“Sampson can talk all that shit he wants about fighters, but Sergio Martinez cannot stand next to me when it comes to ratings; he cannot stand next to me when it comes to fanbase. I don’t care how many times he trains in LA, he still can’t have the fanbase that I have. As far as too old, the last time I checked, I ain’t got nothing but 3 years on him. If they don’t want to fight me, just find another dude, but don’t make no excuses. If they’re waiting for Macklin to win on April 9th, they’re going to be sitting and waiting so long that they’re going to grow corn on their ass because it ain’t going to go down like that. When I leave this game, I’m leaving on my terms. I ain’t here for the money. I’m here to leave on my terms. It ain’t got nothing to do with the money because financially I’m secure. I can not fight tomorrow and I’m financially secure for the rest of my life…Like I said, I’m here to leave on my terms and that’s what I plan on doing. On April 9th, I’m going to be a lot stronger and it’s going to be a totally different Winky,” stated former undisputed jr. middleweight champion Winky Wright as he talked about his upcoming April 9th clash with Matthew Macklin, his future plans, including a potential showdown with middleweight king Sergio Martinez, and much more. Check it out!
BT: What’s up Wink? I take it you’re calling about the interview that Sampson [Lewkowicz] did with Mike Juhas.
WW: What’s Sampson talking about old? Sergio Martinez will be 36 next month. I only got him by a couple years, so does that mean Martinez is old too? Last time I checked, I’ve never been knocked out and I’ve never been pulverized or beaten, so what’s he talking about? How can I be too old? Now if he’s just saying that he doesn’t want his guy to fight me because he’s worried about him losing, then just say that. Don’t make no dumb ass excuse like I’m too old when his fighter has one foot in the graveyard as well. Let Sergio go and take a loss and then…look, your guy just beat Pavlik, your guy knocked out their star, Al Haymon and HBO’s fighter [Paul Williams], your guy demolised him and yet your guy was told that, first of all, if he didn’t do the rematch with Paul, he couldn’t get the date and after he went and knocked out Paul with a sensational one-round knockout, he was also told that he couldn’t get a date if he didn’t get an opponent that they approved. Now somebody in that position, they couldn’t do that to Floyd Mayweather or they couldn’t do that to any other…if Paul Williams would’ve won a fight like that, Paul would’ve fought whoever he wanted to fight. Your guy is a southpaw, just like me, and your guy is 35-years-old, gonna be 36, and your guy just came and fucked everything up, just like I came and fucked everything up when I beat Shane and when I beat Tito.
BT: Well, to be fair, I think what Sampson was getting at was that…
WW: (Cutting in) Sampson’s acting like he’s on some powerful shit, yet he ain’t got the power to go to HBO and tell them, “Look, we ain’t doing this fight. We’re going to fight this guy. Fuck you!” He gotta kiss their ass. They turned down 3 opponents for him, trying to make him fight someone like Andy Lee. Who the fuck is Andy Lee? All because they’re trying to do Emanuel [Steward] a favor? Wait till his fighter takes a loss and then see what HBO or what network is going to pick up Sergio Martinez. Let’s see who’s going to want to pick him up after he takes that L. The only thing that could possibly help Sergio Martinez and keep him alive even after taking an L or even after getting pounded out is that he has promoter Lou DiBella, who has strong ties to HBO. If Lou was able to keep Paulie Malignaggi alive on HBO after Paulie was losing fights, then I’m sure he can do great for Sergio Martinez.
BT: So you think Sampson was calling you old to downplay the possibility of a future fight with Martinez?
WW: If you don’t want your fighter to face me, just say you don’t want him to face me, but don’t say that I’m old when your guy is damn near the same age as me. Sergio ain’t nothing but 3 years younger than me, so how is he not old if I’m old? Let him take a loss and then see what happens. He’s ruining HBO’s stars. After beating Pavlik and after beating Paul Williams, he should have been able to come right back on the network with no problem and tell them, “Look, this is who I want to fight.” And they should have said, “Yeah, okay, go ahead.” Because they do that with any other fighter that belongs to a certain manager, and we all know who that is. When I beat Macklin, they’ll come up with another excuse why they can’t fight me.
