By Ian S. Palmer
Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright, was the latest in a long line of boxers who have made comebacks after sitting on the sidelines for a number of years. The former junior middleweight champ fought for the first time in over three years on June 2 when he took on Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin in Carson, California. Unfortunately for Wright, his bout ended the same way many others have returning fighters comebacks, which was a loss.
The 40-year-old southpaw, who was born in Washington D.C., lost a 10-round unanimous decision the 28-year-old Quillin of Chicago, Illinois by scores of 97-92, 98-91, and 98-91. It was Wright’s third straight unanimous decision loss, with the others coming against Paul Williams in 2009 and Bernard Hopkins in 2007. It was Wright’s third fight in the past five years.
Wright fought well even though he was knocked down in the fifth round with a straight right hand and could have perhaps earned a victory if he had been able to stay active over the years. However, the ring rust was hard to shake off and the unbeaten Quillin (27-0, 20 KOs) earned his win. He could see what he wanted to do, but just couldn’t pull the trigger
Wright didn’t make any excuses and said he knew he lost the bout. He said his timing wasn’t there and Quillin was awkward to fight because he moved a lot. Quillin said he was proud of his performance and Wright was a tough opponent who deserves a lot of credit. The Cuban-American said he threw a lot of hard punches and made Wright fight, but the veteran was still very crafty and smart.
After the fight Wright said he night move back down to the junior middleweight division, but by the next morning he had decided to retire. He wrote on his Twitter account that he had a lot of fun during his career and accomplished his goal of becoming a world champion, but a good boxer knows when to hang up the gloves. He said there’s not much point in carrying on if he can’t win another title and thanked all of his fans for their support.
Wright retires with a record of 51-6-1, with 25 KOs. He was the first junior middleweight boxer to hold the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles simultaneously. He was also a junior middleweight champion in the past. Wright made his pro boxing debut back in 1990 with a four-round unanimous decision over Anthony Salerno.
Wright fought some of the top boxers of his era including Julio Cesar Vasquez, Fernando Vargas, Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Ike Quartey, and Paul Williams. His only other losses were to Hopkins, Williams, Vargas, Vasquez, and Harry Simon and he was never stopped in his career. Wright won his first world title, the WBO Jr. Middleweight Championship, with a split decision over Bronco McKart in 1996. He defended it four times before losing to Simon.
He then won the vacant IBF belt in 2002 with a decision over Robert Frazier and defended it five times. Wright unified the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles two years later when he beat Shane Mosley by a unanimous decision. He moved up in weight and attempted to take the WBC and WBO middleweight crowns from Taylor, but the bout ended in a draw.
