COMPUBOX PRE-FIGHT ANALYSIS

by Lee Groves/Compubox

Ronald "Winky" Wright (50-3-1, 25 KO) is an 8-to-1 favorite to defeat Ike "Bazooka" Quartey (37-3-1, 31 KO) when they meet Dec. 2 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla. Both men are coming off controversial defeats; on June 17 Wright drew with WBC middleweight champion Jermain while Quartey lost a hairline, but unanimous, 10-round verdict to Vernon Forrest on Aug. 5. Logic would suggest that the winner of this fight could fight the winner of Taylor-Kassim Ouma, which takes place the following Saturday.

Tiger Woods uttered the famous words "hello, world" in his initial press conference as a professional, and Wright's "hello, world" moment came when he beat Shane Mosley in their first fight March 13, 2004. Just as Mosley used Oscar de la Hoya to launch his own star, Wright in turn used Mosley to vault himself into prominence. Wright outlanded Mosley in 10 of the 12 rounds, and two particular stretches turned the tide in Wright's favor. In rounds two through five, Wright outlanded Mosley overall 97-49 and the gulf in jabs was even more dramatic with Wright prevailing 36-5. During rounds eight through 11, Wright out-connected "Sugar Shane" 80-40 and outjabbed him 41-10. Considering the two-inch height deficit, one would think Mosley would prevail in the power punch categories, but it was Wright who dominated in terms of percentage, topping 45 percent seven times while Mosley only reached that level three times.

In the end, Wright was 250 of 761 overall (33 percent) while Mosley was 166 of 618 (27 percent). Wright went 90 of 425 in jabs (21 percent) and 160 of 336 in power punches (48 percent), far outstripping Mosley in those categories (30 of 241, 12 percent, and 136 of 377, 36 percent respectively).

The rematch nine months later was closer on the scorecards as Wright won a majority decision, but the statistics were even more lopsided in Winky's favor. Overall, Mosley was outlanded in every round except for the eighth, when he managed a tie at 24 connects. Even then, Wright was more accurate as he took 53 punches to get his total while Mosley needed 65.

Wright began the rematch at full throttle as he outconnected Mosley overall 22-5 and racked up a 17-0 blowout on jabs. Speaking of jabs, Wright outjabbed Mosley in every round, reaching double-digit connects in seven of the 12 rounds. Mosley's best jabbing round was the seventh when he landed 9 of 30, but he was also bageled in two rounds, the first (0 for 23) and the 11th (0 for 15). Mosley was able to stay in the fight due to his better success in power punches. In that department Mosley prevailed in three rounds, the second, fifth and eighth rounds, and held Wright even in two other rounds (the first and ninth). Wright broke open a close fight in the championship rounds (10 through 12) by outlanding Mosley 73-34 overall, outjabbing him 30-9 and out-power punching him 43-25.

Wright landed more punches in the rematch than he did in the first fight (273 to 250) while Mosley landed fewer (166 to 154). Wright landed 48 more jabs (138-90) between fights, but connected on 25 fewer power shots (135 to 160). Mosley landed more jabs in the rematch (46 to 30) but less power shots (108 to 136). Next up for Wright was a mega-match against Felix Trinidad on May 14, 2005 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Trinidad looked fantastic against Ricardo Mayorga and he was favored to repeat the feat against Wright. Those who bought tickets and pay-per-view subscriptions were primed to see a massacre and they got one – just not the one they thought they were going to get.

Wright won every second of every round and the numbers provide a graphic illustration of Wright's dominance. Overall, Wright outlanded Trinidad by a massive 262-58 and outjabbed "Tito" by an even more massive 185-15. Though Trinidad attempted 62 more power shots (230-168) Wright outlanded Trinidad 77-43. Trinidad failed to land a jab in the first, second, fifth and sixth rounds and landed either one or two jabs in seven more rounds. The Puerto Rican's high water mark in jabs was the ninth, when he landed an anemic 3 of 30 (10 percent). Wright's jab, on the other hand, was extraordinary as he reached double digits in every round except for the first, landed 15 or more jabs in eight of the 12 rounds and topped the 20 mark in the sixth, eighth and 11th rounds.

