According to recent reports, former jr. middleweight champion Winky Wright has come on record to state that Golden Boy Promotions, in conjunction with Winky Promotions, has offered middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik a career-high $4 million payday for a potential showdown this summer...and they're willing to face him in his own backyard.
Thus far, promoter Bob Arum has been unwilling to entertain the idea of Pavlik defending his title against Wright, focusing instead on potential opponents like Giovanni Lorenzo, Marco Antonio Rubio and Gary Lockett. In fact, according to a recent article by Joe Scalzo of Vindy.com, Pavlik is set to announce that he will be making his first middleweight title defense against Welshman Gary Lockett on June 7th at Madison Square Garden. Although Pavlik's team is still working out some details, an official announcement is expected as early as tomorrow.
The offer couldn't have come at a better time, at least for Wright, as it will surely make it appear as though he's being "ducked" by Pavlik for a much easier opponent. The real question, however, is whether or not a fight between Pavlik and Wright is even worth that much money. In his rematch with Jermain Taylor, Pavlik earned approximately $2.5 million while Taylor earned about $3 million, but the numbers for the pay-per-view broadcast were less than stellar, garnering only 225,000 buys. In previous interviews, Wright has openly stated that he'd be willing to accept a 60/40 split, so assuming Pavlik get's the "lion's share" of the purse, $4 million, simple math can tell us that Winky's 40 split would earn him roughly $2.6 million. Is a fight between Pavlik and Wright really worth more than his rematch with Taylor? Personally, I'm not so sure it is, especially considering that Wright fought to a draw with Taylor nearly two years ago and hasn't been in the ring since his unanimous decision loss to Bernard Hopkins in July of last year.
Despite the fact that one reporter in particular is billing Pavlik-Wright as the best middleweight fight that can be made, the reaction from fans on a number of internet message boards seem to be split right down the middle. That fact alone should be enough to make people realize that it might be a good idea to build up a little more hype about this fight to increase the demand for it. Just because you have a recognizable name involved, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a must-see fight!
QUICK JAB: Can Winky Promotions really be considered a promotional company? Is Felix Trinidad still the President of Winky Promotions Puerto Rico? According to their website, winkypromotionsllc.com, he certainly is, but then again, it's been a long time since that site has been updated. So inquiring minds want to know...what's the deal with Winky Promotions and when can the fans in St. Pete expect a good card?
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