Wright gives Trinidad beating

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 in his first fight at 160 pounds.

“All the critics, you must hush and give me your praise,” Wright said.

Trinidad, the big puncher and biggest sports hero in Puerto Rico, seemed befuddled and unable to adapt. He couldn’t land his right hand and dropped a decision so lopsided that it had to damage his hopes of avenging his only other loss, to middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins.

“It was a tough fight. He’s got a beautiful jab and it reached me a lot,” Trinidad said.

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.

Wright, who toiled in relative obscurity for 14 years before finally getting a chance last year against Shane Mosley, won 120-107 on one scorecard and 119-108 on the other two. The Associated Press also had Wright winning 119-108.

“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.”

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 getting his biggest payday ever, $4 million. 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.

The rounds piled up one after one in Wright’s favor as Trinidad was unable to land more than a handful of punches in any one round against the gloves held high defense of Wright.

“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, sure enough, he grinned as he walked back to the corner. After the end of the second and third rounds, Wright was feeling so good he urged the crowd to cheer him on.

In the fourth round, Trinidad threw his first meaningful punches, 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 (49-3, 25 knockouts) 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 (42-2) 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.