A Few Rounds on the Mic with Champion Boxer Winky Wright

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Matt Dolman:

Welcome to the latest episode of Dolman Law Group podcast. We're shifting gears today. I'm going to talk about boxing. Boxing is a sport I have loved since I was a child. It's my passion. And I'm here today with a celebrity. Winky Wright. Two-time world champ?

Winky Wright:

Three times.

Matt Dolman:

Three-time world champ.

Winky Wright:

I've got to fix my Wikipedia.

Matt Dolman:

Oh-oh.

Winky Wright:

You know what I mean? They got that wrong.

Matt Dolman:

A guy who beat Sugar Shane Mosley twice.

Winky Wright:

That's right.

Matt Dolman:

Probably recognized as one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Winky Wright:

I got blessed. You know what I mean?

Matt Dolman:

Yeah.

Winky Wright:

I'm blessed to have great fans, people that follow me and just push me on to win, to be great, man. Because everyone needs that push to be a better person, and better fighter, better in whatever you do. If you've got a person behind you that can push you in and give you that will to strive to be the best, and you'll do it.

Matt Dolman:

I'm glad I have you here today. I'm honored.

Winky Wright:

I appreciate it.

Matt Dolman:

Let's get to it.

Winky Wright:

Yeah.

Matt Dolman:

All right. We've got some big fights coming up I want to get your opinions on. It's not often I get to pick the brain of somebody like Winky Wright. March 15th. Huge fight. Errol Spence against Mikey Garcia.

Winky Wright:

Oh man. That's going to be... Yeah. That's going to be great.

Matt Dolman:

What's your thought process on this? Styles make fights.

Winky Wright:

Definitely styles make fight.

Matt Dolman:

Spence's to big for Garcia.

Winky Wright:

Well, he's definitely a big fighter, but Mikey is good with using angles, and good with using his speed. And Mikey asked for this fight. So it's something that Mikey saw in Spence that he feels that he can beat him. But myself, I have to go with Spence. So I just think, like you said, Spence is strong. Spence is a good puncher, but Mikey's going to try to beat him to the punch, and box around him.

Winky Wright:

But it only takes one or two good shots from Spence to hit him, and it's-

Matt Dolman:

Light out.

Winky Wright:

... over. It's over. So Mikey's going to have to be on his defense, going to have to throw a lot of punches, going to have to stay busy, and try to keep Spence off balance so he can't set down for that big punch. But if he do that, then we'll see. But I still think it's going to be a very good fight.

Matt Dolman:

Agreed. Spence hasn't really been taken into deep water.

Winky Wright:

Yeah.

Matt Dolman:

Only one time with Kell Brook.

Winky Wright:

Yeah. Yeah. And then Kell Brook was already... His eye was hurt already. So once Spence pretty much got to that eye, and then you know that pain, he couldn't take it no more. So he stopped. But there... Kell Brook gave him a good fight, but Spence is a very good fighter. Very good fighter. But like you said, I want to see him get... taken on that deep water where everything ain't going his way, and see, can he adjust and become that fighter that everybody think he is.

Matt Dolman:

Keith Thurman's next weekend.

Winky Wright:

Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Dolman:

Going up to that?

Winky Wright:

Yeah. I'm going. I'm going to leave next Thursday...

Matt Dolman:

Me as well.

Winky Wright:

... to see that. Yeah. You're going? Okay. So it's going to be a great fight, man. Keith is a talent, man. That young kid, he got power in both hands. He's a great boxer. A lot of people don't see it because they see the punching ability that he's got. But Keith can box. He's a very... His movement is very good. And that's why I think that set him above a lot of the other welterweights, that he could punch with both hands, but he also can box. And a lot them, they either can box and can't punch, or can punch and can't box. And Keith can do both of them.

Matt Dolman:

You're sure he could punch against Guerrero? In the last two fights against Danny Garcia and Sean Porter?

Winky Wright:

Oh, yeah.

Matt Dolman:

He out boxed both.

Winky Wright:

Yeah. Yeah. But only problem my man... My man, he got... as being a puncher, you always have hand problems because you punch it so hard that your hands can only take but so much. So he has a lot of hand issues that he has to deal with, especially in training, especially... When I used to fight, I used to have hand problems, and it's hard to really train the way you want to train when you can't really get in there, and spar the way you want to spar. You can't hit the bag the way you want to hit it because your hand's too sore, and you don't want to hurt your hands just in training. If you're going to hurt your hands, you're going to hurt your hands for that money. So...

