Ronald Wright was born on November 26th, 1971 in Washington, DC, but he grew up in St. Petersburg, FL. It has been his home ever since. Wright learned to box starting at age 16 in Dan Birmingham’s gym (which also produced 168 lbs puncher Jeff Lacy). It was rather a late start for a man who would later earn a reputation as a crafty master boxer, but Wright was a fast learner, and would keep on learning throughout his career.
European Contender
Wright followed a very unusual career path for an American boxer, especially at junior middleweight (154 lbs). After winning his first 16 fights, mostly in Florida and mostly by knockout, Birmingham began calling around and looking for someone who would take him to the next level. Ultimately the only promoters interested in doing so proved to be the Acaries brothers in Europe. In January 1993 Wright became a rare American who crossed the Atlantic to pursue career opportunities on the Continent.
By August 1994, Wright was 25-0 and matched against 50-1 WBA 154 lbs. champion Julio Cesar Vasquez of Argentina. Vasquez’s only loss had been three years prior, but it was a Disqualification against the redoubtable Verno Phillips, so Vasquez had never truly been beaten. Along the way he beat a Spaniard who would later become a middleweight champion, Javier Castillejo. He was a formidable opponent, but that wasn’t all that went against Winky. Vasquez had help, namely some very friendly and highly corrupt officiating. The fight took place in France, and five knockdowns were scored against Wright: one each in Rounds 2, 7 and 9, and two in the 12th. The first three were all slips. However, even without the highly suspect knockdowns, Winky still would have lost, albeit by a razor thin margin. He went home having made $50,000 in his first championship fight.
Winky was soon back on the road, fighting in the U.S., Argentina and France. He claimed the vacant NABF title from tough journeyman Tony Marshall in February 1995. He defended it a few times, including once against an even tougher Andrew Council in March 1996. Council went on to become a solid middleweight fringe contender, but on USA’s Tuesday Night Fights, Wright thoroughly schooled him and won by lopsided margins on the scorecards.
His wins led to a May 1996 challenge for Bronco McKart’s WBO Junior Middleweight Title. 28-1, McKart had not lost since the earliest days of his pro career. He won the bout by Split Decision on ESPN, having earned his first championship and another $50,000 payday.
The Acaries had Wright back in Europe, and with the title he was now earning an average of $100,000 per fight. This was not as much as a typical fighter of his league should have been making, but at least it was in a trio of easy bouts in Britain. Wright’s contract with the Acaries was coming to an end at the time, and he was hoping to take his title back to America and start making better money. However, for his last fight he was sent to South Africa to meet 16-0 Harry Simon of Namibia in August 1998. At $300,000, the fight was Wright’s biggest paycheck yet. Simon would later go on to be a two-division champ, so he had some stuff, but that night Wright took him to school. Despite that, the fight was initially scored a Majority Draw on the cards. Wright went back to his dressing room with his title, only to be told that there was an “error in math.” The new scoring gave a Majority Decision to Simon, in one of the most overlooked stinky results of the 1990s. Interestingly, Harold Lederman’s daughter Julie was one of the judges who gave the fight to Simon, and a South African was the other.
Wright went back to Florida without his title, but free of his European backers and ready to start a new phase of his career.
Back in America
Ronald “Winky” Wright was a 5’10” southpaw with a 72″ reach. He had all-around good talent, but his bread and butter were in his defensive skills, his masterful counter-punching, and his excellent sense of timing.
After a tune-up bout, Wright was matched with 17-0 “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas in December 1999 for Vargas’s IBF title. Vargas was a strong fighter with an all-action style, and coming off the Olympics he had made a big splash in the junior middleweight division. Vargas’s style was well-suited to Wright’s make ’em miss and make ’em pay mastery, but instead of adopting a counter-punchers stance Wright took the battle to Vargas. Most likely Wright wanted to produce a good show the audience (and executives) watching on HBO. Standing toe to toe with the puncher and fighting his fight, Wright produced a nail-biting war. It was a desperately close fight, but Vargas probably deserved the Majority Decision win. However, even his first clear cut defeat said more about Wright than it did about Vargas. Many who knew nothing of Wright stood up and took notice, while those who did know him wondered what he would have done if he had fought his fight rather than Vargas’s slugfest.
