Winky Wright: "50-50, or No Taylor Rematch"

By Mark Vester

Former junior middleweight champion Winky Wright has reaffirmed his position with respect to a rematch with current WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. He wants a 50-50 split of the purse or the rematch will never happen.

Wright tells USA Today that while both fighters want a rematch of their June bout that ended in a draw, money is the issue from making the rematch a reality. Wright feels that he clearly won the bout, but was robbed of a decision. He let Taylor get more money the first time around, but is not willing to do so again.

"I'm an older fighter, so I want the best fighters out there, and I want to fight them now," Wright says. "But I've got to get treated right. When we fought the first time, Jermain got more. I beat him, but they called it a draw, so that means we're even. Why should he get more now? I don't feel Jermain and his team is trying to be fair about the negotiations. Now if they want the fight, it will be a 50-50 fight, or it will be no fight."

Wright noted that if the rematch does not take place, he does not want people to blame it on him.

"I think the network wants to keep it going, the fans want to keep it going and I want to give the fans what they want to see," Wright says. "If a rematch doesn't happen, a lot of fans are going to be missing out. But it won't be my fault."

Lou DiBella, promoter of Jermain Taylor, told the paper that Wright turned down a guaranteed $5 million dollars for a rematch and feels that Wright's financial demands are not "realistic." DiBella said that while Taylor badly wants a rematch, he is not going to chase Wright to get it.

"Jermain wants the rematch just as much as Winky Wright claims he does, but we're not chasing him," DiBella says.