Matt Dolman:

Agreed.

Winky Wright:

... you've got to save it.

Matt Dolman:

Yeah.

Winky Wright:

So that's the only issue I had with Keith. Other than that, I think Keith, he's going to become a great, great fighter.

Matt Dolman:

Agreed. Joselito Lopez is not a bum.

Winky Wright:

Oh, at all. At all. He's a tough fighter. I forgot who I saw him fight.

Matt Dolman:

He broke a... What's his name's?

Winky Wright:

Who?

Matt Dolman:

Chin.

Winky Wright:

He had a good fight with somebody that I saw. A white dude. Good fighter.

Matt Dolman:

The one that fought Floyd in Vegas, where Floyd... where he put his hands down, Floyd knocked him out. Victor Ortiz.

Winky Wright:

Yeah. Yeah. Victor Ortiz. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Dolman:

Name escaped me for a second.

Winky Wright:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Victor Ortiz.

Matt Dolman:

So Victor Ortiz broke his chin a 10th... broke his jaw, rather, in 10th round.

Winky Wright:

Wow.

Matt Dolman:

It was Josesito.

Winky Wright:

Yeah, dude a good fighter, man. That's why I tell you you can't take anyone lightly, especially guys that you really don't know that much about because them look tougher guys. When you see a Errol Spence or someone of that caliber, you see them fight all the time. You know what they do, you can watch their style, but when you see somebody that ain't on TV all the time, it's hard to really get their style down, probably hard, to see what they're going to do when they in trouble, hard to see what they do when they... when everything going well. So I think it's going to be a tougher fight than people think.

Matt Dolman:

How rusty could Keith be? Two years or year to half off.

Winky Wright:

Oh, it... That plays a big point. When you rusty, when you ain't in there fighting, when you ain't in there training, it's definitely a rust issue with that. Especially when you ain't been in the ring in a while. So it may take him a one or two rounds to really get in the groove of it, get his bearings back. But it's going to be tough.

Winky Wright:

Like I said, once... Keith can really get his punches connected. That's the biggest thing of your timing. When you ain't in the ring for a while, when you go back and fight, your timing is off. Sometimes, you're a little quicker than you want to be. And sometimes, you're a little slower than you want to be. So you've got to find that intermediate place where you know you... when you throw this punch, it's going to land where you want it to land. And once he find his timing, then I think it'd be okay.

Matt Dolman:

So he... if he emerges victorious, six months from now, we might be looking at Spence against Thurman. What's your thought there?

Winky Wright:

I think... I think they might be trying to go to get his belt back from... what's the little kid that bully everybody? Sean Porter.

Matt Dolman:

Okay.

Winky Wright:

I think they might be trying to get that belt back, and then go dispensing them. But like I said, I like Keith against anybody, anybody in the welterweight division. As long as he's healthy, I like him. Now, if he ain't healthy, if he can't punch, he can't do this, I still like him, but it's going to be harder because he's not going to be able to put that power punch behind him and make people respect his power. And then they might come in and try to change the dynamic of the fight.

Matt Dolman:

Now this weekend is Broner against Pacquiao. And I think Pacquiao is... He's past his prime. He's a shadow of what he once was.

Winky Wright:

Yeah. But he still... I think he's still a favorite. Broner is a very good fighter, man. I think that the kid just had too much outside the ring issues that get to him inside the ring. He's sometimes...

Matt Dolman:

It's putting it nicely.

Winky Wright:

Yeah. Yeah. He just... He's got all the talent in the world. He just don't put it together. You know? And then some fights, you think he's going to come in and do good, and he don't. Then some fights, you think he going to do bad, and then he do good. So you just don't know what Broner's going to show.

Matt Dolman:

He's all the tools in the world. But he seems to wait until like the 9th, 10th round, let his hands go.

Winky Wright:

Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Dolman:

He starts at a very low volume in the first 7, 8, 9 rounds in the fight. I never understand why that is.

Winky Wright:

And that's going to be tough against a person like Pacquiao because he throws so many punches. Pacquiao, in and out, in and out, and he can punch. So we're going to see. Can Broner take the punch? We're going to see, can he deliver the punch? And we'll see what Pacquiao got. Because like I said, Pacquiao ain't no spring chicken, either. So...

Matt Dolman:

No. Call it. Who you like in the fight?

