WRONG STRATEGY FOR A WRIGHT VICTORY – FIGHT WITH TAYLOR IS DECLARED A DRAW
By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist

Memphis, TN (IB – June 17, 2006) – In a showdown between the best middleweights in the world, fighting for supremacy of the division, Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor (25-0-1, 17KOs) put his WBC, WBA, and WBO middleweight titles on the line against Ronald “Winky” Wright (50-3-1, 25 KOs).

From the sound of the opening bell, it was very apparent that this fight was going to be a very evenly matched contest. Both fighters were putting in some good work and landing their fair share of punches as they appeared to be trading rounds throughout the fight.

The outcome of each round was becoming very consistent. Whenever Wright was able to back Taylor into the ropes, Winky was able to effectively land his punches to the body and head of Taylor. While Taylor never appeared hurt in the fight, there was an accidental head butt that caused his left eye to swell practically shut in the 9th round.

However, when Taylor kept the fight in the middle of the ring, it was he who was landing the effective and harder punches on Wright and was able to control the action. Taylor’s punches mainly consisted of strong body shots and right hand leads and right hooks to the head. This caused some swelling around Winky’s left eye. This marked the 1st fight for Taylor with his new trainer, Emanuel Steward, who repeatedly gave the precise instructions to stay off the ropes and keep the fight in the middle of the ring. Of course, some things are easier said, than done.

Anyway, after eight rounds of back & forth action, I had the fight even at four rounds a piece with no knock downs, and neither fighter every appearing really hurt. This was one close fight coming down the stretch!

Here is where, in my opinion, Wright employed the Wrong strategy and failed to close out this fight. With both fighters showing some signs of slowing down in the 11th round, Wright decided to play judge and made the assumption that he already had this fight won on the score cards and would basically coast the last two rounds. So instead of coming away with a clear victory over Taylor by taking him to the ropes and repeating the output that he had demonstrated throughout tonight’s fight, Winky chose to basically keep the fight in the middle of the ring and only sporadically engage in pressing the action. Now keep in mind, it is Taylor who entered the ring as the champion and it is up to Wright to take the titles from him. It would be hard to give the victory to Wright when he basically took the 12th and final round off. Wrong strategy for a Wright victory.

In the end, the judges scored it 115-113 for Wright, one had it 115-113 for Taylor and the third judge had it 114-114, which is declared a draw and Taylor keeps his titles.

After the fight, Taylor said it all, "If I was him I would have kept fighting." If Wright had have chose this strategy, we would have had a new Middleweight champion tonight. I scored the fight 115-113 for Taylor and would love to see these two fighters do it again! This was a very good fight.


You have just gone InsideBoxing.com

Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com