Following the Vargas loss, Wright met old rival Bronco McKart in a rematch for McKart’s NABF and USBA belts in September 2000. The fight was also an eliminator for the IBF’s #1 contender’s status, so a victory would earn Wright a rematch with Vargas. Showing how much Wright had grown since their first encounter four years before, and scored a huge points win. He followed that up by fighting hard-punching former champ Keith Mullings, and also beat him by a huge margin on the scorecards.
In the meantime, Vargas had been crushed by Felix Trinidad and Trinidad had moved up to middleweight. So when Wright got his IBF title shot, it was against a nobody rather than a star. He won easily and quickly racked up 4 successful title defenses, including a rubber match with Bronco McKart.
The Big Time
Wright had built a decent career despite being the hard luck guy who was always being either ducked or getting the short end of the stick from the judges. Now a man stepped up who wanted to fight only the best: “Sugar” Shane Mosley. Mosely was the WBC-WBA champion and looking for a big fight. Trinidad was balking and a rubber match with Oscar de la Hoya didn’t look promising, and that left a unification fight with Wright. Earning a career-high payday of $750,000, Wright eagerly signed on the dotted line.
They met in March 2004, and Wright kept Mosley at bay all night with his right jab, setting him up for solid counters from the outside. Winky had the Sugarman’s number, and he scored a big points win. It had taken a long time, but Winky Wright was now the Undisputed World Champion and a recognized, top tier fighter. Mosley arranged for an immediate rematch, which came in November. Mosley produced a much closer fight, but Wright still did enough to hold it to a Majority Decision and keep his title.
Moving up to 160 lbs, Wright challenged the most feared puncher of the day, Felix Trinidad. Tito was coming back from his schooling at the hands of Bernard Hopkins. Following the path established first by Oscar de la Hoya and confirmed by Hopkins, Wright schooled Trinidad again, winning a landslide Unanimous Decision. The staggering loss sent Trinidad into retirement.
That win coupled with a points victory over Sam Soliman got Wright a shot at Undisputed World Middleweight Champion Jermain Taylor, the young star who had dethroned Bernard Hopkins. Taylor at that time was still in his best form, and no man who had managed to out-hustle the legendary B-Hop was going to be befuddled by Wright the way Hopkins was. Also, Taylor was bigger than Wright, whereas Mosley had been smaller. It was a very close and very tactical fight, and the result was rightly called a Draw. However, after so many stinky decisions in the past, Wright stormed away convinced he had won. That conviction effectively scuttled any rematch, as Wright insisted on a 50-50 purse split.
Wright went on to win big on points against a rusty Ike Quartey in December, and then met fellow master craftsman Bernard Hopkins in July 2007. An accidental head-butt in the 3rd opened a cut above Wright’s eye in the 3rd, which caused him some trouble from that point forward. Hopkins used his superior height, reach, and deeper tool-kit to outbox Wright from the outside, although Wright did manage to close the distance and show some of the same grit he matched against Vargas in the middle rounds. However, when the scorecards gave Hopkins a clean points win, there was no doubt he had earned it.
The Long Wait
After losing to B-Hop, Wright had no natural dance partners. He also had a problem with pricing himself out of fights. The truth is that Wright was an opponent who brought a lot to a big fight, but he was never popular enough to serve as the basis of a big fight himself. He languished on the shelf until April 2009. At 37 and with almost two years of rust on him, Wright proved easy prey for the high volume pressure tactics of Paul “The Punisher” Williams. Williams won almost every round, simply overwhelming Wright with his high work-rate.
With a record of 51-5-1 and 25 knockouts, Ronald “Winky” Wright remains active today.
Sources: hbo.com/boxing/fighters/wright_winky/bio.html; boxrec.com; The Ring, International Boxing Digest; live fight footage
