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Swallow your pride, Winky, and let's try this again

By GARY SHELTON
Published June 18, 2006

MEMPHIS - Give them a month. Give them a week. Give them five minutes.

However long it takes, point them toward the ring and turn them loose again.

What? No overtime? No resolution? After watching Winky Wright and Jermain Taylor go after each other for 12 rounds, fierce and furious, in the end the only thing you could be certain of was this: Didn't we all want to see some more?

All of the punches meant nothing. Not the sweat and not the flurries. Not that extra nose growing over Taylor's eye or that outraged scowl on Wright's face. It ended in a tie, a controversy and a quick exchange over a rematch.

I don't know about the fighters, but Tuesday is good for me.

This was a magnificent fight, a glorious fight, and it was a shame to see it marred by a nondecision and Wright's immediate rejection of doing it again.

It is easy to understand Wright's frustration. He left the ring feeling robbed, believing he had not only won but done so easily. And he has some room for argument. He landed 63 more punches, 62 more jabs and even one more power punch. If you're Wright, that doesn't add up to a tie.

On the other hand, Wright knows the feeling of being robbed up close. It happened to him against Fernando Vargas. It happened to him once against Harry Simon, when the fight was called a draw and 15 minutes later, in the dressing room, he was told no, he had lost.

This time, it wasn't that clear cut. Wright could have won, and according to my scorecard, he should have won. But no, this wasn't a Brink's job.

Once Wright has a chance to catch his breath, he needs to reconsider. Whom is he going to fight who is going to be any better for him? Who is Taylor? Move this fight to Las Vegas, or to Tampa, and let's tee it up again. Let's settle it.

In a way, this night wrapped up Wright's entire career. Once again, he was fighting in front of a hostile crowd, against a younger fighter with a heavier punch. Jermain Taylor looks like the future of the middleweight division; no one ever called Wright the future.

And, for most of the night, Wright stood toe to toe and acquitted himself well. Even with a deadlock, Wright did his reputation some good. Ducking a rematch, when he has been ducked himself for years, would undo that. It would make people forget about that 12th round when Wright, feeling he had the fight in hand, didn't push the issue.

"What's the point?" Wright said of a rematch.

Resolution is the point. Recognition is the point. A legacy is the point.

For many, this was Wright's definitive fight. Wright grimaced at the suggestion the other day, because he thinks he has done enough to be an all-timer without it. He hasn't. Not yet.

If Wright wants to reach the Hall of Fame as he says, he has a little more work to do. Taylor seems like the logical place to start. Yes, that's a possibility, and yes, that's a goal. But is chasing Arthur Abraham going to do it?

No, the boxing Hall of Fame isn't as discriminating as, say, baseball's, and it may surprise some to hear that Wright already is getting some buzz. Dan Rafael, a columnist for espn.com, suggested that a victory over Taylor could get him in. There was a lively discussion at Maxboxing.com, five pages and 122 responses, over whether Wright was deserving.

Boxing historian Hank Kaplan, himself in the Hall, suggests that Wright isn't quite there.

"No, not yet," Kaplan said. "He's been around quite a while, but Winky just recently hit the jackpot. He just recently achieved the status that puts him in the running. But he has to have some continuity.

"He beat a couple of guys who will probably not go down as super fighters. His level of competition hasn't been all that high. If he beats Jermain Taylor, he'll still have to go on for a while longer. I think he needs to ripen. He needs a little more time."

As it stands, Kaplan said he would rank Wright among his top 100 middleweights of all time. Given the history of the division - Sugar Ray Robinson and Harry Greb and Marvin Hagler and Roy Jones Jr. and Marcel Cerdan and Oscar de la Hoya and Tony Zale and Jake LaMotta and Sugar Ray Leonard and Stanley Ketchel and Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns and Emile Griffith and Bernard Hopkins - that's not a dig. On the other hand, it's not Hall of Fame, either.

Ah, but what if Wright's recent hot streak continues? What if he were to beat Taylor, then John Calzaghe, then perhaps Floyd Mayweather?

"If he were to beat those three, yeah, that's good enough for the Hall of Fame," Kaplan said.

And that's the lesson here. Being close enough, good enough has never been good enough for Wright. He has had to go everywhere and fight anyone to get to where he wants to be.

Despite his outrage at this decision, he needs to do that one more time.

He needs another go at Taylor. The sooner the better.

[Last modified June 18, 2006, 02:01:55]