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Wright signs his third promoter in just two years

Hooks up with Roy Jones Jr.'s company after a fight deal stalls.

By JOHN C. COTEY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 9, 2001

First Don King. Now Bob Arum.

St. Petersburg fighter Ronald "Winky" Wright certainly isn't afraid to walk away from boxing's highest profile promoters, even if this time the cost was $300,000.

Wright signed with his third promoter in two years Wednesday, making a deal with Square Ring, Inc., owned by another big boxing name: Roy Jones Jr.

Though he had been with Arum's Top Rank, Inc. for one fight -- his IBF junior middleweight title win over Robert Frazier on Oct. 12 -- Wright decided to part ways after negotiations to fight Sugar Shane Mosley stalled.

Wright, who would put his IBF title on the line, was offered $1.25-million by Mosley's camp (promoter Cedric Kushner and HBO), far short of his expectations.

"They didn't want to pay," Wright said. "The offer was too low. They've got a long way to go. Maybe the fight can happen down the road, but that's a bigger fight than the money they offered me."

Arum, though, said he couldn't get any more. When Wright (42-3, with 24 knockouts) turned the deal down, Arum decided to unload his contract.

"He wanted me to get more money than the million-and-a-quarter that HBO was offering," Arum told MaxBoxing.com. "And then Winky talked to certain people and they said that he should get more than the million dollars to fight Mosley.

"Then he turned down the fight and when they told me that, I said, "Hey, I want out of here, get somebody to buy me out for $300,000,' and Roy did. It wasn't done in an antagonistic way; it was done amicably."

Instead of a big, highly publicized fight with Mosley, Wright, 29, probably will fight Feb. 2 in Miami on the undercard of Jones' next HBO fight. Wright said he will fight one of the top IBF challengers. The mandatory challenger, whom Wright has to fight within five months, is Bronco McKart. Wright has beaten him twice.

But better those fights, Wright's trainer Dan Birmingham said, than being what they see as underpaid for the big-name fights.

"Bob Arum didn't want to work with him because he didn't want to fight Mosley for $800,000, which is what he would have ended up with," Birmingham said. "We know that fight's worth $2.5-, $3-million. He's got the bigger name, but Winky is the champion."

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