Ronald
Lamont "Winky" Wright (born November 26, 1971) is an American
former professional boxer who held the undisputed light middleweight
title and fought many notable world champions. Wright announced his
retirement from boxing on June 4, 2012, following a loss to Peter
Quillin.
Amateur career
After an amateur career that saw him accumulate
and amateur record of 65-7 (even though most sources say 52-5 because
they could not confirm the exact number of amateur fights that Wright
had) he turned professional in 1990.
Professional career
After
his second round knockout of Carlos Santana on July 30, 1992, in St.
Petersburg, Florida, the ring announcer called him "Winky" Wright,
the name given to him by his grandmother when he was 6 months old
and that had unofficially stuck with him since he was 18 months old.
The nickname stuck with him for the rest of his career following his
win over Santana.
Big time promoters like Don King and Lou Duva
would not promote Wright in the early part of his career. His first
big time promoters were the French based Acaries brothers, who struck
a deal for Wright to fight Darryl Lattimore in Luxembourg on January
1, 1993. Wright knocked Lattimore down three times, and the fight
was stopped. Wright went on a tear during his tour of Europe, winning
8 straight in France, Germany, Monte Carlo, only fighting in the United
States once over the next year.
First title shot
On August 21,
1994, Wright received his first title match against WBA light middleweight
champion Julio Cesar Vasquez in Saint Jean-de-Luz, France. Although
he was 25-0 at the time, Wright had not fought in a match that had
gone more than 8 rounds. His inexperience showed as Winky lost a unanimous
decision, with Vasquez knocking down Wright in the second, seventh
and ninth rounds, as well as twice in the twelfth round (Wright also
officially slipped 3 times during the fight and 4 times unofficially).
However, the decision proved controversial, as Vasquez only won the
fight on the knock downs he scored (with Wright appearing to win every
round (except the third round, which appeared to be even) that Vasquez
did not knock him down in) and that the knock down (which was the
first knock down) in the second round was a controversial variation
of a slip (the one unofficial slip in the fight), which would mean
that if it was not controversially ruled a knock down, Wright would
have narrowly won the fight on the scorecards (on a one point margin):
112-111.
However though on February 4, 1995, Wright would bounce
back in his typical fashion, defeating Tony Marshall by unanimous
decision to win the vacant NABF light middleweight title.
Ongoing
world tour and winning the WBO title
Wright continued fighting in Europe,
only fighting in the United States once, until his unanimous decision
victory against Andrew Council on March 5, 1996. His impressive win
opened the door to fight WBO light middleweight champion Bronco McKart,
a fight Wright won by split decision. Wright successfully defended
his title in England three times; twice in Manchester against local
fighters Ensley Bingham and Steve Foster, and Adrian Dodson in London.
Wright
then traveled to South Africa where he lost his world title in controversial
circumstances to the undefeated Harry Simon. After a very close contest
the fight was initially ruled a draw, then minutes later changed to
a majority decision win for Simn due to an apparent scoring error.
Moving
to America
He stopped working with the Acaries brothers in 1999, stating that he was tired of all the traveling. He went on to knock out Derrick Graham in the third round in Miami, Florida. Wright then challenged IBF light middleweight champion Fernando Vargas.