Columnist Dean Juipe: Winky needs Wright moves for big payday

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002 | 9:06 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Winky Wright has a vested interest not only in his own fight Saturday night, but in one a week later in Las Vegas.

Wright, the International Boxing Federation junior middleweight champion, is facing long-time nemesis Bronco McKart for a third time, Saturday in Portland, Ore., on HBO. That bout is the undercard feature beneath the Roy Jones Jr. vs. Clinton Woods light heavyweight main event.

Assuming Wright wins -- and he has already beaten McKart twice -- he'll spend next week in Las Vegas campaigning for a fight with the winner of the Sept. 14 showdown at the Mandalay Bay Events Center between Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas.

And Wright knows who he wants to win.

"I hope Vargas wins because he's already said he'd like to fight me next," Wright said this week by phone from his St. Petersburg, Fla., home. "I want to hold him to his word."

Wright and Vargas have fought once, three years ago in Oregon, and Vargas came away with a majority decision. Wright still bristles at the recollection.

"I know I won that fight, there's no doubt in my mind," he said. "He ran the whole fight and I was the one who landed the clean shots. By the final round the only way I thought he could win would be to knock me out, and that didn't even come close to happening."

But the fight was scored 116-112, 115-113 and 114-114.

"He definitely thought he lost," Wright said. "Afterward he was making excuses and later he said I couldn't even beat him on his worst night.

"Well, then, let's see him fight me on his best night. Vargas owes me a rematch."

If Vargas is agreeable to a rematch, that's in contrast to De La Hoya's public position. The only fighters on De La Hoya's short list of prospective future opponents are Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad (if he chooses to come out of retirement) and Bernard Hopkins.

"De La Hoya has yet to say he wants to fight me," Wright said. "But why shouldn't he? A champion is supposed to want hard fights, because that's what the sport is all about.

"I think he knows I can fight but just doesn't want to fight me. Maybe it's because I'm left-handed, but what kind of excuse is that?"

Wright, 30, is 43-3 with 25 knockouts and grabbed the then-vacant IBF title at 154 pounds a year ago when he took a decision over Robert Frazier. He has since defended the title once, stopping Jason Papillion in five rounds last February in Miami.

Aside from his disputed loss to Vargas, Wright has been beaten by Harry Simon (in 1998) and Julio Vasquez (in 1994). His most notable wins have come against McKart, Keith Mullings and Tony Marshall.

The fights with McKart have developed into a trilogy, much to Wright's dismay.

"The first time I beat him I thought I'd never have to fight him again, and then the last time I beat him I was sure I was done with him," Wright said. "But, I'll give him this: He's beaten everyone else.

"But I don't see why he doesn't go after one of the other champions. He's fighting me for less money than he might get against someone else, and after I beat him again he'll be worth even less money."

McKart is 45-3 and has lost to Wright by split decision (in 1996) and by unanimous decision (in 2000).

"It doesn't get any easier," Wright said of facing a man for a third time. "I know what he's going to do and he knows what I'm going to do, so it becomes more of a thinking game.

"I can't imagine that there's anything he can do that will surprise me. I mean, he could surprise me by coming out hard and throwing a million punches, but, if he does, that won't last long because he'd be leaving himself open."

Wright, 65-4 as an amateur, said he's in top condition and that his weight is good.

"I could fight at 160 if it meant getting a million dollars to fight Hopkins," he said. "But I'm comfortable at 154 and would like to get a chance at stardom.

"I hope it comes about. I'd hate to get to the end of my career and not have fought the very best in my weight class. I'd feel cheated, and that the fans were cheated too."