Wright Has His Way in Win

After all those nights in Luxembourg and Monaco and other outposts around the globe, fighting in obscurity, hoping for respectability, Ronald “Winky” Wright finally stood in the center of the boxing world Saturday night, the spotlight that he had chased for more than a decade shining on him at last.

The man who could get no closer than ringside while big fight after big fight went on without him, the man who could only gnash his teeth when his name was consistently left off the list of the best pound-for-pound fighters, changed all that with a dominating victory over Shane Mosley at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in front of 9,017.

Wright won a solid, unanimous decision, judges Chuck Giampa and Dave Moretti scoring it 117-111 and Paul Smith 116-112. The Times had Wright winning, 116-112.

Wright was overpowering from the start. Mosley’s superior hand speed was nullified by his inability to break through Wright’s defense the majority of the time. On those occasions when Mosley did get through, he wasn’t able to hurt Wright or slow his relentless attack.

“He was very fast, but I was blocking him,” Wright said.

It was plain from the beginning that the Mosley who had overpowered Oscar De La Hoya with a strong finish last September was not the Mosley who was in the ring Saturday. Much was made of the fact that Mosley would be fighting a southpaw, a man with an awkward style that confused opponents. But that didn’t seem to be the problem. It was simply that Wright was the stronger fighter from the opening bell.

“I couldn’t get off like I wanted to,” Mosley said. “I was dehydrated.”

Mosley seemed to rally in the fifth round, landing two big rights that might have turned the fight.

But that, as it turned out, was only a fleeting flash of glory.

By the sixth round, Wright was back in command. He seemed relaxed and stayed in Mosley’s face.

“I always felt I was the better fighter,” he said.

Saturday night, nobody was arguing. Not even Mosley’s corner.

With the victory, Wright, a 3-1 underdog, became the first undisputed 154-pound champion in nearly 30 years. Wright (47-3, 25 knockouts) retained his International Boxing Federation title and won the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Assn., titles which Mosley had won from De La Hoya.

“I applaud Shane,” Wright said. “He was only man to step up ... He gave me a chance. It was the fair thing to do.”

It was an expensive thing for Mosley to do, a $9-million thing to do. Having beaten De La Hoya twice, Mosley had the chance for a third fight placed before him by De La Hoya’s handlers. Promoter Bob Arum had floated the possibility of a $12-million purse for Mosley with De La Hoya getting $15 million.

Refusing to settle for less than an even split against a man he had beaten twice, Mosley opted instead first for Ricardo Mayorga, and then, when Mayorga lost, Wright for a purse of around $3 million with the promise of a $10-million payday against Felix “Tito” Trinidad in the fall if Mosley won.

But with Trinidad looking on, Mosley dropped to 39-3 with one no-decision and 35 knockouts.

Winky-Tito anyone?

“I’ll give Shane a rematch,” Wright said. “I’d like to fight him, Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins. That’s it. Then, I’m out of here.”

Don’t bet on it. Not after all the time it took the 32-year-old Wright to get here.

*

Entering the ninth round of the 10-round semi-main event, heavyweight Joe Mesi (29-0, 25) was dominating Vassiliy Jirov (33-2, 29), a former IBF cruiserweight champion.

Jirov, blood streaming down the right side of his face from a cut above the eye caused by a seventh-round head butt, seemed to be a beaten man.

Jirov was indeed beaten, but just barely.

Drawing upon a reservoir of strength and will, Jirov knocked Mesi down once in the ninth and twice in the 10th.

When the final bell rang, Mesi was hanging on. But he pulled out a narrow unanimous decision, all three judges giving him the bout, 94-93.