DLH vs. Winky:

[stymie]

wtf

Wright Near Deal To Fight De La Hoya

By ANWAR S. RICHARDSON tampatrib.com

Published: Jun 15, 2005

TAMPA - There was a time when the only way St. Petersburg middleweight Winky Wright could see Oscar De La Hoya in the ring would be on television.

That could change very soon.

Gary Shaw, Wright's promoter, is currently negotiating a deal with De La Hoya's representatives for a proposed fight in November. Wright already received a contract proposal from De La Hoya that was rejected.

Shaw would not say how much was offered, but sources say it was $6 million, which is only $1 million more than what Wright received to defeat Felix `Tito' Trinidad last month.

Shaw said he expects a contract to be finalized within 30 days.

``That's the fight in front of us. We're in the beginning stages right now, but he [De La Hoya] wants to fight Winky and Winky wants to fight him,'' Shaw said. ``I can't predict anything because it's boxing, but I'm always confident we'll be able to make a deal.''

Wright's other possibility was to fight Bernard Hopkins, who will face Jermain Taylor on July 16 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. However, Hopkins has shown little interest in fighting Wright and is more interested in facing Tampa light heavyweight Antonio Tarver, or Roy Jones Jr., in the future.

``I would love to fight Oscar. I would love to fight Bernard, too, but there is more money in fighting Oscar,'' Wright said. ``I want to fight best fighters of our era and Oscar is one of the best. Once I beat them, I can say I beat all of the best fighters in my era.''

The most intriguing part of these negotiations is that De La Hoya severed ties with promoter Bob Arum for a second time last year, but his former promoter said he is contractually owed one more fight - this one. Shaw declined to say if he was negotiating with Arum or Golden Boy Promotions, De La Hoya's promotional company.

If the fight becomes finalized, it would be the biggest of Wright's career.

Wright (49-3) gained popularity by defeating `Sugar' Shane Mosley twice in 2004. Those wins gave Wright the opportunity to fight Trinidad, who he dominated and defeated by unanimous decision. Now Wright is one of the biggest names in boxing.

``Everything is great. This has been a long time coming. People used to give me a little praise, but now that it has been defined how good I am, I finally am getting the love and it's cool,'' Wright said.