In terms of power punches, Wright began cautiously but as his confidence grew he unleashed with impunity. From the sixth through the 12th rounds, Winky outperformed "Tito" in all but the 11th and Wright's peak came in the ninth when he blew out Trinidad 21-3. In the final seven rounds, Wright topped the 50 percent mark in four of them, the seventh (56 percent), the ninth (58 percent), the 10th (58 percent) and the 12th (50 percent).

On Dec. 10, 2005 at the Mohegan Sun, Wright had two opponents on his hands – Sam Soliman and the flu. His skin was pale and his muscle tone appeared softer than for the Trinidad fight, and Soliman didn't make things easy with his volume-punching attack. Soliman threw more than 100 punches in nine of the 12 rounds, topping out at 121 in the second and 12th rounds. The Australian ignored the jab as he was shut out in six rounds and failed to landed more than two jabs in any round. Instead, Soliman concentrated on rushing Wright and overwhelming him with power punches, throwing 927 overall but landing just 18 percent. Soliman averaged 105 punches thrown per round but his attack was inaccurate as he landed 14 percent overall (174 of 1,260) and a woeful three percent of his jabs (10 of 333).

Wright was far more composed and measured as he landed more overall blows than Soliman in every round except the first. Despite throwing 608 fewer punches overall, Wright connected on 126 more (300-174), obliterated him in jabs (105-10) and landed 31 more power punches while attempting 583 fewer (195-164 and 927-344 respectively).

With Soliman charging in with little regard for defense, Wright's accuracy was enhanced. He exceeded the 45 percent mark in six rounds and topped 50 percent in four of those rounds, the peak coming in round four when he landed at a 63 percent clip. Wright's jab reached double digits in five rounds and his power punches topped 50 percent in 10 of the 12 rounds, including an unbelievable 80 percent in round four (16 of 20). Once again, Wright finished strongly in round 10-12, outlanding Soliman 82-32 overall, outjabbing him 28-2 and outslugging the tireless Aussie 54-30.

Against Taylor, Wright established a firm foothold in the first five rounds, outlanding Taylor in each round and building up a 109-61 advantage, with 56 of his connects being jabs. Taylor's jab was rendered virtually impotent as he went just 13 of 135, but he impressed the judges by slipping several right hands through Wright's tight guard. Wright enjoyed his best round in the fifth as he outlanded Taylor 30-10, but Taylor bounced back in the sixth by outlanding Wright 21-13. The action continued to see-saw in the second half, and Wright again ended strongly in the final three rounds, outlanding Taylor 39-30 overall, but Taylor's harder punches carried more weight with the judges. That, and the fact that Wright chose to dance away the final 30 seconds of a round that saw both men throw the fewest punches of the fight (37 for Taylor, 32 for Wright). Two of the judges awarded Taylor the final round, allowing the champion to escape with a draw despite being outlanded 226-163 overall and 103-41 in jabs. Wright held a slim 123-122 lead in power punches. Had Wright won the last round he would have taken home the middleweight title via a majority decision. He gave away the late rounds in his last loss, in December of '99, vs. Fernando Vargas and it cost him a jr. middleweight belt. Wright's 226 punches landed vs. Taylor are the most landed by an opponent vs. Taylor in 19 of his fights tracked by CompuBox. Bernard Hopkins landed a combined 196 punches in both his fights vs. Taylor.

After knocking out Clint McNeil in eight rounds to end a nearly five-year hiatus, Quartey stepped up the level of competition considerably when he met former IBF 154-pound champion Verno Phillips June 18, 2005 in Memphis. Phillips got off to a roaring start as he outlanded Quartey 19-8 overall and 18-5 in power punches, but Quartey evened things up in the second as he closed to within 17-16 overall.

