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Famous Like Me > Actor > W > Winky Wright

Profile of Winky Wright on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Winky Wright  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 26th November 1971
   
Place of Birth: Washington, District of Columbia, USA
   
Profession: Actor
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Ronald Lamont "Winky" Wright (born November 26, 1971 in Washington, DC) is an American boxer, the former Jr. Middleweight Champion and a current Middleweight contender. He is considered one of the best fighters in the world.

Wright was an underlooked fighter for many years, for a time fighting 20 fights in seven countries across three continents. Wright would later joke that he couldn't pronounce some of the names of the places he was fighting in. After his 2nd round knockout of Carlos Santana on July 30, 1992 in St. Petersburg, Florida, the ring announcer called him "Winky" Wright. The nickname stuck for the rest of his career.

Big time promoters like Don King and Lou Duva would not promote Wright in the early part of his career. His first big time promoters were the French based Acaries brothers, who struck a deal for Wright to fight Darryl Lattimore in Luxembourg on January 1, 1993. Wright knocked Lattimore down three times, and the fight was stopped. Wright went on a tear during his tour of Europe, winning 8 straight in France, Germany, Monte Carlo, only fighting in the United States once over the next year.

On August 21, 1994, Wright received his first title match against WBA Light Middleweight titleholder Julio Cesar Vasquez in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France. Although he was 25-0 at the time, Wright had not fought in a match that had gone more than 8 rounds. His inexperienced showed as Winky lost a unanimous decision, with Vasquez knocking down Wright in the second, seventh, ninth, and twice in the round 12.

On February 4, 1995, Wright defeated Tony Marshall by unanimous decision, winning the North American Boxing Federation Middleweight Championship.

Wright continued fighting in Europe, only fighting in the United States once, until his unanimous decision victory against Andrew Council on March 5, 1996 which was aired on the USA Network's Tuesday Night Fights. His impressive win opened the door to fight WBO Light Middleweight champion Bronco McKart, a fight Wright won by split decision. He continued to tour the world, fighting and winning fights in South Africa and England.

After breaking with the Acaries brothers in 1999, citing that he was tired of all the travel, Wright knocked out Derrick Graham in the third round in Miami, Florida. This set the stage for his first major fight against IBF Jr. Middleweight Champion Fernando Vargas. Although many ringside fans and members of the media felt Wright won the fight, Vargas won a controversial majority decision. Wright continued to defend the NBAF and won the USBA Light Middleweight title in another decision over Bronco McKart.

Felix Trinidad's jump to the middleweight division left the IBF Jr. Middleweight title vacant. Wright scored a unanimous decision over the highly regarded Robert Frazier on October 12, 2001 to win his first major boxing championship. In his first defense on February 2, 2002, Wright stopped Jason Papillion in the fifth round. He took a third fight against Brono McKart, which ended in controversy as the referee disqualified McKart for repeated low blows in the 8th round.

Wright's Las Vegas debut after fighting all over the world was against Juan Carlos Candelo on March 1, 2003. Wright won an unanimous decision. He followed that up with another blowout victory over Angel Hernandez 8 months later.

To the surprise of many including Wright, Shane Mosley challenged Winky to a Jr. Middlweight Unification fight on March 13, 2004. Mosley was a celebrated fighter coming off his second win against Oscar De La Hoya, but many felt he was making a mistake in fighting Wright. Wright beat Mosley soundly with his effective jabbing and defense, winning a lopsided Unanimous Decision, winning the RING Magazine Jr. middleweight championship of the world and became the division's first undisputed champion in 29 years, and the first man to hold all the IBF, WBA, and WBC Jr. Middlweight titles simultaneously. The rematch took place on November 20, 2004. This fight was much closer, with one judge scoring the bout a draw. However, the other two judges scored 115-113 and gave the majority decision to Wright.

On May 14, 2005, he defeated Felix Trinidad by unanimous decision. Trinidad was a fan favorite and a feared power puncher, and many figured he would be able to knock Wright out. Instead, Wright's jab and defense once again prevailed, and Wright won virtually "shut out" Trinidad, winning 120-107 and 119-108 on two scorecards, to establish himself as a top contender to challenge for the WBC middleweight championship. Wright's dominance over such a highly regarded opponent has lead to many placing him among the top two pound-for-pound boxers in the world, just behind Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The WBC recently announced that the winner of the Jermain Taylor-Bernard Hopkins rematch will have to make a mandatory defense of the Undisputed Middleweight Championship against Winky Wright.

Wright currently calls St. Petersburg, Florida home. He is an avid fight fan and regularly attends major boxing events.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Winky Wright