Winky Wright:

I like... I like Pacquiao. Like I said, I just don't know what Broner going to show up. I still... I like Broner. I think he is a talent. But once again, you just don't know what Broner going to show up. If it's a Broner of old, then I would pick Broner. You know? The kid... before he got beat by Maidana, that Broner was a bad boy. Now, it's just like... He fight, like you say, he start so late. He just wait and wait, wait. And then he try to go. But I don't think Pacquiao get tired. He never shown that to be a fighter that get tired.

Matt Dolman:

No, he doesn't wear down. Looking forward to one last fight. Okay? April 20... I think it's April 20th, Terence Crawford against Amir Khan, which is a... That's a pretty interesting matchup. If Amir Khan decide not to brawl and actually box?

Winky Wright:

Amir Khan...

Matt Dolman:

His chin-

Winky Wright:

... power. His chin, definitely questionable. You know, I think it's the right fight for Terence Crawford. I think Terence Crawford is one of the best fighters out there right now, period. He's beating a lot of good fighters. He's taking on everybody, moved up. His body frame can hold the weight, even though he moved up, but he's tall. So once he moved up and did what he can do, then he lives good. But Terence Crawford right now, that's the biggest fight I think. If Keith beats Spence and Terence do what he got to do, that'd be the mega fight right there.

Matt Dolman:

Crawford/Spence. Call it. Who's a better pound for pound?

Winky Wright:

Right now, I'm going to have to say Crawford because he beat... He's doing more. I still think Spence is a great fighter. I just... We haven't seen him do as much as Crawford's been doing. Spence beat Kell Brook, and I was pretty much it. You know what I'm saying?

Matt Dolman:

He hasn't had many opportunities.

Winky Wright:

Yeah. Yeah. So Terence Crawford is taking on everybody and beating them.

Matt Dolman:

So you don't give Amir Khan a chance in that fight?

Winky Wright:

I don't. I don't. Amir Khan, he's quick. He's a quick-handed fighter, but I think Terence Crawford's going to try to get inside, rough him a little bit, and learn where he can count on. And then just try to break him down, and try to stop him.

Matt Dolman:

Last thing, last topic. How good is Lomachenko?

Winky Wright:

Oh. Psht. Everything... Everything you see, it is. That kid got so much talent. His ring generalship is incredible. He... Man, he... I watched him for the first time when he first came on TV back over here, I think it was his third fight. And I was like, "Who the kid fighting for this belt?" I seen him, I was like, "Whoa! This kid is sharp. Nice."

Matt Dolman:

Incredible.

Winky Wright:

Everything.

Matt Dolman:

amateur.

Winky Wright:

Oh, man. He's all that. So he definitely got it. Like I said, some people say, "Well, I can't give him pound for pound because he hasn't fought anybody. He hasn't fought that many people," this and that, blah, blah, blah. But the people he fighting, he beating.

Matt Dolman:

He made Gary Russell look like a joke.

Winky Wright:

Oh yeah. And Gary Russell is a tough little kid. You know what I'm saying?

Matt Dolman:

above.

Winky Wright:

That's just like, they tried to do with Roy Jones. Roy Jones, they tried to say he wasn't fighting anymore. It wasn't that he wasn't fighting anyone, but that he was that much better. He was a talent that wasn't seen. And I think Lomachenko is the same way.

Matt Dolman:

If he continues to go up and wait, he fights Mikey Garcia, is he able to transition to a much bigger weight? Because Garcia, by the time they hydrate, fight time, he's going to be 15, 20 pounds heavier.

Winky Wright:

Now-

Matt Dolman:

Can he handle that kind of power?

Winky Wright:

Yeah. I think he can because I think his movement's so slick. He's so smooth. Everything he do, it's like gliding. It like pouring water. It just flow. The kid is talented. Mike Mikey Garcia is very talented, too. And them the fight that people want to see. So if the promoters can set back and make them kind of fight, boxing could be great again.

Matt Dolman:

Well, I'm honored to have two... three time...

Winky Wright:

That's right.

Matt Dolman:

Wikipedia is wrong.

Winky Wright:

That's right.

Matt Dolman:

Three time former world champ, Winky Wright. One of the greatest boxers of all time, and St. Pete's own.

Winky Wright:

I appreciate it.

Matt Dolman:

Thank you for coming out today.

Winky Wright:

Appreciate it.

Matt Dolman:

It's been and honor. And really... I really appreciate it.

Winky Wright:

Appreciate it, man. Appreciate it.

Matt Dolman:

Thank you so much.

Winky Wright:

Okay.

Matt Dolman:

That wraps up our episode of Dolman Law Group Podcast.

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