BT: Well, the most commong excuse that’s always been brought up throughout your career is that you’re not a big enough draw. The irony is that despite Martinez’s sensational knockout of Paul Williams, he’s still not a household name, so I don’t know if that…
WW: (Cutting in) As far as them saying that I’m not a draw, let me explain something to you, Sergio Martinez can’t even stand next to my ratings. It’s not me just talking shit like any other fighter who’s just saying this and that. Go to the books, go anywhere, it’s public access. Look at Sergio Martinez’s fight with Paul Williams, look at my fight with Paul Williams, and see whose ratings were higher. How many pay-per-views has Sergio Martinez done? None! I did over 500,000 buys when I fought all my pay-per-views. Pavlik can’t stand next to me, Shane and Cotto can’t stand next to me, so I’m putting it out there for all the people that talk shit. All the writers that don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about, go to the books first and do your homework before you get on the internet and start writing shit that you don’t know nothing about. Sampson can talk all that shit he wants about fighters, but Sergio Martinez cannot stand next to me when it comes to ratings; he cannot stand next to me when it comes to fanbase. I don’t care how many times he trains in LA, he still can’t have the fanbase that I have. As far as too old, the last time I checked, I ain’t got nothing but 3 years on him. If they don’t want to fight me, just find another dude, but don’t make no excuses. If they’re waiting for Macklin to win on April 9th, they’re going to be sitting and waiting so long that they’re going to grow corn on their ass because it ain’t going to go down like that. When I leave this game, I’m leaving on my terms. I ain’t here for the money. I’m here to leave on my terms. It ain’t got nothing to do with the money because financially I’m secure. I can not fight tomorrow and I’m financially secure for the rest of my life.
BT: So as far as you’re concerned, once you take care of business against Maklin on April 9th, the biggest fight that can be made in the middleweight division is Winky Wright vs. Sergio Martinez.
WW: Do your homework and check your numbers because as far as I checked, Sergio Dzinziruk, Andy Lee and whoever else they want to pick as an opponent for them, you put them all together and their numbers can’t touch my numbers. Last time I checked, I was the only fighter with major endorsements all through 5th Avenue. Last time I checked, Sergio Martinez wasn’t in a commercial on American TV with a major corporation like Reebok. Last time I checked, Sergio Martinez wasn’t posted all over 5th Avenue, the richest business district in the world in New York City. On the phone booths and all the bus stops in front of HBO’s building, last time I checked, Sergio wasn’t there. To all the writers that say I ain’t got that face, evidently, there’s Fortune 500 companies that do believe I have that face and I do have that mass appeal. If anybody don’t want their fighters to face me, the best thing to do is just shut the fuck up because I ain’t calling nobody out. Just shut up unless you’re going to do your homework. If you don’t want to fight, the best thing to do is just shut up and don’t even mention my name. If not, then once you mention my name, I’m just going to shut you up and prove you wrong. I’m going to expose you to all the fans so they can see what the real deal is instead of you selling bullshit to these writers; instead of these writers writing bullshit without doing their research when they interview somebody.
Ben, I come to you because you know the real deal. If I tell you something, you my man, but you ain’t going to write the shit just because I tell you to. You’re going to make sure that whatever you write is real and that’s why I go to you and do my interviews. There’s only maybe 3 or 4 writers that actually do their homework in this game that I can say that I can do an interview with and whatever they put up, whether it’s negative or positive, it’s true because they do they’re research. That’s you, Thomas Hauser, Rick Reeno and your boy; and you know who your boy is.
BT: (Laughing) Well, he ain’t my boy, but I know who you’re talking about. Alright Wink, well I’ll get this out there. I know you’re getting an early start and are heading off to camp here soon, but I’ll be sure to touch base to get some updates as we get closer to the fight. Is there anything else you want to say?
WW: Nope. That’s it. I just had to set the record straight. Like I said, I’m here to leave on my terms and that’s what I plan on doing. On April 9th, I’m going to be a lot stronger and it’s going to be a totally different Winky.
