LAS VEGAS, NV (IB – February 28. 2003) – While all of the focus is on the Ruiz vs. Jones fight, there is
a Jr. Middleweight title fight on the under card that
may turn out to be very competitive as well.Ronald “Winky” Wright (44-3, 25 KOs) will be making his 3rd title defense of his IBF title against Juan Carlos "JC" Candelo (25-4-3, 17 KOs) who is the IBF #1 contender.
On the surface, this fight would appear to be just another walk in the park for “Winky” as his continues to pile on victories and perhaps land the unification bout against Oscar De La Hoya. After all, in December of 1999, Wright lost a 12 round majority decision to the defending champion Fernando Vargas in a fight a lot of observers felt that he won. Since then, he has reeled off victories against former WBC champion Keith Mullins, won the title in October 2001 against Robert Frazier, and is coming off a dominating performance win against Bronco McKart, that resulted in an 8th DQ for low blows.
When I asked “Winky” Wright what is the biggest threat that Candelo poses to him, he offered, “What I am going to do when I get in there, is just see what I can work on and what works for me, and I am going to use it.” In regards to getting Oscar De La Hoya in the ring, his thoughts are; “He can run, but he can not hide forever unless he just wants to retire.”
While Wright would love to unify the Jr. Middleweight division, he even spoke on an interest to move up to Middleweight for one key fight. “I would like to move up just to challenge Bernard Hopkins, but not to campaign as a Middleweight.”
The Candelo team feels that “Winky” is overlooking them and about to make a big mistake.
Candelo’s Manager Les Cohen stated, “J.C. can punch and has a chin like granite. We have already seen three big upsets recently by good Latin fighters with great chins.”
I spoke to J.C. briefly after the weigh-in and he feels he is ready to pull of this major upset. “This fight is not just for me, it’s for my team, and my people back in Columbia and winning this fight will mean a lot to me.” When I asked J.C. how did he prepare for this fight, he stated, “I sparred with southpaws such as Larry Gonzales, Steve Valdez, and Verno Phillips and they were more difficult for me than “Winky” Wright will be.”
Well, only time will tell if we are about to see another upset or not.
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Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com