I can't say I've been a fan of future Hall of Famer Ronald "Winky" Wright over the years, mostly due to his money-hungry approach to whatever fight he has been mentioned in during his psuedo-exile from the sport. Wright has lost more fights at the negotiating table than he has in the ring. ESPN's own Dan Rafael has reserved the title "Winky Wright School of Business" for fighters who price themselves out of big fights. Despite my personal opinion of the former two-division champion, I can lay down one fact as clear as day and that is that Wright isn't getting a fair shake in the game of boxing right now, and he's just one of many future Hall of Famers who are getting shafted.
Wright's issues with landing a meaningful fight over the years has been chronicled in depth here on FightHype.com. He's been mentioned as a possible opponent for Kelly Pavlik, Felix Sturm, Mikkel Kessler and Miguel Cotto, but almost as soon as the discussions were made public, they would quickly fade away into obscurity. More recently, Wright has been extremely vocal about being passed over like an unwanted Christmas present for Sergio Martinez's 2011 debut in March. Martinez will instead face off against Sergei Dzinziriuk, who I'm sure half of the readers of this piece have never heard of.
Take nothing away from Dzinziriuk. He's an undefeated and very sharp fighter who has a very good chance of beating Martinez, but how can the brass at HBO honestly believe that a guy who's last name most people can't pronounce is a better choice than a fighter who, on their own network, twice beat Sugar Shane Mosley and dominated Felix Trinidad? While many people can criticize Wright's technique, he is a boxer in the purest sense of the word, and if Bernard Hopkins can still get dates with his clutch and headbutt style, why is it so hard for Wright?
The sport of boxing has no more recognizable stars thanks to the fact that networks are keeping the young bucks away from the old lions. Throughout the ages, the old gave way to the new and that kept the sport alive. Where would Oscar De La Hoya be without Julio Cesar Chavez and Hector Camacho? How popular was Lennox Lewis before he beat Evander Holyfield? Would Cassius Clay become Muhammad Ali if he never fought Sonny Liston? Wright is a former two-time Junior Middleweight champion who has beaten two bonafide legends in Trindad and Mosley. He will go down in history enshrined in the Hall of Fame and is considered one of the top fighters of the last decade. Why can't our legends be put out to pasture like the old days, allowing the new blood to test themselves to see how good they really are?
Wright will have his chance to fight his way back into prominence in April as he faces off against highly-rated Middleweight Matthew Macklin, who the Martinez camp is considering as an opponent should he beat Wright. That being said, they have stayed mum on the possibility of facing Wright, outside of saying he's old news. Should Wright beat Macklin and Martinez beats Dzinziruk, it's only natural that the two just fight each other and get it over with. If Martinez dominates Wright more than Paul Williams did in 2008, or becomes the first fighter to stop him, it'll make headlines on Sunday and Monday morning, instantly putting Martinez in the running for a second Fighter of the Year award and building his resume to that of a Hall of Famer. If Wright wins, he becomes champion, and while everybody can cry and complain, the world will keep turning. It really isn't a lose-lose situation like everybody is making it to be.
If I were Wright's team, I'd be there in Conneticut and borrow a page from the Shane Mosley's book by getting into the ring and issuing a personal challenge if he wants the fight so badly. Brashness is rewarded in the fight game. Mosley already got his beating from Floyd Mayweather when he made it, and while Zab Judah hasn't fought Devon Alexander yet, HBO would be foolish to let Alexander-Judah not happen assuming Alexander and Judah win their next fights. All Wright would have to do is beat Macklin, then the first question people will ask Martinez is "Are you going to fight him?" It's foolproof.
Maybe I'm just wishing boxing goes back to the old days when the torch was passed and when Hall of Famers got their due for their contributions to the sport they've helped maintain through the years. HBO has bought worse fights before, or even Showtime can continue to take fights HBO thinks are fools gold, like they have with Pacquiao-Mosley and Cotto-Mayorga, but should Wright beat Macklin, then if not Martinez, he should be entitled to one last shot as all legends are.