Mayweather-Winky Wright nearly happened - What if it did?

Fight would be at 154lbs with Winky Wright who usually rehydrates to 170 only allowed to rehydrate back to 162lbs. I think it's a fascinating match up of defensive technicians. Floyd actually had the same reach as Wright but is 2 1/2 inches shorter. Ofcourse Winky would be weakened and drained fighting at a lower weight. In turn Mayweather weighed 147 by the end of 2005 so would do the same if he faced Wright

I think Floyd probably looks to counter Wright's jab, while employing his own jab. Wright in turn would look to apply his constant pressure. The nearest thing to Mayweather is Hopkins, which isn't really the same as Hopkins is taller, bigger and stronger than Mayweather. Still Hopkins showed you could make Winky miss his jab and counter it. So Mayweather probably manages the same to whatever extent.

Wright-Mayweather bout is off as talks break down

It's back to the drawing board for St. Petersburg's Winky Wright as negotiations to fight 140-pound champion Floyd Mayweather fell apart Thursday morning at a meeting in Las Vegas.

"As of right now, it's no deal - they changed the money on me at the last second," said promoter Gary Shaw, who said he was close to finalizing the fight when he walked into Top Rank and Bob Arum's office Thursday.

But within seconds, he said, the deal evaporated.

"I walked in, I told him: "I believe we have a deal,' " Shaw said. "And Bob said, "so it's a deal - 55-45 (money split)'.

"I said, "Bob, that was never, ever discussed, no deal' and that was that."

The day before, Shaw said he and Arum had agreed to a 50-50 purse split as well as other requests from Mayweather's camp. He added that Wright adviser Jim Wilkes and Don King, who has an option on Wright's next fight, agreed as well.

According to Shaw, however, Arum said he did not remember that conversation. Arum was unavailable for comment.

Shaw and Arum were in Las Vegas to promote the Oct. 8 rematch between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo. Shaw promotes Corrales; Arum promotes Castillo.

"There were requests made by Floyd Mayweather, we laid it out and I think they were fair requests," Arum told maxboxing.com. "Gary rejected them, so there's no fight. We have to sit with Floyd and we'll figure out (what we do next). Maybe (Antonio) Margarito. It's unfortunate as far as the Winky Wright fight, but it's not going to happen."

While Shaw said he agreed with just about all of the demands from the Mayweather team, principally regarding weight, he doesn't think the Detroit fighter, aformer Olympian, was behind the breakdown.

"I think it's Arum," Shaw said. "When Floyd normally calls someone out, he's serious about fighting them."

Mayweather, one of the sport's most vocal stars, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Sunday that he was interested in fighting Wright, and Shaw wasted no time calling his bluff.

The next morning, he was in the Top Rank offices working on a deal.

"Remember, Floyd called Winky out; Winky didn't call Floyd out," Shaw said. "We were even willing to come down in weight to 154."

Because Wright, who prefers to fight at 160, could probably put on as many as 15 pounds between the weigh-in (the day before) and the fight and enter the ring as high as 165-170, Mayweather's camp requested a morning-of-the-fight weigh-in. That included a stipulation that Wright couldn't go more than eight pounds above the limit.

The undefeated Mayweather, who started his career at 130 and weighs 140 pounds, would be at a significant size disadvantage for the fight.

Wright (49-3, 25 knockouts) is still scheduled to fight Nov. 19 on HBO, provided Shaw can find a suitable opponent in the sparse middleweight field.

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Split of prize money holding up bout

Promoters Gary Shaw and Bob Arum were in Beverly Hills on Thursday afternoon to officially announce the Oct. 8 rematch between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo.

But as that deal was finalized, a proposed Nov. 12 bout between Winky Wright and Floyd Mayweather fell apart as the two met at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

"M-O-N-E-Y," stated Shaw in spelling out the reason why this bout between two of the premier prizefighters in the world will not be taking place. "I thought we had a deal. I spoke with Don King, King was on board, Jim Wilkes was on board, Winky Wright was on board. We agreed to 154 pounds, we agreed to another morning weight because they were concerned about the weight -- Winky couldn't gain more than eight pounds above 154."

With all of Winky's representatives (including King, who holds an option on Wright after his victory over Felix Trinidad in May) in agreement, Shaw thought he would be signing contracts by the end of the week.

"When I was in Arum's office he talked about different splits," recalled Shaw, who said at that time the numbers he was told differed from the ones he had agreed to. "I started to yell, I said, 'It's gotta be 50-50.' He said, 'All right, all right. Why are you yelling? I'm just the messenger. Come back, we'll do the deal.' I walked downstairs here at the Beverly Hills Hotel, I said, 'We have a deal?' He looked at me and said, '55-45.' I said, 'No, 50-50. He said, 'There's no deal.' "

Arum confirmed that Wright-Mayweather is dead as of now.

