BOXINGS GREATEST WORKOUTS
BY GARY TODD
A behind-the-scenes, fly-on-the-wall look at a training day-in-the-life of the world's best boxers
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Gary Todd is a man who walks the walk and has talked the talk with some of the fight game's biggest names.
He is an international author and has been involved in all aspects of the boxing game for over 25 years.

On March, 13th , of this year 2004, "Sugar" Shane Mosley did what no one else would do. Give Ronald "Winky" Wright the chance at the big time. Dela Hoya didn't want to fight him, Tito Trinidad didn't want to fight him, but Mosley had so much confidence in his own ability, he didn't care what his opponent had.

In their fight, Mosley looked confused and under motivated. "Winky on the other hand was fighting to his best ability and took the entire fight to the "Sugar man", and fought and beat Mosley with his trademark double jabs and good solid footwork.

That night , Wright made the history books, by being the first undisputed champion at 154 since Koichi Wajima, in 1975. Since then, great champions like "Terrible" Terry Norris, Felix"Tito" Trinidad, and "The Golden Boy" Oscar Dela Hoya have tried to unify the titles but have failed to do so.

Ronald "Winky" Wright was born in Washington, D.C. and was nicknamed "Winky" by his mother. He had a good amateur career, with 69 fights with 65 wins. He was in the U.S.A. representative team with Dela Hoya and Mosley and had a win over world champion, Stevie Johnson. His heroes in boxing were Pernell Whitaker, and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Throughout his career, Wright has won two world championships, and has travelled the world , fighting in his opponents back yards. I remember the first time i saw him fight. He was on the undercard of Nigel Benn and Steve Collins world title fight, at the Nynex Arena in Manchester, England. He was there to defend his W.B.O. World title against challenger, Ensley"Bingo"
Bingham.

Wright won that fight easily, with a unanimous decision and showcasing his superb footwork and hand speed. Even then , i was impressed. Since then , he has had his ups and downs in the sport and was never really recognized as a star of boxing, especially with the Americans. He fought good solid fighters like Bronco Mc Cart, Adrian Dodson , Keith Mullings, Fernando Vargas, and Harry Simon, and julio Cesar Vasquez, but only now have the boxing fans, and the pay per view companies started to take notice. It was always a hard slog for Wright but i doubt if he would have wanted it any other way.

Shane Mosley turned professional in 1993, after a long amateur career[250 fights] and slowly moved up the rankings and dominating the lightweight division, he stopped all who came his way. His power was unquestionable and his speed was unbelievable. He never looked like being beat. He won the I.B.F. lightweight title in 1997, in his 24th fight, punching his way through the tough, and highly regarded champion, Philip Holiday, and defended that title 10 times, before deciding to move up to welterweight, and challenge Oscar De La Hoya, for the W.B.C. 147 title. This fight lived up to all the hype and expectations. What a fight. Mosley won a close split decision, in what was regarded as candidate for fight of the year.

After the dust settled over vegas, Mosley made a couple of defenses against the rough and tough, Antonio Diaz, and the rugged brawler Aussie, Shannon Taylor, and then Englishman, Adrian Stone. Mosley was on top of the world until he signed to fight the lanky but talented Vernon Forrest, at Madison Square Garden. Mosley was smiling, and beaming with confidence,throughout the press conferences and further on down the line, stepping through the ropes to fight Forrest. Mosley was a big favourite to win but Forrest had other ideas. As a 5-1 underdog, Vernon Forrest proved everyone wrong, and beat up Mosley, but The Sugarman" showed tremendous heart in the fight,after being hurt badly in rounds 2 and the 10th. The fight went to the scorecards, and Forrest was crowned the new W.B.C. welterweight champion of the world.

Against his advisors, Mosley immediately asked for a rematch and the confident Forrest agreed. [why wouldn't he?] The rematch was a fine tactical battle with Mosley showing more urgency than their first fight but Forrest once again, came up with the goods using his superior jabbing and outworking Mosley in most of the rounds. Mosley had now been beaten twice from a good but not great fighter. what could he do? For him, there was only one answer? move up and chase another world title in another weight division.

Raquel Marquez was one of the most popular mexican fighters ever. He had a huge support from the mexican fans and was a celebrity in the hispanic community. He was the I.B.F. world champion at Jnr middlewight and Mosley decided to challenge him for his title. Marquez was a great boxer with the heart as big as mexico, but he did fight at close quarters and cut up pretty badly in his past fights. The fight was set for Las Vegas , and this suited Marquez's screaming fans.

The fight was a shocker, with both fighters styles clashing and literally banging heads every time they threw a punch. In the third round , the fight was stopped due to bad cuts over Marquez's eyes. The contest was ruled a no contest, but Mosley was happy he got through his debut at 154.

