- As at May 2007 -
Cont'd from Part I

The door that Wright had been banging on for so long, opened slightly for him after the Council fight. April 1996 found him in Monroe, Michigan, the hometown of newly crowned WBO junior middleweight champion, Bronco McKart, where he picked up $50,000 and McKart's title with a split decision in an ESPN Friday Night telecast. "Well, at least I could pronounce Monroe," Wright joked.

King, Arum and Duva still failed to return calls. The Acaries brothers switched Wright's base of operations to England, where he earned a small but welcomed fortune defending his WBO title against Ensley Bingham, Steve Foster, and Adrian Dodson. For the three fights, he received approxmately $300,000, which was about what most American champions were taking down as expense money.

With his contract with the Acaries running out, Wright agreed to defend his title against South African, Harry Simon for $300,000 in Hammanskraal, South Africa in August 1998.

"Do they have mosquitoes in South Africa?" Wright asked Birmingham.

"They have screens," responded the trainer.

"How do you pronounce this place?" asked Wright. "South Africa," said the trainer.

They both laughed.

Simon, a Nambian by birth, was 16 and 0. Wright was only Simon's second 10-round (plus) bout. In his first, he knocked out Kasi Kaihau in Sheffield, England.

When it was over, the three WBO judges decided that it was a majority draw, which mean that Wright had retained his title. A few minutes later, while Wright was unwrapping his hands in his dressing room, an official came in to tell him there had been an error in the scoring. He had lost by a majority decision. Boom! Then they released the new scoring. No one explained how there had to be at least a three-point swing in one of the judge's scoring to change the decision.

Wright's contract with the Acaries expired. Wright returned home to St. Petersburg. "We were not unhappy with the Acaries," Birmingham said. "Far from it. They did everything they said they would do and more. Winky was just tired of all the travel. They understood and wished us well. In fact, I speak with them even today."

Once resettled, Wright began Phase Three of his career, "Winky Does the United States." He opened by knocking out Derrick Graham in three in Miami in March 1999. In December of that year, he went toe to toe with "Ferocious" Fernando Vargas for the IBF junior middleweight title, only to be saddled with another controversial loss by majority decision. One judge scored it a draw, the other two leaned to Vargas, though the media and fans at ringside thought Winky had won.

"People keep waiting for me to go away. It ain't gonna happen", the undaunted Wright said. He then scored his second decision over McKart for the NABF and USBA titles. Three months later, he successfully defended his USBA title, this time against former world champion, Keith Mullings.

Felix Trinidad's move up to middleweight left an opening at the top of the IBF junior middleweight division. Wright stepped in and filled the void in October 2001 by scoring a unanimous decision over highly regarded, Robert Frazier.

In his first defense, Wright stopped Jason Papillion in the 5th round and he then turned to mandatory challenger, Bronco McKart for a second rematch, this one for the championship in September 2002. After referee, Michael Fischer had penalized McKart five points for low blows, he was disqualified in the 8th round.

After all the years of fighting in places like Lincoln City, Nebraska and Beziers, France, the lights of Las Vegas finally blinked welcome to Winky Wright. In his Las Vegas debut, he was a little tight in scoring a decision over Juan Carlos Candelo in March 2003.

His fight against Angel Hernandez in Vegas eight months later, was a blowout: 119-109, 118-110, 117-111, in favour of Wright.

Then to Wright's astonishment and delight, up stepped Shane Mosley who owned two victories over Oscar De La Hoya, but was having trouble nailing down a big money fight. With a $10 million dollar fight with Trinidad in the wings, Mosley offered a junior middleweight unification fight to Wright. Mosley did not want another fight with De La Hoya.

Using a jab honed in far away places, Wright stayed on top of the bemused champion all night, never allowing him to use his speed. Mosley rallied in a furious final three-minute burst, but it was too little, too late against a guy who had found the brass ring and was not going to let go. Winning on all three scorecards, Wright became the division's first undisputed champion in 29 years, and the first man to ever hold all three major belts simultaneously.

"I've chased the big guys my whole career. Shane is the only one who would step up. We will do this again," Wright said. "Just show me the money." They showed him $1.6 million and he said "yes". They did it again in November 2004. It was a better fight, with Mosley spurred by the memory of his first loss. As in many of the really good fights, the last round, one that truly ebbed and flowed, decided it. One judge called it a draw and two others scored it for Wright.

Winky moved up to middleweight and challenged WBC/WBA No.1 middleweight contender Felix Trinidad, a world champion in three different weight divisions, May 14, 2005. The pay-per-view fight, proved to be Winky's best yet. Most ringside media, and one judge, had Winky winning all 12 rounds, while the two remaining judges gave Winky 11 of the 12 -- perhaps the most dominating performance by a fighter ever.

Winky, already the WBC and WBA No. 1 middleweight contender, followed that victory with a thrilling 12-round unanimous decision over Sam Soliman, the IBF’s top-rated middleweight contender, in December 10, 2005, further solidifying his mandatory challenger status to the middleweight title as the undisputed No. 1 contender.

In June 2006, Wright fought Jermain Taylor in a middleweight championship bout that was declared a draw.

Most recently in December 2006, Winky Wright won a unanimous 12-round decision against former world champion, Ike Quartey.