WINKY A TRINIDAD TUNEUP?

March 5, 2004 - by Ron Borges

Sugar Shane Mosley is finished with Oscar De La Hoya but he's not finished fighting for big dollars. In fact, he thinks he's just beginning.

This doesn't mean Mosley will never consider fighting De La Hoya again because, above all else, Shane Mosley is a businessman and he knows a third fight with De La Hoya would do big business but right now he is simply no longer in the Oscar De La Hoya business.

Mosley's business today is Felix Trinidad, with a side deal that has to be closed first with Ronald "Winky'' Wright on March 13. That night Mosley and Wright will decide who is the premier 154-pound belt-holder in the world when they square off to unify the title in Las Vegas. After that night, Mosley assumes, he and Trinidad will soon settle who is the premier 154-pound fighter in the world.

This is not said to disrespect Wright, who holds the International Boxing Federation version of the title and is an accomplished boxer and dangerous opponent who will bring heart and some true grit into the ring at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. It is simply to make clear that despite having been in retirement the last two years, Felix Trinidad retains a place in the world of boxing that certainly exceeds Wright's.

Because of that, Trinidad and Mosley have already agreed in principal to the terms of a deal that will create for them a super fight this fall without the presence of boxing's dominant box office star, De La Hoya. Yet such is De La Hoya's power in the industry that he still had something to do with the making of both the Wright fight and the Trinidad match and Mosley is the first to admit it.

It is something he concedes with more than a slight trace of disdain in his voice however because he has grown weary of De La Hoya's ability to bigfoot every opponent he faces, even including the undisputed middleweight champion, Bernard Hopkins, who De La Hoya has signed to fight on Sept. 18 at 158 pounds, two below the middleweight limit.

"Trinidad and I have agreed in principle,'' Mosley said this week from his training camp at Big Bear, Calif. "We both said we'd be fair. We both feel 50-50 sounds good. I've paid my dues. Trinidad has paid his dues. I understand Trinidad brings a lot to the table and he understands I bring a lot to the table. We're both superstars. I understand that about him and he understands that about me. Now we want to see who the better fighter is.

"Oscar can't see that about anybody else. He's been told for so long that he's bigger than life and can do what he wants to do. I think he was a little surprised when Felix and I both walked away from him. The way I look at it, I forced him to fight Bernard Hopkins. That's another big fight and that's good for boxing. Our sport needs big fights because it's in trouble now so if I forced him to fight a good fight I'm happy about that. Maybe I should get a few million extra from HBO for that. After Felix and I agreed to a fair deal he was boxed in. He had to take that fight but I don't think he wanted it.''

But how did Mosley get Trinidad to sign to meet him after a two-year layoff when De La Hoya was hounding him to come out of retirement? According to Mosley, he didn't have to do much once De La Hoya's people started talking money.

"I really didn't have to say anything to Felix,'' Mosley said. "When De La Hoya said he wanted 2/3s (of the promotional money) that convinced Trinidad very quickly. Oscar said pretty much the same to me even though I beat him twice. The only way me and De La Hoya will get into the ring again is if it's fair. I deserve most of the pot but if we can't even get to 50-50 forget it. I understand he's big in the sport but I'm big too. I'm not some guy who just got here.

"Actually, I don't have an interest in fighting him again. If the finances are there it's a money fight so fine but I'm not chasing De La Hoya. I have the leverage at this point. I don't need him. If he wants the fight for personal reasons than he's going to have to be fair. If he's not fair about it, he can move on in his direction and I'll move on in mine but I'll move on with two wins (over him).''

Before Mosley can do that however he first has to move on past Winky Wright, who has long waited for this own opportunity to break into the big money. With Mosley holding both the WBC and WBA versions of the junior middleweight championship, Wright is on the short end of the economics of this fight but Mosley well understands that the kind of hunger his opponent is feeling today can be dangerous to him on March 13 if he becomes too involved with the next fight without first being sure he's ready to fight this one.

"For me to get to Trinidad I have to beat Winky Wright,'' Mosley said. "I'm training hard and intelligently for this fight. He has a different style, being a southpaw, and I've been working hard to adjust to that. As an amateur I fought a lot of them but I've only been in with two of them since I turned pro so it's an adjustment.''

The "adjustment'' Mosley has to make is one De La Hoya struggled mightily with when he first got in with a left handed opponent. His adjustments were not good that night and it led to the dismissal of then trainer Robert Alcazar soon after because it was clear that De La Hoya had no idea where to put his feet against a left handed opponent, a problem Mosley insists he will not share with De La Hoya.

"The footwork is very important,'' Mosley said. "My feet are very fast so the adjustments come quick. When I first started sparring with Carl Daniels he was touching (hitting) me at lot with straight lefts. That's the danger for a conventional fighter in with a southpaw. You fall the wrong way and your defense falls right into his offense. You have to train your brain for a fight like this.''

Sugar Shane Mosley is doing that day after day in the snowy mountains above Los Angeles. All his sparring partners are lefthanded and all his work is designed for only one goal. To beat Winky Wright. Although the talk around boxing may be about Felix Trindiad and Oscar De La Hoya, Mosley knows this fight is about only one man.

This fight is about a man who wants to ruin Mosley's next big opportunity and take away his next big fight. The fight on March 13 then is about a guy named Winky Wright not a guy named Felix Trinidad, a guy Shane Mosley knows he cannot fall asleep on because if he does when he wakes up his dream fight will have disappeared into just another Las Vegas nightmare.

"I think when the fight starts he'll be pretty aggressive,'' Mosley said of Wright. "He'll be looking to put pressure on me. But after two or three rounds you'll see a different look on his face. That's when we'll see what kind of heart he has.

"I know he's said he's going to spoil the Trinidad fight for me. I don't take that lightly. I don't find that amusing. It makes me train harder when I hear him talking like that. He wants to get in the way of my success. But the way I'm feeling now and the way I've been training I don't think this will go the distance. It'll depend on what Winky's doing. If he comes to fight, I'll knock him out. If he doesn't, I may knock him out any way.''

Either way, by the end of the evening of March 13, Sugar Shane Mosley believes Winky Wright will have at least one thing in common with Oscar De La Hoya. Shane Mosley will be finished with him, too.