WRIGHT OUTPOINTS QUARTEY

Photos by Will Hart

While it may not have come as a surprise that Winky Wright notched another win into his belt against former roommate and friend Ike Quartey tonight in Tampa Bay, the real surprise was seeing Wright's boxing alter ego: the agressive, less defensive, punching Winky Wright.

Wright clearly dominated the fight, which went the distance, ending in a unanimous decision for Wright, the judges scoring it 117-110, 117-110, 117-109. Wright fought the fight with his hands lower than his usual head-to-hips guarded stance, throwing more than 1,000 punches throughout the match, a record for Wright. Although he only scored two knockdowns, one of them an erronous call as the refree perceieved an off-balance Quartey as touching the mat, Wright charged forward in many rallies and admitted that he was looking for the KO.

"A lot of people think I can't punch...I can punch," Wright said after exchanging hugs with Quartey, whom he shared billings with as he came up in the sport. Wright seemed eager to distance himself, if only slightly, from the image as a purely defensive fighter, particularly as he gears up to make a bid for at least one of the top matches of the next year, notably the winner of the possible upcoming match between co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather in 2007.

"I definitely want the winner of that fight," Wright said, smiling and pointing to De La Hoya, who was in the ring to congratulate his business partner. With enemies like this, who needs friends?

In the co-main event, Jeff Lacy, after nine months out of the ring, marked his return by ilking out a slim victory over Vitali Tsypko. Lacy, who suffered a surprising and brutal defeat at the hands of Joe Calzaghe, marking Calzaghe's entrance into the American public's radar, showed early promise in the fight, catching a defenseless Tsypko through his non-exsitent guard to score early rounds. However, the Ukranian fighter rallied later in the fight, finding a better rythmn nearly able to pull ahead of Lacy, for whom this victory marks the beginning of the second chapter in his career.