COURTESTY:
BOXINGREALM.COM
(10JULY07) The former junior middleweight champion and middleweight contender,
Winky Wright (51,3,1,25 KO’s) spoke with the world media just hours ago to discuss his upcoming showdown on July 21 against
The Ring Magazine’s Light Heavyweight Champion,
Bernard “ The Executioner” Hopkins (47,4,1,32 KO’s). Hopkins’ Ring Magazine belt will be on the line and the fight will be carried live on
HBO PPV from the
Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Boxingrealm’s
Phillip Pastrano sat in on the conference call and asked Winky about the possibility of fighting current WBC light heavyweight king, “Bad” Chad Dawson and why Wright felt he had to change to a more aggressive fighting style. Here is what he had to say….
BOXINGREALM:
Its not just "boxing experts" but fans alike that are saying that this fight is going to be a very defensive fight and not a whole lot of excitement; however, the title of this promotion is dubbed "Coming to Fight". Dan Birmingham, your trainer, said in the last conference call that you are going to put the pressure on Hopkins and that is the way you are going to come out. This doesn’t sound like the typical Winky Wright strategy. Is this new style something that you have been progressing towards over the last few fights?
WINKY:
Well if you look at my past couple of fights I am always coming forward. With Ermine Taylor I came forward. I came forward with Ike Quartey and Trinidad. So you know people just see me cause my defense is so good they think that I don’t punch, but I throw a lot of punches. I don’t go for the knockout. I prefer to beat you up for 12 rounds and you be like “ I ain’t fighting him on more.”
if you notice, you don’t see fighters come running in on me. So if I couldn’t punch, they would come right at me because it would be like “ he can’t hit”, but I can hit. I’ve got a great defense and I am a smart fighter and I come to win.
BOXINGREALM:
Assuming the outcome of this fight is a victory for you over Bernard. What does this do for your career and have you ever looked towards Chad Dawson for a challenge?
WINKY:
Oh no. Definitely not. I am not a light heavyweight and Chad Dawson is a friend of mine. We have sparred lots of times and I congratulated him on his title, but I am not a light heavyweight. Don’t put (write) Winky Wright in the light heavyweight division. I am a middleweight and junior middleweight. This fight is to prove to the people that I can beat Bernard Hopkins. I just want to be the best fighter of my era.
This fight don’t define my career. My career is already defined by what I have accomplished for being the undisputed junior middleweight champ.
BOXINGREALM:
One last question. You mentioned earlier that maybe the networks (HBO, SHOWTIME) put a little bit of pressure in determining the style of fight that you are now fighting. Would you tell us a little bit about that? What type of pressure would did you feel in order for you to change the type of fighter you are?
WINKY:
Back in the days when I was a slick boxer and out boxing everybody I was ranked number one in the world but I couldn’t get the networks to give me a fight on HBO or this and that. They would be like “ well you know you’re very slick and its not going to be exciting and nobody is going to want to see it because they can’t hit you”.
Well you know Boxing is a sport where you are suppose to hit and NOT be hit. Not go out there and let somebody hit you and test your chin and see who can take the biggest punch and at the time, there’s a lot of big heavyweights with big punches and no skills. Now where is the heavyweight division? You have fighters that have no skills. Everybody just wants to throw the big punch.
Winky also predicted that he would beat Bernard Hopkins from round one and make him “go back to the retirement home where he should have stayed retired.”
