Call off the search! It appears that former jr. middleweight king Winky Wright has emerged from hiding. In a recent interview, Wright poked his head out of his shell just long enough to challenge middelweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who's currently in search of a dance partner for his June 7th date.
"I think it's a great fight for the fans. I throw a lot of punches and he throws a lot of punches. He's supposed to be this big puncher and the best middleweight in a long time. Let's see what happens when the two of us meet in the middle of the ring," stated Wright in a recent boxinqtalk interview. "Everybody knows I come to fight and it wouldn't be no different with Pavlik. It would be different for Pavlik because, you know, fighting Winky Wright, that 0 gotta go baby!"
Wright, who's been known to price himself out of lucrative fights in the past, made it clear that this time, that would not be the case. "Like I said, I know Arum don't want the fight. All they have to do is be fair and the fight will happen," he emphasized. "I'm not going to be the reason this fight doesn't happen. It'll either be Kelly Pavlik or Bob Arum."
When asked how the fight would play out, Wright quipped, "He couldn't knock me out if I fought a stupid fight. I'm going to be in his chest the whole night and I ain't gonna allow him to get no extension on his punches. He's going to have to fight me chest to chest and show me what he's got. We'll see if he can stand there for twelve rounds with me like that. I ain't no Jermain Taylor."
Indeed, he ain't no Jermain Taylor, though given the fact that Wright fought Taylor to a draw, one has to wonder if he can really do that much better against Pavlik. That being said, a clash between Pavlik and Wright does sound intriguing and rumor has it that both Pavlik and his trainer Jack Loew are extremely interested in the fight. Whether or not it can produce the same type of fireworks as Pavlik's two fights with Taylor is the real question fans should be asking themselves however. Wright's last appearance in the ring was on July 21, 2007 when he lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins in a fight that most described as "boring". After experiencing the dull affair between Klitschko and Ibragimov this past weekend, most fans won't be too anxious to sit through another snoozer any time soon.
[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]