When it comes to Golden Boy Promotions, President Oscar De La Hoya continues to insist that "we want to do the best job possible for the fighters," but I can't help but wonder exactly what they've done lately for former undisputed jr. middleweight champion Winky Wright, who has yet to secure a bout since his 12-round unanimous decision loss to Paul Williams back in April of 2009. Although Wright is neither a partner nor a fighter locked into a contract with Golden Boy Promotions, he does have what De La Hoya referred to as a "strategic alliance" with the company. It's a relationship that first started back in 2006, when Wright left his long-time promoter Gary Shaw before partnering with Felix "Tito" Trinidad to form their own promotional company, Winky Promotions, in hopes of co-promoting events with Golden Boy.
Since that time, Wright, with the help of Golden Boy Promotions, has been able to secure just 3 fights in 4 years against the likes of Ike Quartey, Bernard Hopkins and Paul Williams. Although Wright has had mixed results (3 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw) since making the move up in weight from the 154-pound division, I don't understand why Golden Boy Promotions is having such a difficult time finding an opponent for a future Hall of Famer who holds 2 wins over Shane Mosley, a near shut-out against Felix Trinidad, and a draw with then undpisted middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. "When you mention Wink's name, the motherfucker always gets shafted. Winky is a marked dude. He needs to put a sign on his back that reads 'Fucked for life in boxing'," close friends to Wright often times comment. It's a statement that would appear to ring true considering that Wright's career has been plagued by a lack of opportunities.
In July of 2007, Wright suffered his first loss in nearly 8 years, a disapointing 12-round unanimous decision, when he moved up in weight to face Golden Partner Bernard Hopkins at a catchweight of 170 pounds. Afterwards, Wright's career was in limbo for 2 years as attempts at securing bouts with Kelly Pavlik and Antonio Margarito failed. It wasn't until April of 2009 when Wright finally did get another opportunity against Paul Williams, a fight he was forced to take on short notice. So from July of 2007 until now, Winky Wright has had just one fight. Meanwhile, during that same timeframe, Golden Boy partners Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley would each participate in a number of fights resulting in similar mixed results. Mosley would go on to face Miguel Cotto, Ricardo Mayorga, Antonio Margarito, Floyd Mayweather and Sergio Mora (2 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw) while Hopkins would face Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavlik, Enrique Ornelas and Roy Jones Jr. (3 wins and 1 loss). Although Hopkins, Mosley and Wright have had similar successes and failures inside the ring, for whatever reason, only Hopkins and Mosley were able to continue to get lucrative bouts while Wright has either been forgotten, ignored or simply passed over by Golden Boy Promotions. But why?
According to an industry insider, it's Golden Boy Promotions who has evidently dropped the ball in the handling of Wright's career. "My honest opinion is Golden Boy has done great for both Bernard and for Shane. They both can come off losses and still get fights. Shane, he got a pay-per-view fight right after Floyd embarrassed him, and Bernard, right now, he's got the Pascal fight. But look at Winky Wright. People say, 'Well, Winky's been out for a year and he hasn't won a fight in 4 years.' Yeah, that's true, but if you look at Bernard and Shane, they have had long periods of inactivity too. Shane was out for over a year [16 months] after he beat Margarito and Bernard was out just as long [14 months] after he beat Pavlik. I mean, it's so bad, they can lose and come right back with big fight after big fight after big fight. Shane quit against Floyd and came right back against Mora. Even though Mora is nobody special, they did an entire card around him. They would never do an entire card around Winky," the source remarked. "On the part of Golden Boy, I have to say they've done great by Shane and Bernard. They've done great by their partners, but when it comes to Winky Wright, I have to say that's a totally different story. Winky's not the type to complain or go say something and that's the problem. They know he's going to stay quiet so they don't bother to do anything for him."
Damian Ramirez, advisor to Wright, however, would disagree with that assessment. "Richard [Schaefer] is the only one who has worked hard, stood up for and gone to bat for Wink, but for whatever reason, his hands keep getting tied and they keep putting up roadblocks," he explained, hinting that the problems stem more from the major networks, HBO and Showtime, than the promotional company. Whether or not it's Golden Boy Promotions or the networks that are responsible for his inability to get a fight remains to be seen, but it's true that there does seem to be some type of double standard when it comes to Winky Wright, who has only lost 2 fights in the past decade. Compare that to Shane Mosley, who has lost a total of 6 fights in the past 10 years, or even Bernard Hopkins, who has lost 3. Despite his recent period of inactivity, however, the fact that Wright is still a big name who's eager to fight in a division that's lacking star power is the reason why Ramirez believes he's the logical choice for middleweight king Sergio Martinez. "Margarito came back and fought Manny, even though he was a cheater, inactive and out for a year, because it was the easier fight to sell. It's similar to Wink. He has the bigger name and is a better sell, unlike the names of Matthew Macklin and Andy Lee, who are being shopped around for Martinez," Ramirez would explain. "Martinez says he wants nothing but big fights, right? So you're telling me Matthew Macklin is a big fight? You're telling me Andy Lee is a big fight? Let's just go by what the fighter, his promter and his advisor are saying. 'We want big money fights!' Okay, there's only two really big fights that you would consider big money: Mayweather and Pacquiao. Guess what? Neither one of them is fighting him. So what's the next fight that you would consider big where they could make money? When you say big fights, in order for you to get the money, the public has to want it. So you're telling me the fans would rather have Sergio Martinez fight Matthew Macklin or Andy Lee than a guy they know like Winky Wright, who has proven himself against the biggest names in the sport?"
I have to admit, Ramirez brings up some very valid points, and if Golden Boy Promotions is truly dedicated to making "the best fights," as De La Hoya promised, then a bout with Winky Wright certainly does sound a lot more interesting than a tune-up against Andy Lee, who's been rebuilding his career against subpar competition ever since losing via 7th round TKO to Bryan Vera back in 2008. Not to mention, a fight with Wright would provide Martinez an opportunity to test his skills against a style that's similar to that of long-reigning WBA champion Felix Sturm, who could be a possible opponent in a unification bout assuming that Martinez doesn't get the "big fights" he's hoping for. "What does Matthew Macklin or Andy Lee give more to Sergio than Winky? At the end of the day, beating Wink is not just like beating any fighter; you beating a fucking legend, a dude that's guaranteed to make the Hall of Fame," Ramirez added. While that all sounds well and good, the question is does Golden Boy Promotions even have the capability or the pull to get Winky Wright an opportunity, like they've continuously done for Hopkins and Mosley, if a network like HBO isn't really interested? My guess is no, but at the very least, I would think they might want to consider serving Wright up to the Alvarez brothers, first Rigoberto and then Saul, like I heard they were hoping to do with Shane Mosley, on their next independent pay-per-view event.
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