A DEFENSIVE CHESSMATCH

When long-time Philadelphia boxing promoter and historian J. Russell Peltz first thought about what he's likely to see July 21 when former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins tries to solve the mystery that is Winky Wright, one fight from the past quickly came to mind.

July 7, 2007 - by Ron Borges

"Harold Johnson vs. Willie Pastrano," Peltz said. "Johnson was a very defensive fighter, maybe one of the best defensive fighters ever. He had a good right hand but was very cautious. Like Hopkins in that way. Pastrano was a guy on his toes, looking to move in and out. He'd make you miss somewhat like Wright and then use his jab and his movement to create some offense off his defense.

"By the end of that fight, Pastrano had become so defensive it forced Johnson to become the aggressor. That's what I think will happen in this fight. Neither one of these guys wants to be the aggressor but someone will have to be or there's no fight. Wright wasn't as defensive as he usually is when he fought (middleweight champion Jermain) Taylor but he doesn't want to press the action. He wants to respond to it.

"Bernard is a cautious guy by nature. He doesn't take chances, especially early in a fight. He's always looking to counter and tie up on the inside but it's hard to counter someone like Wright because he's in such a defensive shell. He stabs at you with that jab top score and then covers up. He doesn't like to lead, the same way Pastrano didn't. So for this to be a good fight one of them is going to have to do what Harold Johnson did in that fight. One of them is going to have to initiate the action."

In other words, someone is going to have to fight out of character. Johnson's reward for doing so that night back in 1963 was to lose the light heavyweight title on a very questionable split decision that Peltz still disputes 44 years later. Despite Johnson's best efforts to go offensive even though it was against his nature, he wasn't rewarded for making the fight. Will the one who chooses to do so on Jly 21 face a similar fate?

Another pairing that reminded Peltz of what might be coming was that of Ezzard Charles and Joey Maxim. Charles fought Maxim five times over 62 rounds during his long career, winning all five times whether they were fighting as light heavyweights or heavyweights. Every fight was a rerun of the previous one – a defensive struggle in which Maxim fought on his toes and behind his jab while Charles calmly waited to counter and did so just often enough to win.

Such fights were artistic successes 40 years ago and remain boxing clinics today when watched on YouTube but this era's less educated and more impatient fight fan has little appreciation for such an approach and Hopkins knows it. That doesn't mean he'll change his style to please them but he seems to sense that one of them is going to have to if a fight is going to break out that night.

Hopkins has insisted he will be the one who transforms himself into a predator even more so than Harold Johnson did 44 years ago against Pastrano. But how does a caution-first, 42-year-old prize fighter suddenly convince himself to abandon an approach that has made him the winningest middleweight champion in history?

"Somebody has to be the dog in this fight," Hopkins (47-4-1, 32 KO) insisted said matter of factly during a recent discussion of the biggest issue surrounding this fight. "I promise I'll be it. I understand this is a risk because of his (supremely defensive) style but that's why it's important for me to stop him. At my age everyone is looking for some sign of slippage. I know to keep people interested I got to do what others couldn't do. That's why I want to stop Winky. Winky won't come out and fight like Arturo Gatti. Neither of us will. But I'll fight different than people think and I'll make him fight.

Winky Wright showing his defensive side against Jermain Taylor

"He's been taking more chances lately. Coming out of his shell. He's not a guy like Jermain Taylor, who had the youth to stand in front of me and let me pound on him and pound on him round after round and take it. You're going to see Bernard Hopkins make Winky Wright come out of his shell. I'm going turtle hunting. He'll have to fight back."

The 35-year-old Wright will only have to do that if Hopkins is able to press him enough to crack what is arguably one of the best defenses this side of NORAD. If not, he will very likely stay on the outside, using his unusually long arms to protect his body and his head from any assaults while slowly working his way into, and then back out of, punching range.

Wright has long been criticized for this passive style but it has left him 51-3-1 and a former junior middleweight champion and, some would argue, deserving of having been awarded the middleweight title when he fought Taylor to a controversial draw. But it has also left him with only 25 knockouts, a number that has never concerned him but which has left the crowd often wondering why he didn't do more.

To his credit, Wright was more aggressive against Taylor but when he got in with 37-year-old Ike Quartey, a hard-punching former welterweight champion, Wright returned to the conservative approach that has served him in so well every way but as a crowd pleasing ticket seller.

Despite their stylistic leanings, this match was made on the strength of their reputations and a belief being the public recognizes that even as they have aged Hopkins and Wright remain two of the best fighters in the world. No one would dispute that. The question is will their cautious styles negate their effectiveness or will the corrosive effect of age slow them just enough to turn this into something unexpected?

With no title at stake, the real intrigue of it all then is whether either can overhaul his style or will this become like Charles and Maxim or Johnson and Pastrano, a chess match between Grand Masters wearing eight-ounce gloves?

Frankly, Wright made you feel the latter was likely to be the case when he said during the cross-country press tour to hype the fight that, "People are saying that both of us are defensive fighters... but that's why we had longevity. I don't want to be one of those fighters who can't talk or whose face is rearranged."

Those are noble goals but Wright's success at winning without often being hit is why he has never became a star in the United States. In fact, Wright fought 14 years for short money before finally breaking through against Shane Mosley, often having to travel overseas to have his classic defensive skills fully appreciated until he twice beat Mosley in 2004 and then retired Felix Trinidad by giving him a boxing lesson Trinidad will never forget.

Although long admired by boxing aficionados, the general public has never warmed to Wright's Teflon-like defensive prowess. Had he fought in the era of Johnson and Pastrano, or even more so in the days of "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom or Willie Pep, Wright would have been revered as a master of self-defense. Blessed with unusually long arms and quick reflexes, Wright seems able to block any assault and then works off that, scoring with a jab that is long and accurate and countering opponents after they miss before disappearing into the night.

That approach has made him one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world but for all their technical flaws, it is fighters like Arturo Gatti and Ricky Hatton, to name two, who sell today. Once a fighter like Rosenbloom was fully appreciated for his mastery of defense but today a guy with a record of 209-37-22 but only 19 knockouts would have a hard time finding his way onto television because in 2007 defense only sells in the NFL.

That Hopkins and Wright are highly skilled fighters is beyond debate. That Wright may be the best defensive boxer of his time is a widely conceded point and Hopkins is universally renowned as a master of counter punching and in-fighting. But in this day and age such subtleties are no longer appreciated so how do Hopkins and Wright fight aggressively enough to please the public without abandoning the styles that have brought them so much success? That's a question they'll both have to answer on July 21.

It is also why Hopkins-Wright was given the promotional title "Coming to Fight." Whether that's a promise that will be lived up to or not remains to be seen but Hopkins argues forcefully that it will.

"The fact is we don't move as much as we used to because we can't," Hopkins said. "We're two old guys with sticks in our hands, swinging at each other now. So the best defense that turns into offense will win. This won't be boring. We both know what has to be done to win a fight like this. The guy who fights the most out of character will win."

Unless, of course, he suffers the fate of poor Harold Johnson, who did just that against Willie Pastrano and lived to rue the day. Or at least the judges.