Sugar Shane Not so Sweet
By Benny Henderson Jr. (November 21, 2004)  
Photo © HoganPhotos.com
Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright successfully defended his 154 lb. title for the sixth time in the highly anticipated rematch with the formerly sweet ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley tonight at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas Nevada.

The bout was competitive throughout, but at the end of the day Wright emerged the winner by majority decision 114-114, 115-113, 115-113.

The fans on hand and the viewers watching the second go around on HBO witnessed almost a carbon copy of the first throw-down between the two, except for the sporadic outbursts Mosley seemed to throw out from time to time.

From the beginning of round one it was clear that Winky’s confidence and right jab would control the fight with the champ landing a total of 138 jabs compared to Shane’s 46 which totaled 41% total punches for Winky and 23% for Mosley. By round three ‘Sugar’ Shane showed discouragement for the fact that Wright was controlling the fight with his right hand and Shane’s punches seemed not to affect the thirty-two year old southpaw when they did land clean.

In round five Winky dropped his guard to showboat for the fans and Mosley went to work on the body and landed a punch to Ronald’s head that seemed to stun the cocky Floridian only for a millisecond until he regained his composure to add a barrage of punches of his own.

Winky’s explanation of his overly confident actions in round five was summed up in just ten words “I wanted him to know that he couldn’t hurt me.”

Mosley, fighting without his father and former trainer Jack Mosley in his corner for the first time in his eleven year career, seemed to come alive in rounds seven and eight landing a flurry of scoring shots. Wright came on strong in the ninth and tenth rounds while Mosley edged the eleventh and twelfth.

Mosley, who has only won one fight since his first loss to Vernon Forrest back in January of 2002 and has since gone 1-4-1 with a no contest, now drops to 39-4 (35). In the post fight interview he said that he thought he won the fight and even with his second loss at the hands of Winky Wright he stated that he is encouraged to continue fighting.

Mosley, who started off as a 135 pounder, says that he will continue to fight at the 154lb. mark and the possibilities of Mosley-De La Hoya III could be in the mix in the future.

For his part reigning champion Winky Wright he stated that he wants a piece of Tito Trinidad or possibly a mega bout against Bernard Hopkins or Oscar De La Hoya to bring in the big dollars.

However Wright stated that he was more than happy to have just one more go around against Shane Mosley. Wright, who has fought at 154 pounds throughout his professional career, is no longer flying under the radar with the fans and is willing to fight whoever is out there to entertain them.

If tonight’s dominating trend continues, then it should be a great ride for the fans of Ronald Wright. Heck, just call him Winky.
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