By James Slater: The May 5th card that will go down at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas continues to grow. The main event of Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto is a big enough deal on its own, while the chief support of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez against “Sugar” Shane Mosley is a fight that could top a bill all by itself. But there is more..
According to Fightnews.com, Ronald “Winky” Wright, no stranger to big Vegas shows, could face unbeaten prospect/contender Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin on Cinco de Mayo weekend. The fight is said to be expected to be fought at close to the middleweight limit and will be scheduled for ten rounds.
Future Hall of Famer Wright (at least in my opinion- again, how about yours?) has not fought since dropping a wide 12-round decision to a peak Paul Williams in April of 2009. The crafty southpaw has seen a couple of would-be return bouts fall though since then (the 40-year-old was at one time about to face British middleweight Matthew Macklin only for the fight to fail to materialise). Now, the 51-5-1(25) former long-reigning 154-pound king appears set to test 28-year-old Quillin.
Known as “Kid Chocolate” because of his facial resemblance to the legendary 1920’s fighter, the Michigan man has been making steady if not altogether spectacular progress as a 160-pounder. 26-0(20), Quillin was last seen scoring a somewhat controversial 6th-round TKO over Scotland’s Craig McEwan on the James Kirkland-Alfredo Angulo bill in Mexico (some felt the stoppage over McEwan was premature).
If Wright has retained his old skills, or at least a good portion of them, he could give Quillin a real nightmare of a fight. Not a fighter who has taken a great deal of punishment over his long career, defensive master Wright’s main problem is likely to be ring rust. It would be a shock to many if Quillin were to halt Wright, especially early. I can see a definite distance fight.
Quillin has faced southpaws before (McEwan for one) and the stance didn’t seem to bother him. But hitting Winky has always proven difficult, even for great fighters. This one will, in my opinion, come down to how much Wright has left. I think Quillin will edge out a close, maybe even controversial (ugly even) decision win. But Wright, if he has the old hunger back, could easily tear up the script and derail Quillin’s world title ambitions.