Why not a Wright fight for Kelly?

By Joe Scalzo

Trainer Dan Birmingham said that Pavlik has nothing to gain from fighting Paul Williams.

Before Paul Williams emerged as the front-runner to be Kelly Pavlik’s next opponent, Ronald “Winky” Wright was mentioned as a strong possibility.

Wright’s trainer, Austintown native Dan Birmingham, hopes he still is.

“He’d love to fight Pavlik,” Birmingham said Tuesday. “That’s his goal, to fight the guy on top.

“I’m hopeful it will happen. The public wants to see that fight.”

But, Birmingham believes, Pavlik’s promoter, Bob Arum, does not. When asked the reason why Wright, the former undisputed light middleweight champion, has not fought since losing a unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins last July, Birmingham said, “Probably Bob Arum.

“It’s not Jack [Loew, Pavlik’s trainer] and Kelly, because Jack and Kelly don’t fear anybody. He’s the champ and we respect them both. But there’s a thing with Wink and Bob Arum.”

Arum promoted Wright for one bout in the mid-1990s, then Arum offered Wright a fight with Shane Mosley. But Arum wanted too much money, Birmingham said, prompting Wright (with some help) to buy out his contract with Arum for a “six-figure sum.”

“I think Bob still has a bad taste in his mouth,” Birmingham said, who added that Pavlik’s manager, Cameron Dunkin, shares some of the blame for not making a Wright-Pavlik bout.

Arum, for his part, has said that Wright wants too much money for a Pavlik bout and hasn’t been realistic with his demands, particularly considering the current economic climate.

“That’s not true at all,” Birmingham said. “Wink made a public statement that he would take less money, and he should. Kelly’s the champ.”

Birmingham said Wright has an agreement to fight on HBO in October, although he doesn’t know the exact date or the opponent. At least one published report has Wright fighting welterweight Kermint Cintron on Nov. 29 in Las Vegas.

Regardless, Birmingham said the next fight will not be a warm-up to a rematch with Hopkins.

“I don’t think he’ll ever fight Hopkins again,” Birmingham said. “That fight was all about making money. Winky at 170 pounds is too heavy. He’s more of a 54 or 60 pounder.”

Arum said last week that he’s close to arranging a Pavlik fight with Williams, the WBO welterweight champion. Birmingham hopes that doesn’t happen. (“Kelly has nothing to gain from that fight,” he said.) Like a lot of boxing fans, Birmingham would have liked to see a Pavlik fight with Joe Calzaghe.

“But Calzaghe refused to fight Kelly,” he said. “Why, I don’t know. Probably because it would be a good fight.”

As for the 36-year-old Wright, he’s staying in shape in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Birmingham said it would only take 8-10 weeks for him to be ready for a fight. Wright’s low profile has prompted ESPN.com’s boxing writer, Dan Rafael, to write lines like this one: “Winky Wright, come out, come out, wherever you are!”

“It’s frustrating [the layoff] for me because I try to stay in business as a trainer to a top guy,” Birmingham said. “When fights don’t happen, I have to resort to my day job.

“Like I said before, we’d love nothing more than to fight Kelly Pavlik.”

scalzo@vindy.com