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Major boxing match tomorrow night: Winky Wright (48-3) vs Felix "Tito" Triidad (42-1, Puerto Rico). This will be a serious fight. Too many fights, it seems, are arranged to produce a desired result. But this one has all the makings of a real contest. I wonder who the Vegas odds-makers are giving the edge to. Probably Tito, cuz he has the knock-out power. But Winky has never been knocked out. I admire Tito for not ducking tough opponents. He has fought all the big names (.. and usually wins). This doesn't surprise me, tho, because I grew up on the East Coast and knew some Puerto Ricans there (large PR population resides in New York City). They are a very proud, nationalistic people. Prouder than any group I've met. At least the ones I knew. (I even dated a PR girl once, Sonia, but she was too uh, 'advanced' for me.) ••• continued ••• But I kinda think Winky may prove too tough. He's not very well known, cuz big-name fighters usually avoid him. Nice guy, too. He is stepping up a weight-class to fight at middle-weight, something he's never done. Could be a factor. He says not. So this is going to be interesting. You have to go back a few years to find a fight this contentious. Maybe one of the local sports bars will carry it. (Pay Per View) Always good to see major boxing matches with a big group of people. The bout is being held at the MGM Grand, Vegas. Team sports are cool, but there's nothing like the mano-y-mano spectacle you get when two lone-warriors step into the ring like gladiators of old. If you lose, there's nobody to blame but yourself. And if you win... And I love the way the announcer, Michael Buffer, introduces the fighters .. gets me all fired up. UPDATE: 14.May.2005 - I called all the local sports bars to see if anyone was hosting tonight's fight. Only National Sports Grill was game, but only at their Buena Park & Torrence locations ($20 per-person cover). I talked to the owner of one local place, here in Orange county. He said it's just too expensive. I don't feel like driving up to Los Angeles to see the fight, so I'm out of luck. I even searched the web to see if I could find a webcast. Looks like the odds are 3-2 in favor of Tito. That sounds about right. UPDATE: 15.May.2005 - Winky won! Descriptions of the fight at Sports Illustrated, and MSNBC, and New York Times .. San Francisco Chronicle. I thought it would be closer. The bout should air next Saturday on regular HBO (not Pay Per View). This sets up a championship bout between Winky and the decade-long middleweight champ: Bernard Hopkins. What a good fight *that* would be. None is cagier than Hopkins, who owns more belts than he can carry. But, at 40 yeras of age, father-time is fast on his heels. Few boxers have more title defenses. |
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