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Taylor-Wright: NYC Presser!
Taylor-Wright: NYC Presser!
April 5, 2006
By Matt Richardson
Photos: David Greene
http://www.fightnews.com/richardson201.htm
Boxing is a sport where the best and frequently most logical things don't always occur like they should. There are bad decisions, worse rankings and frequent mismatches. The fights that are supposed to be made frequently aren't. And when they are, they occur often too late in the fighter's careers or they're tainted by a loss in a previous tune-up fight. So imagine boxing fans' (and members of the industry's) delight when all of the aforementioned does not take place. Imagine when the right fight takes place at the right time with the right fighters for the right price. Sound too good to be true? Well it's not because on June 17th at the Fed Ex Forum in Memphis, Tennessee that's exactly what will occur. Undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor will make his second title defense against number-one contender and former junior middleweight champion Ronald "Winky" Wright in one of those fights where everything seems to have fallen in place.
"It speaks for itself," Lou DiBella, Taylor's long-time promoter said Tuesday morning at a press conference in New York City to announce the fight. "I think Jermain deserves a lot of credit going from Bernard Hopkins to Bernard Hopkins to Winky Wright because it doesn't get more difficult than that. I think this is one of the biggest middleweight fights in years and years and years. "
"This is not only a great fight, it's a great event," said DiBella's counterpart in the promotion and Wright promoter Gary Shaw. "On June 17th there's only going to be Jermain, Winky and the referee. And the only ones that will matter will be Jermain and Winky."
"It's these kinds of fights that keep our passion going," said Senior Vice President of HBO Sports Kery Davis of the fight which will air at 9:30 PM ET on regular HBO.
"He comes to fight and that's exactly what I need - a fight," Taylor, 25-0, 17 KO's said when he took the podium. "We are two men that love the sport of boxing and we are going to fight. I respect him inside the ring and out but inside the ring I'm a dog! I just feel like I'm bigger; I'm stronger than any guy he has fought."
"I have nothing bad to say about this man," said Wright, 50-3, 25 KO's. "Whatever he says about me or I say about him it doesn't matter because we are going to fight on June 17. You have the undisputed middleweight champion and the undisputed junior middleweight champion bumping heads. It's going to be a great fight so don't miss it!"
"Whatever he do, I'm going to counter. Whatever I do, he's going to counter," Wright told the assembled media at the conclusion of the presser. Asked how it felt to be in the spotlight after years of clamoring for the big fights, Wright smiled. "It feels great," he explained. "I should have been getting the big fights when I was his (Taylor's) age. But God works in mysterious ways and now I know how it is to be at the top and to be at the bottom."
Though Wright seems relaxed with his position in the sport, the 27-year old Taylor admits to feeling the pressure of becoming a new star in a sport that is sorely lacking fresh blood. "I feel a lot of pressure," he admitted. "I'm the man who beat Hopkins twice. I came on the scene too fast; I came out of nowhere."
"He went to school against Bernard Hopkins and he graduated. Now he's going for his P.HD," Pat Burns, Taylor's trainer explained about his pupil.
Taylor knows the value of this fight for his career and for the sport overall. He says whenever he talks to people about boxing they always ask him if he's going to bite their ear in an obvious reference to the infamous Mike Tyson - Evander Holyfield rematch in 1997. That view of the sport is negative though and hinders the sport's perception in the mainstream. And this is something Taylor aims to fix. "That's what people think about boxing and that's why I want to change that."
Fighting the right fighter at the right time though, is a very good first step in that direction.
JABZ
Taylor said he believed there was an immediate rematch clause should he lose his titles...He also confessed that he doesn't watch many sports though he believes Floyd Mayweather is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. "Under him, I feel like I should be next," said the champion...Wright also warned the media not to be surprised if he could hurt or even knock out Taylor. Despite his lack of power, the slick defensive fighter explained that "it ain't that Winky Wright don't punch, I don't go for the knockout."...Asked if he felt his fight with Wright ("Winky" has as many knockouts as Taylor does fights) would be comparable to his Olympic teammate Jeff Lacy's exposure against the more experienced Joe Calzaghe, Taylor said he didn't think so. "You never go to a man's house, stay over here," Taylor said in reference to Lacy crossing the ocean to fight Calzaghe in his backyard of Manchester, England. Tickets priced from $1,250 to $75 are available thru Ticketmaster
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at the resemblance.
And Jermain does have a point, Winky has never met someone with his overall power and strength. (Tito's comes from leverage.)
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