The boxing critics around the world thought he looked slower and not the same fighter at the heavier weight. A few months later, it was announced that Oscar De la Hoya and Shane Mosley would be fighting in a rematch for"The Golden Boy's" W.B.C. and W.B.O. jnr middleweight world titles.

Obviously, Oscar believed what the critics were saying and this was his chance to get even. Mosley fought better in the rematch than he had fought in their first fight and won unanimously, and also became a member of an elite few, who have held world titles in 3 different weight divisions.

Mosley was again on top of the world. The "Sugarman" was back. When he decided to fight "Winky" Wright, he fell into the same old trap as when he fought Vernon Forest and he made the mistake of looking at all around him instead of what was in front of him. Ronald "Winky Wright was a veteran , a tough solid southpaw,who fought anyone , anywhere, and Mosley thought he was about to make history at his expence. We all know what happened. History was made .
Will this weekends rematch, rewrite history or repeat it .....

Phoenix gym, Manchester, Ricky Hatton, in training for October 1st with Michael Stewart.

GT: Ricky, this is potentially the biggest fight of your career, will you be looking to go out for a quick KO or will you just try to systematically try to break him down, and get some good rounds in?

RH: No not at all. Michael Stewart is a tough fighter and this fight will be tougher fight than a lot of people think. I'll beat him but if there is any openings , I'll take them. I don't get overtime money.

GT: If you beat Stewart and Tszyu beats Mitchell in November, and hangs around at light welter, you will probably face each other sometime in march,
2005, in a mega fight. what would you do differently in the fight that Tszyu's previous opponents did not?

RH: Win! he says with a smile. I would be looking to dictate the pace of the fight and put pressure on him using my high work rate and hopefully get in a few body shots as well.

GT: Tszyu generally fights on the East or West coasts of America, do you think Frank Warren could lure him to Manchester lets say to your beloved Manchester city football stadium. now that would be a boxing event.

RH: Gary I can guarantee, 60,000 fans would turn up for that one. It would be great for me and Kostya. Lets do it.

GT: Ricky, would you be prepared to travel to Australia?

RH: Yes definitely, my dream is to fight in a mega fight in Las Vegas but I would love to go to Sydney or Melbourne to fight. I hear there is a lot of English backpackers out there. To get the big fights, I'll go anywhere. I'm frustrated at the moment. I want to step up and fight these guys. I have spoken to Frank Warren and he has to make it happen.

GT: What about Lovemore Ndou, how do you rate him and would you fight him.?

RH: Yes , Ndou is a warrior who took his chances and put on a good show. he has proved that he will fight anyone so yes, I would love to fight him.

GT: How do you rate Kostya Tszyu, compared with the other names in the top 5.?

RH: He is a fantastic champion, and has fought the best through the years. It will be interesting to see how his inactivity will or will not show against Mitchell. I am sure he will beat Mitchell. He is still the best in the division and that's why I want to fight him.

GT: I have stated on more than one occasion, that I think you are the most exciting champion to come out of the uk since Nigel Benn. the reason is obvious, its your all out attack and aggression, in the ring, but on the other side of the Atlantic and even as far as Australia, a lot has been said about your defensive flaws . do you think this is unfair and do you think your defense is world class?

RH: I am an exciting fighter. It's the way I am. I work on my defense all the time in training and it is improving. I'm not getting cut nearly as much now and what people forget is I can box when I have to and brawl and bang when I have to.

GT: Obviously, you have watched Tszyu's fights. do you think he has any flaws in his arsenal and if so, do you think you could exploit them?

RH: Every fighter has his strengths and his weaknesses. when I fight Kostya, I will exploit them. [he says with a smile]

GT: Ricky, who was your toughest test up to date and why?

RH: Eamonn Magee. He was a awkward southpaw and good counter puncher.
He also knocked me down.

GT: Ricky you have a lot of fans in Australia . What message do you have for them, and also would you like to say anything to Kostya Tszyu.

RH: Firstly, I would just like to say Thank you for your support and that I always like to give the fans a good performance when I fight. my biggest heroes of the ring were guys like Duran, Fenech, and Tyson, and I would love to go down as being as exciting as them.

I don't talk trash about fighters, but I would just say to Kostya that he has said he won't fight me because I'm "not a big time fighter". The truth of it is I am a huge box office fighter and I sell out arenas in minutes. I have the greatest respect for Kostya, and wish him good luck in November. hopefully we can meet.

GT: Ricky Hatton, Thanks for your time and good luck in the future.

RH: Thank you and good luck with your fantastic book around the world.