Winky Wright

Ronald Lamont Wright (born November 26, 1971) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2012.

He is a two-time light middleweight world champion and was the last to hold the undisputed title at that weight until Jermell Charlo in 2022.

In his later career he also challenged for a unified middleweight world title.

After his second-round knockout of Carlos Santana on July 30, 1992, in St. Petersburg, Florida, the ring announcer called him "Winky" Wright, the name given to him by his grandmother when he was 6 months old and that had unofficially stuck with him since he was 18 months old.

The nickname stuck with him for the rest of his career following his win over Santana.

Major promoters like Don King and Lou Duva declined to work with Wright early in his career.

His first promoters were the France-based Acaries brothers, who struck a deal for Wright to fight Darryl Lattimore in Luxembourg on January 1, 1993.

Wright knocked Lattimore down three times and the fight was stopped.

He then went on a tear during his tour of Europe, winning eight straight in France, Germany, and Monte Carlo while only fighting in the United States once over the next year.

On August 21, 1994, Wright received his first title match against WBA light-middleweight champion Julio César Vásquez in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France.

Although he was 25–0 at the time, Wright had not fought in a match that had gone more than 8 rounds.

His inexperience showed as he lost a unanimous decision in controversial fashion, with Vasquez knocking down Wright in the second, seventh and ninth rounds, and twice in the twelfth round.

Wright officially slipped three times and unofficially another four times while also appearing to win all but one round on points.

On February 4, 1995, Wright defeated Tony Marshall by unanimous decision to win the vacant NABF light-middleweight title.

Wright continued fighting in Europe, only fighting in the United States once, until his unanimous decision victory against Andrew Council on March 5, 1996.

His impressive win opened the door to fight WBO light-middleweight champion Bronco McKart, a fight Wright won by split decision.

Wright successfully defend his title in England three times; twice in Manchester against local fighters Ensley Bingham and Steve Foster, and Adrian Dodson in London.

Wright then traveled to South Africa where he lost his world title in controversial circumstances to the undefeated Harry Simon.

After a very close contest the fight was initially ruled a draw, then minutes later changed to a majority decision win for Simon due to an apparent scoring error.

He stopped working with the Acaries brothers in 1999, stating that he was tired of all the travelling.

He went on to knock out Derrick Graham in the third round in Miami, Florida.

Wright then challenged IBF light-middleweight champion Fernando Vargas.

Although some ringside fans and members of the media felt that Wright had won the fight, Vargas ended up winning a controversial majority decision.

Harold Lederman (a ringside boxing broadcaster for HBO whose job is to unofficially score fights) scored the bout 115–113, for Wright.

Wright continued to defend the NABF and won the USBA light-middleweight title in another decision over Bronco McKart.

Félix Trinidad's jump to the middleweight division left the IBF light-middleweight title vacant.

Wright scored a unanimous decision over Robert Frazier on October 12, 2001 to win the vacant title.

In his first defense on February 2, 2002, Wright stopped Jason Papillion in the fifth round.

He took a third fight against Bronco McKart, which ended in controversy as the referee disqualified McKart for repeated low blows in the 8th round.

For Wright's next fight, Oscar De La Hoya offered to fight him.

However, because of the lack of money The Golden Boy was willing to give Wright for the fight, the deal fell through and Oscar fought Luis Ramon Campas for the WBA/WBC titles.

Wright went on to debut on National Television Las Vegas against Juan Carlos Candelo on March 1, 2003 in a title defense, winning a unanimous decision.

He followed that up with another blowout victory over Angel Hernandez 8 months later.

To the surprise of many, including Wright, Shane Mosley challenged Winky to a light-middleweight unification title fight on March 13, 2004.

Mosley was a celebrated fighter coming off his second win against Oscar De La Hoya and was looking for a tune-up fight to prepare for a super fight with Félix Trinidad.

Shane had stated that he wanted to fight the winner of the fight between Wright and Angel Hernandez.

Wright, being the winner, earned a fight with Shane Mosley.

In 2005, The Ring magazine ranked him as the world's second best active boxer, pound for pound.

He announced his retirement from boxing in 2012, following a loss to Peter Quillin.

In 2017, it was announced that Wright had been elected as an International Boxing Hall of Fame member in the Modern Category, alongside Vitali Klitschko and Érik Morales, with the induction ceremony scheduled for June 2018.