Boxing

Winky prefers to speak softly, carry a big fist

Wright is unflappable and polite to a fault . . . unless you're Vargas.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published December 9, 2005

[Times photos: Willie J. Allen Jr.]

It takes a lot to rile up Winky Wright, but it takes even more to knock him down. Wright, working out last week at the 49th Street Boxing Club in St. Petersburg, fights Sam Soliman on Saturday in Connecticut.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Trainer Dan Birmingham has seen Winky Wright mad. Really mad.

He has seen Wright contentious leading up to a fight, edgy in the locker room beforehand, ready to step into the ring and rip an opponent's head off.

Just not recently.

"To be truthful, Winky doesn't really get worked up. He's pretty much friendly with everyone," Birmingham said.

The next time Wright fights someone he genuinely dislikes and does not respect, it will be the first time since, oh, 1999.

Then, it was Fernando Vargas, the world champion. Wright was the unknown.

In the buildup to that fight, Wright developed something he hasn't had for anyone since - a strong distaste.

"Wink can only take so much," Birmingham said, "and they overdid it."

It only got worse after that. The decision was hotly contested. Vargas went on to fame and riches while denying Wright a rematch that was clamored for.

Now on the comeback trail, Wright is asked about giving Vargas the rematch, and the answer is always two words, the first one unprintable and second "Vargas."

Hearing Wright swear about any fighter is such a rare occurrence, it provides a jolt for those who only know him as the easygoing unruffled fighter who would rather bask in the fans' adulation and shake hands than engage in a verbal fight with an opponent.

While other fighters live for the staredowns and weigh-in confrontations and news conference blowups that help build up a fight, Wright often looks like he can barely keep a straight face.

When Felix Trinidad gave Wright a catcher's mask before their May fight, Wright put it on and smiled for the cameras. Usually such "gifts" end up elsewhere.

Trying to hit Wright is the hardest thing in the sport. Trying to rile him isn't far behind.

"To me, this is a business," Wright said. "All those other guys, if that's what they feel they need to do, then they can do that. But I don't need to do all that."

At the final news conference before Saturday's fight, Wright walked up to Sam Soliman and shook hands, then sat a few feet away. Typically, fighters are divided by a lecturn. Afterward, they are asked to face off for photos.

Thursday's faceoff never happened. They stood next to each other, smiled and looked as if they were getting ready to go have a beer.

It was a typical Winky Wright news conference.

Uneventful. Just like promoter Gary Shaw says he likes it.

"As a promoter, I wouldn't want to get my guys talking trash," he said. "It's good for the WWF, but it doesn't mean anything. In boxing, you can be the baddest man on the planet but if can't back it up, it doesn't mean a ... thing."

If you can appreciate Wright's style in the ring, then it is easy to appreciate it outside as well.

The general perception, however, is the angrier the fighter, the better chance for a knockout. The more contentious the buildup, the more blood that will be spilled.

"A mean streak is an asset publicly as well as in the ring," HBO announcer Jim Lampley said. "And I always say that while all my respect goes to the nice fighters, the Jermain Taylors, the Marco-Antonio Barreras the Lennox Lewises - you just have to respect them more - the public likes to see menace. When Taylor fought (Bernard) Hopkins last week, the house was definitely a Hopkins crowd. He and his vaunted street cred got over. The darker side of Bernard Hopkins helped sell that fight. Ray Leonard had the thickest mean streak I've ever seen. It sells."

Wright's mean streak is apparently carefully concealed. He was remarkably friendly in his fights with Shane Mosley, the two touching gloves every time one came close to landing a low or illegal blow. Those at ringside were struck by the respect shown in the ring, and even Birmingham had to bark to Wright in between rounds that "you can be friends after the fight."

Wright has done the same with every fighter he has taken on recently. Some say that kindness is what is keeping him from delivering any knockouts (just one since 1999), though it may be more accurate to blame that on his defensive style.

But Birmingham said his fighter's easy-going nature belies a toughness that many don't see. Wright grew up in one of Washington's toughest neighborhoods, and Birmingham says south St. Petersburg, where Wright moved as a teenager, was no picnic.

You want tough, his fighter is it.

"But Winky is a master boxer," Birmingham said. "He doesn't need to talk all that stuff and get in there and try to knock people out. Trust me, they feel that right jab.

"He makes people look bad inside the ring, he doesn't need to do it at a news conference."

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 01:19:17]