"There were requests made by Floyd Mayweather, we laid it out and I think they were fair requests," said the veteran promoter. "Gary rejected them, so there's no fight. We have to sit with Floyd and we'll figure out [what we do next].

"Maybe [Antonio] Margarito. It's unfortunate as far as the Winky Wright fight, but it's not going to happen."

While Mayweather retains his Nov. 12 date on HBO Pay-Per-View, Wright has a date set aside for him the following week on HBO.

Did Mayweather and Arum come to the realization that in facing the much bigger Wright, that they were biting off more than even the "Pretty Boy" could chew?

"Floyd's been talking a lot of trash, saying he's going to knock Winky out; he told Kevin Iole he wants to fight," said Shaw. "He wanted the fight on Sunday. On Monday I went to Top Rank's office personally. My feeling is that Floyd never wanted the fight. He was just talking smack."

As Shaw and Arum gave their sides of the story after the Corrales-Castillo press conference, just outside the ballroom where it was held, Margarito's manager Sergio Diaz was meeting with Top Rank's VP, Todd DuBoef, about his fighter's future -- which doesn't seem to include Mayweather.

"Right now we just met with Todd and we're looking at October 1st," he explained to MaxBoxing. "The date is there, the opponent we still don't know. They've been mentioning Joshua Clottey, but Showtime doesn't know if they want to accept that opponent."

As for a bout with Mayweather?

"Mayweather has mentioned that he'd rather jump to 154 and fight Winky Wright than fight Margarito," Diaz said. "He says it's a better loss to lose against Winky Wright than it is to Antonio."

Diaz doesn't have much hope that even with the Wright fight not happening, that a bout between Margarito and Mayweather comes to fruition.

"No, not at all," he admitted. "To tell you the truth, at the beginning I was, we were hopeful it would happen. But now, it's already behind me."

 

I think Arum didn't want the fight. Mayweather was under Arum's management at this time. Arum takes a bigger stake if Mayweather faces someone from Arum's own stable, hence he wanted the Margarito fight. Mayweather wanted De La Hoya and Arum wasn't prepared to make that fight because of his feud with Oscar.

For Winky Wright he probably shouldn't have been turning down this opportunity or career high money to face De La Hoya. Because if he kept winning he gets the right to be the cash cow. Losing a big payday over 5% is a waste. But maybe his career is hurt if he loses.

 

It's plausible. This was the time Mayweather was looking for an opponent for only his second PPV. He wasn't yet 'Money Mayweather' from a financial POV. De La Hoya was the sports cash cow. The bigger the opponent the bigger the purse. Losing against a bigger P4P opponent, gives him a narative that 'it wasn't my weight class' I'll now go and fight the best at 140 or 147. Because Mayweather was WBC 140lb champion at this time. So if Mayweather lost he still has potential PPVs against Hatton, Judah and Cotto.

Fighters do usually work within a risk reward framework. Deep down every boxer knows they can lose. It's better to be able to sell a PPV

It should be noted Mayweather did take a similar fight at 154 against Delahoya who was at a similar level as Winky Wright. Wright was more convincing against Mosley, although less so against Vargas. Winky was nearer prime but would be drained with the weight clause.

Ofcourse when this fight fell apart, both Judah and Hatton were offered the fight. If I remember rightly Judah wanted 50-50 and it fell apart. Judah then lost to Baldomir and ended up making less when they did fight because of this.

 

Winky would throw loads of punches. Mostly jabs. So Floyd would have loads of countering opportunities. From a technical point I find it fascinating. But if you want a war, this isn't your fight.

 

That was Arum's doing. Mayweather wanted the most money so bought out his Top Rank contract for $750k. He received 8m for Baldomir and 25m against DLH and 38m against Hatton. Compare this to what Arum was offering Mayweather:

Arum stated that Mayweather would have fought Margarito for the 8 million, but he wanted a guaranteed 10 million to fight Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton. Arum only guaranteed him 7 million for those fights.

Arum said Mayweather also asked for $20 million to fight De La Hoya, a fight Arum said he wasn’t interested in participating in. “That’s not in the cards,” Arum said. “He wants $20 million for the De La Hoya fight? It’s not there. Sometimes, my man, you gotta know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. We’ll talk about things down the road.”

 

It's probably Lopez theorising then. On another note I wonder how long Margarito was putting plaster of paris on his wraps for and how it. I think he had to be using it against Lujan the way his ear was cut open. So I'd imagine at least then through to Cotto.

 

You're seriously buying Margarito fanboys conspiracy theorys. California State Athletic Commission found him guilty.

Plaster of paris on the wraps. Richardson wanted to beat Margarito when he realised what he was trying to pull and thought he should of gone to jail.

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Then look at the Cotto rematch, the Pacquaio and Mosley fights. He went from being a big puncher to being walked down and never stopping an opponent again.

It's one of the most digusting acts in boxing history and he should of been banned for life.