With Floyd Mayweather fighting a few weeks ago and sparking a pound-for-pound debate and with Manny Pacquiao fighting a couple of weeks ago and sparking another pound-per-pound debate, I’m not surprised that the third man on many pound-forr-pound lists made an appearance in the ring a couple weeks back and has started yet another debate.
Southpaw middleweight title contender Winky Wright who held champion Jermain Taylor to a controversial draw last summer (many thought Wright had won) took on Ike Quartey, a former world welterweight champion and elite fighter from Ghana, in a twelve round bout in Florida, Wright’s homestate. Wright again appeared to reinforce his top-ten pound per pound status when he defeated Quartey by lopsided margins of 117-110, 117-110, and 117-109, handing the African fighter his first loss, at least as far as Quartey is concerned. The African’s other losses to Oscar De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas, and Vernon Forrest were all disputed ones, some more by Quartey himself than anyone else. But Wright beating Quartey decisively on the scorecards does show he is, at the age of 35, still one of the pound-for-pound elite. The win, however, does not move him past the two top guys, Pacquiao and Mayweather.
Although the Quartey bout seemed a one-sided one in Wright’s favor because he dominated the punchstat numbers and the scorecards, the fight was actually pretty close. This had a lot to do with his opponent. Quartey has a habit of being lazy at times, finding ways to nap in the ring without taking a ten count on the canvas but always bouncing back to beat opponents. Against Wright, he did his usual routine, but this time he did not do enough to win many rounds, only to make them close.
The fight was close on a round by round basis, but it appeared to be one-sided only because of a couple of controversial calls. In the second and the seventh, referee Frank Santore ruled that Wright had knocked Quartey down. But in both instances this call should not have been made. Even worse for Quartey, these calls were made in rounds he seemed to be winning. By calling these knockdowns, the referee helped turn the fight permanently in Wright’s favor.
In the second round, Quartey continued what for him is a heavy pace as he got to Wright with hooks to the body and head. He appeared to be ahead in the round. But then Wright caught him with a series of right hooks to the back of the neck and knocked an off balance Quartey down. Instead of ruling Quartey was knocked down from a shot to the back of the head, the referee ruled it a knockdown and what should’ve been a 10-9 round and a 19-19 net total became 8-10 and 17-20 with Quartey behind. The flow of what was a close fight was ruined by an iffy call.
In the seventh, Quartey was well behind on points thanks to the call in the second and his own inability to mount an effective offense. But he still continued to do what he started in the sixth: taking it to Wright. Quartey, I believe, was winning the round on aggression, but with just over a minute left, as Quartey threw a left hook to the head of Wright, Wright hit him with his own left, tangling Quartey in his legs and causing him to stumble back. The referee ruled Quartey’s left glove touched, so he ruled it a knockdown. The problem is Quartey’s glove did not touch the canvas. To the credit of the judges, only one of the three gave Wright a 10-8 victory in both the second and the seventh.
If we take these two rounds into consideration, we can see how close this fight really was. In both the second and the seventh, Quartey appeared to be on his way to a 10-9 edge. If the referee had ruled Quartey was not knocked down, Wright maybe would’ve won the fight by one point and – I don’t like “what if”s – without those calls, the fight may have turned Quartey’s way. Take away those knockdowns and turn the 10-8 rounds into 10-9 rounds in Quartey’s favor and suddenly the fight is a lot closer. Wright wins 115-113, 115-113, and 115-113.
If Wright’s performance against Quartey is compared with what Mayweather and Pacquiao accomplished last month in theirs, we see Wright didn’t do as much in his fight as Pacquiao and Mayweather did. Although Wright showed a great work rate, he didn’t do anything new. Past complaints of Wright have focussed on his defense-first fighting style and his fights resembling sparring sessions. Although more exciting than many of Wright’s match ups, the Quartey match still fit this mould. Against Quartey, he failed to hurt the older and lighter fighter who has had little luck in the ring since the last millenium. Quartey is 37, has been off for five years before starting on his recent comeback, and spent most of his career at 147, having little success at 154 where he lost decisions to Fernando Vargas and Vernon Forrest. Now at 160, he is naturally a lot smaller than Wright and has had little success at the higher weights.
While Wright couldn’t hurt Quartey, Pacquiao literally decimated Erik Morales in their last two fights, taking at least a tenth of him with him each time, and Mayweather, although not able to hurt Baldomir, was fighting and embarassing a naturally bigger guy. In fact, Wright’s record suggests he has made his reputation beating up on lighter elite fighters, like Shane Mosely and Felix Trinidad. When he fought bigger elite fighters like Fernando Vargas and Jermain Taylor, he had problems. Both Pacquiao and Mayweather did things the opposite way, the pound-per-pound way, beating up bigger fighters to prove they are the best.
