Tuesday Musings: Wright Does It Again
by
Carl Rice
11/23 - On Saturday night, Winky Wright once again pushed “Sugar” Shane Mosley into the background and continued his ascent in the public consciousness with a razor thin majority decision victory. It was a better scrap than the last fight, as Shane was able to better cope with Winky’s style, and in fact, I felt that it could have went either way. Winky does have a good defense, but I’m not sure a person can win a fight by keeping his hands up and throwing mostly a jab. Conversely, I also don’t think that someone can win a fight by backing themselves up against the ropes and getting caught with punches, albeit infrequently. But if anything, this fight gave boxing fans a lot to ponder on.
The first thing I recognized was that I was in complete disagreement with Harold Lederman’s scorecard. I couldn’t believe that he gave the first round to Wright when all Winky did was throw like 10 jabs, landing most of them, while Mosley controlled the action. I usually don’t score fights because I’m more focused on the action rather than keeping score, and I usually just say who I thought won the fight. But after seeing Lederman give the first round to Winky, I decided to keep score, and I came out with a draw. I know it’s different to see a fight up close and on television, but I can’t see how Lederman can see something so different. And he changes how he calls a fight from broadcast to broadcast. In some fights he gives rounds to the guy who throws more punches, and sometimes he’ll give rounds to the person with the better defense, and sometimes he’ll give it to the guy that boxes more, and sometimes he’ll give it to the guy who lands the harder punches. He has absolutely no uniformity and I suggest that people ignore him when watching a fight, as his score may not reflect what actually took place during a bout. And I was just as upset with the announcing team.
Roy Jones, who was obviously biased, used to promote Wright and they both are from Florida, so it’s apparent that Jones wanted Wright to win. But he praised Winky as if the second coming of Jesus was taking place in the ring. And Jim Lampley, who I am losing respect for on a regular basis, just goes along with whatever the consensus is because after all the fights he’s seen, he still doesn’t really have a clue. This guy talks as if he’s been in the ring before when I’ll bet he’s never been in a fight in his life, and if he was it was of the hand-slapping variety. Larry Merchant seemed to be the only one who actually didn’t feel that this was a run away fight for Winky and his opinion, strangely, was the one I respected and listened for the most. Even thought he, at times, seems like a crotchety old geezer, he sometimes spits out some gems. One thing I particularly agreed with is that he didn’t believe the Punchstat numbers. In some of the rounds, Punchstats would have Wright out throwing and outlanding Mosley and that just was not the case. Wright does have a tough guard, but I know Mosley got threw more than just a few times. And in some rounds, where Wright just had his hands up, he’d be ahead in punches thrown. This is why these numbers cannot be taken seriously and it’s also why when I do pre-fight analysis, I so not give much credence to Punchstat numbers.
Something else that must be addressed is the fighting style of Winky Wright. Yes, it’s effective and yes, some guys will tire themselves out by throwing at his guard and then while taking a break, he’ll come back ( as Roy repeated ad nauseam). But I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who was getting bored with that. Mosley was frequently coming forward throwing something and Wright would just sit there, hands held high for a large portion of the round. The biggest problem Moseley had was that he’s just too small. He’s strong, he still has the speed, but physically he’s just too small. And yet he still made it a close fight. Winky did what he’s supposed to do, but I can’t see him effectively beating Bernard Hopkins just sitting there relying on a jab and his hands held high. However, I don’t blame him for wanting Trinidad, as the jab is Tito’s worst enemy. But Trinidad is a harder puncher than Mosley or Wright, and I don’t think that he can keep those hands up or effectively block Trinidad for a whole fight. But that’s the best stratigical fight for him right now.
As for Mosley, he has nothing to hang he head about. Joe Goosen did a great job in preparing Shane for this fight and if he had kept up the pressure at critical times and better followed Goosen’s instructions, he could have pulled out the victory. And this fight also proved that he’s not a spent force, just a small one in physical stature. I think that a move back to welter or even jr. welter would be the best move, but I’m not sure his ego will allow him to do that, for it’s almost like admitting defeat without even fighting. But what’s the purpose of moving up to middleweight when you can’t beat the best jr. middleweight? By moving down, he’d have Cory Spinks, who’s a bigger guy, but not a strong puncher and Shane would have the advantages in speed, power, and experience. He’s also have Jab Judah and perhaps Floyd Mayweather and Kostya Tszyu to look forward to fighting, so it would be his best move.
Other tidbits of interest:
• I got a chance to see the fights I refused to pay for last weekend. Hasim Rahman looked great against a much overmatched Kali Meehan, but now let’s see if he can keep himself in shape for more than 3 days to take advantage of this victory. I don’t have much to say for the Holyfield situation, but hopefully the loss, combined with the suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission will allow his to reach a logical conclusion. McCline is the smallest man in boxing, even while standing over 6’5’’. And I don’t see what all the noise is about surrounding John Ruiz’s victory over Andrew Golota. From what I saw it was a sloppy fight with both men clinching and fouling each other. I found it hard to believe that Golota didn’t get penalized at least once for his fouls, and I don’t think the second knockdown was accurate. Nevertheless, boxing fans will be forced to watch Ruiz in another title fight, and expect to see Golota next take on Lamon Brewster for the WBO trinket.
• This weekend, Marco Antonio Barrera is set to take on Erik Morales for the third time, and this fight promises to be fistic dynamite. These guys may respect each other (a little), but they don’t like each other. You’d have to think that Morales is looking to put it on Barrera, especially since Manny Pacquiao was able to do what he couldn’t do at featherweight and KO “The Baby Faced Assassin”. And everyone knows that Barrera is desperate to show that he’s not washed up and is looking for this fight to springboard him to a rematch with Pac Man. I cannot yet make a pick for this fight, but without doing any research and watching the tape, I lean toward Morales.
• By the way I’m watching tape tonight and as it is the holiday season, I’ll be sure to have the “Tale of the Tape” for that fight done before you’re eating Thanksgiving dinner.
Please send all comments/opinions to crice@catsmpo.com
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Top boxing scribe Carl Rice along with his immense understanding of the sport and talent for writing enjoyable articles, is back to the pages of TalkingBoxing.com. Rice keeps fans up-to-date with boxing news along with providing the net's best pre-fight 'Tale of the Tape' analysis. Make sure to check out his weekly articles!
