LAS VEGAS -- Winky Wright made it seem easy, just like he said he would.
In the biggest fight of his long career, Wright gave Felix Trinidad both a beating and a boxing lesson Saturday night to win
their middleweight showdown.
Wright so dominated the fight that Trinidad won only one round on two ringside scorecards, and none on a third. He did it by
negating the power that carried Trinidad to 35 knockout wins with great defense, and showing some surprising punching power of his
own.
Trinidad seemed befuddled and unable to adapt, dropping a decision so lopsided that it had to damage his hopes of avenging
his only other loss, to middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins.
Wright controlled the fight with his right jab, landing it at will and landing it hard. When the two got in exchanges, he landed
first, and often followed it with a straight left hand that backed Trinidad up.
"I've been proving myself over and over again,"' Wright said. "I think he underestimated me a little bit. He didn't think I was
that strong."
Wright won 120-107 on one scorecard and 119-108 on the other two. The Associated Press also had Wright winning 119-108.
"It was a tough fight. He's got a beautiful jab," Trinidad said.
No title was at stake, but there were plenty of other subplots in a fight that drew a near sellout crowd of 14,176 to the MGM
Grand hotel-casino arena. Trinidad came in as the big puncher, while Wright built a reputation as a slick southpaw with the ring
savvy of a veteran.
Trinidad was in the second fight of his comeback after a 29-month retirement, while Wright was fighting at middleweight for
the first time. And both fighters had an eye on middleweight champion Hopkins, who handed Trinidad his only defeat in September
2001.
Trinidad was an 8-5 favorite, but Wright came in determined to give him a boxing lesson, and he did. He landed 262 of 756 punches,
including 185 jabs, to 58 of 557 for Trinidad, who was credited with landing only 15 jabs.
"I executed the game plan beautifully," Wright said. "I hit him with some great shots in the face."
The tone of the fight was set in the opening round as Wright used his right jab to keep Trinidad off balance. Wright kept the
jab in Trinidad's face all night, frustrating Trinidad and keeping him from getting off his big punches.
Wright had promised to let fans know with a smile at the end of the first round if he had Trinidad figured out, and he grinned as
he walked back to the corner. After the end of the second and third rounds, he urged the crowd to cheer him on.
In the fourth round, Trinidad threw a combination that backed Wright up, but Wright shrugged it off, motioning to Trinidad as if
to say, "Is that all you've got?"
Wright worked with his hands high, moving in behind the right jab that landed with such force that it snapped back Trinidad's
head almost every time. When the two got in exchanges, he followed
the right with straight left hands to Trinidad's head.
"You're making this fight so one-sided, man. Keep it up," trainer Dan Birmingham told Wright after the sixth round.
Meanwhile, in Trinidad's corner there was growing desperation as the rounds went on and Wright piled up points on the ringside
scorecards.
"Get closer" Trinidad's father and trainer, Tito Sr., repeatedly told his son between rounds. "Are you listening to
me?"
Trinidad was listening, but had no answers. Almost every time he tried to set himself to throw a right hand, he got a jab by Wright
in his face.
The more aggressive Trinidad became as the rounds went on, the more he paid for it. Trinidad was supposed to be the big puncher,
but he rarely landed anything clean through Wright's defenses while Wright seemed to shake Trinidad with both his right jab and his
lefts down the middle.
The frustration was evident as Trinidad, finding no targets upstairs, repeatedly hit Wright below the belt. By the ninth round,
referee Jay Nady had seen enough, and took a point from Trinidad for the low blows.
Trinidad never went down, but he seemed hurt a number of times as Wright peppered him with the stiff jab, left hand and an
assortment of other punches including a big right uppercut in the
10th round.
Wright, who toiled much of his 15-year pro career in obscurity, made a name for himself last year by beating Shane Mosley twice to
unify the 154-pound title. That not only got him the fight with Trinidad, but a $4 million payday that was his biggest ever.
Trinidad earned $8 million.