Boxing

Wright has arrived

Saturday night's sound beating of Felix Trinidad has catapulted Wright into an elite group of fighters.

By TOM JONES
Published May 16, 2005

	[Times photos: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
	Winky Wright pocketed $4-million after his unanimous decision over Felix Trinidad and stands to make another $10-million for his next fight.
	Winky Wright celebrates his victory with some 700 fans at his postfight party at the Front Door in Las Vegas.
	Go to photo gallery

LAS VEGAS - Boxing legends usually are born out of a devastating punch.

Like when George Foreman creamed Joe Frazier. Or the time Ali shook up the world by taking out Sonny Liston.

But Saturday night, St. Petersburg's Winky Wright delivered steady Chinese water torture-type punishment to Felix "Tito" Trinidad in a performance that catapulted him onto the list of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

Pop, pop, pop.

Over and over again, Wright snapped a wicked right jab into Trinidad's face. First, the jab broke Trinidad's nose. Then it broke his will. Wright's jab was so methodical and relentless that he rolled to an easy unanimous decision. In addition, Wright, proudly using his boxing skills, beat Trinidad so soundly that the buzz at the MGM Grand after the fight was that a rematch would be a waste of time.

The contract stipulates Wright (49-3) is to give Trinidad a rematch and Wright, who made $4-million Saturday and likely would make $10-million for his next fight, said he would keep his end of the bargain.

"He took me lightly, I think," Wright said. "I expect the next fight to be a tougher fight."

If there is a next fight. Trinidad, who made $10-million Saturday and lost for just the second time in 44 fights, didn't show up for the postfight news conference and it isn't known if his next announcement will be to accept the rematch or announce his retirement at age 32.

The next logical opponent for Wright is the winner of the July 16 bout between Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor.

"If they want to fight me, that's cool," Wright said. "But I signed for a rematch with Tito and I'm going to be a man of my word."

After Saturday's beating of Trinidad, Wright likely figures he has little to lose in a rematch. The only chance Trinidad had Saturday was to have Wright's left arm fall off from so many jabs.

"Once I saw the jab was working and that I could hit him and hurt him with it," Wright said, "I just kept using it and put some punches behind it."

How soundly was the beating? Trinidad landed only 58 punches all night, while Wright connected on 262 of his 756 punches, including 185 of 588 jabs. Trinidad never landed more than nine punches in a round. And, most convincing, Wright scored a shutout on one judge's card, winning all 12 rounds, while taking 11 of 12 rounds on the other two cards.

"I don't ever remember two fighters of this class and (one of them) pitching a shutout at this level," said Gary Shaw, Wright's adviser. "This is a Hall of Famer."

Trinidad's hope coming in was the 33-year-old Wright running into difficulty making the jump from a 154-pound fighter to 160 pounds. But the fight was barely a minute old when Wright knew he would dominate.

"I knew after the first round and really (all during training) that this guy was easy to hit," Dan Birmingham, Wright's trainer, said of Trinidad. "He's great offensively, but he lacks defense."

The game plan was simple. Throw jab after jab and a straight right when it was there. Both were there all night.

"I said I was going to win every round one by one and that's what I did," Wright said. "I didn't deviate from my plan. ... A good jab can keep anyone off."

Not once in the fight was Wright hurt or not in control. The mild-mannered fighter let his guard down only once and that was when he knew the fight was in the bag. After the 11th round, Wright posed in the middle of the ring, raised his arms and bowed.

"I just wanted to let people know that I came out here to perform for everyone and show you all what boxing really is," Wright said. "It's not all about one big shot. And the fans received it well. They liked the boxing that I was showing them and I just wanted to tell them thank you."

It also signaled the arrival of the sport's latest and, maybe, brightest boxer.

[Last modified May 16, 2005, 01:22:06]