Saturday December 2nd on HBO
The broadcast will begin at
9:45 p.m. ET/6:45 p.m. PT
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: WINKY WRIGHT VS. IKE QUARTEY AND JEFF LACY VS. VITALI TSYPKO
Ronald “Winky” Wright may still be boxing’s most-avoided fighter, but on Dec. 2, the man many consider the uncrowned middleweight champion will, finally, get a chance to fight someone on his own terms, and on his own turf.
In his first hometown fight since 1992 when, according to trainer Dan Birmingham, he was “fighting for a thousand bucks in front of a thousand people,” Wright, 50-3-1, (25 KOs), returns to the St. Petersburg area where he’ll headline an HBO-televised card at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.
Wright will face former welterweight champion Ike Quartey, 37-3-1, (31 KOs), of Ghana, in a 12-round middleweight bout.
“They still ducking me,” Wright said Saturday morning after a brief workout at the FightClub gym in Las Vegas, where he is in training.
“Only Ike wanted to fight me.”
Like Wright, who last fought a draw with middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, Quartey, too, is coming off a controversial decision in his ten-round decision loss to Vernon Forrest in August.
“It’s hard to get up for a fight like this,” admits Wright, who would rather be fighting pay-per-view level names for bigger bucks.
“But I have to treat every fight as a mega fight. There’s no such thing as an easy fight. I’ll just have to stay focused.”
If Wright had things his way, he’d rather be training for someone like Oscar De La Hoya, who is, incidentally, co-promoting the Quartey fight.
“I’m fighting everyone they put in front of me,” says Wright. “I duck no one—but I definitely want that fight. Besides the obvious money, I would love to fight a legend like De La Hoya. I’ve earned it. I had to earn it the hard way.”
Statistics-----Winky Wright--------Ike Quartey
Record -----------50-3-1, 25KO -------37-3-1, 31KO
Age ------------------34----------------------36
Nationality ------American---------------Ghana
Height------------5'10 1/2---------------5'7 1/2
Reach ------------72 inches-------------71 inches
Stance -----------Southpaw -------------Orthodox
Trainer -------Dan Birmingham-------Daniel Odamtten
World Ranking --2 at 160 pounds------3 at 154 pounds
KO Percentage--------46.2%-----------------75.6%
Last 5 Fights---4-0-1, 0 by KO/TKO---3-2, 2 by KO/TKO
Win Streak ------11-0, 1KO-----------------None
Stopped in Fights---None-------------------None
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The Undercard
Lacy to Fight Tsypko in Return Bout
This will actually be the second time that these two have fought. They fought before in June of 2004 in a bout that was to decide the number one contender to the vacant IBF Super Middleweight title.
The fight was stopped in the second round due to a severe cut that Tsypko received courtesy of an accidental headbutt from Lacy. The bout was ruled a no contest…
There should be a lot of action in both of these fights I'm looking forward to Saturday night
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HBO2 playdates: Dec. 3 (9:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m.) and 5 (11:55 p.m.). Times are ET/PT.