From the third until the ninth, Quartey outlanded Phillips in every round and from rounds four to eight he built up a 88-39 advantage overall and a 62-26 edge in power punches. Enterting the ninth, Quartey had builit a comfortable 78-74 lead on Harold Lederman's unofficial card, but Phillips dramatically fought his way back in after dropping Quartey with a short hook to the jaw with 1:09 left in the round. But Quartey steadied himself and a flurry in the final 10 seconds of the bout may have earned him the narrow unanimous decision (95-94, 95-94 and 96-93). The stats reflected the closeness of the bout as Quartey landed 153 of 528 overall (29 percent) while Phillips was 115 of 405 (28 percent). Quartey, known for his jab, wasn't dominant with it as he landed 46 of 207 (22 percent) and Phillips connected on 23 of 130 (18 percent). In power punches, Quartey outdid Phillips 107-92 despite being outlanded 31-17 in the first two rounds.

Quartey's next assignment came against Carlos Bojorquez on Dec. 3, 2005 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and here Quartey shined against his aggressive opponent before scoring a 10th round stoppage. Quartey established the theme in the first round as he rolled up a 35-6 advantage overall, including 28-3 in jabs. The beating proceeded throughout the fight as "Bazooka" fired away with impunity, outlanding Bojorquez in every category except for power punches in round three, where the Mexican garnered a 10-8 edge. Rounds six through 10 were particularly brutal as the Ghanaian outconnected Bojorquez 124-21 overall and 57-6 in the final two rounds. Quartey was masterful with his vaunted jab, landing 57 of 109 in the first three rounds (52 percent), 24 of 45 in the ninth and 10th (53 percent) and 128 of 277 (46 percent) for the entire fight. Bojorquez, never a great jabber, was just 18 of 379 (5 percent) and was held to two or fewer connected jabs in rounds three through 10. Quartey's success with the jab set up his power punches nicely as he went 141 of 251 (56 percent), reaching double digits from the fourth through the 10th. Quartey's accuracy in the final four rounds was outstanding as he went 11 of 15 in round seven (73 percent), 10 of 15 in the eighth (67 percent), 22 of 36 in the ninth (61 percent) and 11 of 17 in the 10th (65 percent). Conversely, Bojorquez landed just 8 of 116 power punches in rounds 7-10 for 7 percent accuracy. For the fight, Quartey outlanded Bojorquez 269-74 overall, 128-18 in jabs and 141-56 in power punches. Though Bojorquez fought bravely, Quartey was far too much for him.

Things didn't go nearly as smoothly against Forrest in his most recent outing Aug. 5 at Madison Square Garden as he dropped a slim unanimous decision. One of the overriding reasons for the loss lay in the difference in work rate.

Though Quartey outlanded Forrest 201-184 he threw an average of 34 fewer punches per round and he went long stretches without throwing any significant punches at all. Quartey was outthrown in every round in every category except for power punches in rounds three and four, and that appearance of consistency enabled Forrest to tip the scale in his favor in the judges' eyes. Forrest also outlanded Quartey in six of the 10 rounds, including a 67-58 edge in rounds four through seven. The only lopsided rounds in terms of overall connects came in rounds two and three when Quartey built up 30-18 and 24-13 advantages. Otherwise most of the rounds were closely contested with neither man earning an edge of more than five connects in the other rounds. In fact, two or fewer connects separated five of the rounds.

Both men went against anatomical type as Quartey outjabbed the taller Forrest 82-50 but Forrest, the man with the longer reach, landed more power punches (134-119). So what can one expect from Wright-Quartey? Both men are known for their superior jabs, but right-handers like Quartey have a much more difficult time landing against southpaws like Wright. At 5-10 1/2, Wright is three inches taller and his 72-inch reach is one inch longer than Quartey's. Both men utilize a high guard, so they will have to exercise patience to break through the other man's shell. Though neither man has ever been stopped, Wright has shown the superior chin as of late.

Two more strikes against Quartey: This is his first fight at middleweight and the fight is taking place in Wright's home state of Florida. Also, Wright is two years and one day younger than the 36-year-old Quartey, so time isn't exactly on Quartey's side either. Wright by decision.