we wanted), but I thought this was a very important fight for Winky, and Winky realizes that too."

Trinidad (42-1, 35 KOs) came out of two-year retirement to defeat Ricardo Mayorga in October. The 32-year-old is a former middleweight, junior middleweight and welterweight champ. His only loss was to Hopkins in 2001 (TKO, 12th round).

[Last modified January 24, 2005, 01:32:09]