This is not to say Wright has not beaten any big men. Wright has had some good match ups in the past. Last December, his victory over Australian Sam Soliman, the Energizer Bunny of middleweights, did much to enhance the Australian’s reputation but it also enhanced Wright’s as a he put on a boxing clinic against this windmill puncher. It was the kind of performance expected from a top-ten pound-per-pound fighter but it doesn’t place him at its apex. But against Quartey, it was a different story. Quartey was an 8-1 underdog and a fighter who hadn’t put on a great showing since his 1999 war with Oscar De La Hoya. A top pound-for-pound fighter should do a lot better than this.
MAILBAG
Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that Pac-man is performing on the highest level. He is dominating great opponents. Ray Leonard didn’t dominate Duran, Hagler, or Hearns. Pacman has dominated two great fighters in Barrera and Morales. You are wrong about one thing. Ray Leonard is not as popular as you think. I interact with a lot of people and get their opinons. I’ve asked a lot of people why they have no interest in boxing, is it because of the bad decisions or too many champions or what. I’ve asked this question to at least 500 people in the last 10 years. 350 of them have said they lost interest in boxing after the Hagler and Leonard fight. Marvin Hagler is a lot more popular than people think and it turned a whole lot of people off, male and female, who said they use to like Boxing until that fight. They feel Hagler was ripped off big time. Keep up the great work. — Peter Allen.
Sugar Ray Leonard did not dominate those guys as you say. Hearns without a glass jaw would beat Leonard anytime, I believe. But what I like about Leonard is he always found a way to win. He did this against Duran in their rematch, Hearns after Dundee’s famous “you’re blowing it” speech, and Hagler via our pity and our wanting him to do well. As for Hagler, he seems to be getting his due. He is getting it both for being a great champion and also for getting out of boxing when he did. And I also think it speaks volumes that Hagler left boxing in disgust while Leonard appears weekly on The Contender, playing puppet master to a group of young men desperate for a shot. For a guy who always wanted and demanded absolute control over his own career, Leonard doesn’t seem to grant it to anyone else. And that might also account for some of the lost interest in boxing you mention.
Great article Brett! From a skills perspective, no one can touch PBF: not even Manny! But, it doesn’t do any good for his image or how he is percieved by the boxing public, if he isn’t willing to challenge his own skill level against other “ELITE” fighters! In fact, it is being used against him. With the exception of Corrales, I’m not sure if PBF has beaten any fighters that are considered HOF’ers or top ten P4P’ers (I know Chico was not a top ten p4p king.) PBF has beaten several semi-elite fighters but not any truly elite figthters! As for Manny, well we all know his story, starting with Ledwaba (most forget Ledwaba.) Thanks Brett! –Victor Sumera
And I don’t know what fighting Oscar De La Hoya does for his status either. De La Hoya last fought Mayorga in a showcase bout that generated a lot of money. His upcoming fight with Mayweather will do the same thing. But while this fight fills the coffers, will it fill us with respect and admiration for Mayweather? I doubt it because De La Hoya is past his peak. Can we even consider De La Hoya an “elite” fighter anymore? I doubt it because he hasn’t fought enough in the last few years. When Mayweather steps up to fight tough, hard-nosed boxers like Cotto and Margarito, I will have a lot more nice things to say about him.
Brett, I agree that Pacman is the number one pound-per-pound king. But I disagree that Mayweather is number 2, he is 5 or 4 at best. Winky, Taylor and Hopkins have way better quality of opposition in the last 3 years and should fill the gap between Pacman and Mayweather. Mayweather never fought Johnston or Hatton, and he won’t fight Margarito or Cotto. He is a Roy Jones safety first type fighter. Jaime Navarro
I can understand why you would put Mayweather so low, but I still think from a skills perspective, in a pound-per-pound sense, he would beat Winky, Taylor, and Hopkins. Winky and Hopkins are fading fast, I think. And Taylor hasn’t had a definitive victory against a top fighter yet. But again, Mayweather has disappointed many of us with his talk about being the greatest and not giving guys like Margarito their shot at him. So maybe a ranking of number five is warranted. To be fair to Roy Jones, although he was and still is safety first, he did clean out a relatively weak light heavyweight division. Mayweather has yet to do this in any division.
