LAS VEGAS, NV – Ronald 'Winky' Wright easily beat former three-time world champion Felix 'Tito' Trinidad, posting a unanimous 12-round decision in their non-title middleweight bout Saturday night.
The Tampa resident won on all three judges' scorecards 120-107, 119-108, 119-108.
Wright, an awkward southpaw, improved his professional record to 49-3 (25 KOs), used his jab effectively against Trinidad, 42-2 (35 KOs) to dominate the match in front of the partisan crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Trinidad, of Puerto Rico, was given a warning for a low blow in the fifth and had a point deducted in the ninth.
Wright, who is coming off back-to-back wins over Shane Mosley at the 154 pound weight class, seemed content to let his jab do the work all night. He threw few power punches and rarely had Trinidad in trouble but kept the ex-champion on his heels throughout.
Trinidad's inability to connect with his customary power shots, The key numbers at the end were further proof of Wright's dominance and a possible indicator that Trinidad is still rusty from a retirement of nearly two years before his return in 2004.
"The fighter who beats me has to be one of the best in the world," said Trinidad, "and he's one of the best."
Wright landed a remarkable 185 jabs and Trinidad managed to land just 15 and never got through Wright's defence.
"That was the game plan," said Wright, who had Trinidad's nose bleeding and bothering him from the second round on. "I executed it perfectly."
Trinidad tried to attack Wright's body and throwing lead rights that fell short or were blocked, but he was never able to get his rhythm going or land solid shots which included his lauded left hook.
"He's got a great hook and I kept my eyes on his hook the entire fight," said Wright, who only allowed Trinidad to put punches together when he covered up in that air-tight "earmuff" defense of his.
Wright's masterful performance may have set himself up for the winner of the Bernard Hopkins-Jermaine Taylor fight in July. When asked if he would accept a fight against the winner, Wright replied: "Hell, yes."
On the MGM undercard, Zab Judah retained his unified welterweight title by stopping Cosme Rivera in the third round of their title fight.
Judah knocked the Mexican challenger down three times in the fight before referee Joe Cortez put a halt to the slaughter late in the third round.
Rivera was able to survive the opening round and steer clear of the champion in the second but had little chance of getting out of the third.
Judah caught him with a combination midway through and delivered a series of blows that prompted referee Joe Cortez to stop the fight at 2:11.
"I wanted to put on a world-class performance tonight to put that incident behind me," said Judah after the fight.
"Now I want to fight Oscar De La Hoya, but I'll also fight Antonio Margarito or Shane Mosley...I can knockout anybody because I'm very focused right now. This is the new Zab Judah. I have grown up a lot."
In another match, veteran Will Grigsby dethroned Victor Burgos to claim the IBF junior flyweight title. Grigsby, 18-2-1 (7 KOs) landed the better punches and kept Burgos, 37-14-3 (22 KOs) from being the aggressor.
Bobby Roy
West Coast Correspondent
Information from other publications and wire services was used in the compilation of this report.
