I recently was afford an opportunity to interview former undisputed junior middleweight champion, Ronald “Winky” Wright. Winky amassed a career record of 51-6-1 (25KOs) and challenged for the undisputed middleweight championship, coming out with a controversial draw. In this interview Winky shares his thoughts on his career defining fights against Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad. Wright also talks about the draw verdict in the Jermain Taylor bout and how that changed his views on the sport. Additionally, Winky talks about Floyd Mayweather’s career and gives his thoughts on Pacquiao-Khan. Here is what Winky Wright had to say.

(Click player to listen to the full interview)

Robert Brown: Winky, lets talk about your title shot against Shane Mosley, you came in as a 4-1 underdog, can you tell me your thoughts on that fight?

Winky Wright: Well that fight right there was a coming out fight, a lot of fighters did not know who I was even though I had a belt, but everybody knew who Shane Mosley was because he beat Oscar De La Hoya. So I had to go prove myself to the public that I deserved to be here, that I deserved to be the undisputed champion.

I went out there, I put pressure on him, I used my jab, I kept him off balance and I did not let him set up, because he’s very quick and he’s a strong little fighter, so I what I did was keep him off balance, keep him on his heals and he really could not use his power because I was pushing him backwards, going to the body and breaking him down.

Robert Brown: The second fight was a lot closer, but you came away with the victory, what are your memories of that fight?

Winky Wright: The second fight I definitely know I was going to beat him, it was more of was I going to be able to knock him out? I let myself be lulled to sleep a little bit in some of the rounds, just because I thought I was going to catch him because he couldn’t hurt me even though he was a good little puncher.

As you see, I put my hands down in one of the rounds and just let him hit me, but I should have just stayed focused and won it round by round, but I wanted to make it more exciting, I wanted the fans to get into the fight and I believe they did.

Robert Brown: You had a middleweight title eliminator against Tito Trinidad and you beat him quite easily even though he was the favorite against you. What where your thoughts on that fight?

Winky Wright: That fight right there was the fight that took me over the top, because I got a lot of Latin fans from that fight, because I handled myself with dignity, I didn’t try and disrespect Trinidad. It was just a competitive fight, it was one sided, but it was done with class.

I respect Tito, we were friends and I knew he was a great puncher, I knew that anybody that just has a big punch, I figured at that time could not beat me because I was too smart to get hit with that one big shot and that’s what I did, I just used my defense, used my jab, kept him off balance. When he loaded up, I blocked it and counter shot and kept him off balance with the jab.

Robert Brown: You had a chance to become the middleweight champion of the world against Jermain Taylor, but the fight was ruled a draw, what are your thoughts on that decision?

Winky Wright: Fighting Jermain Taylor, coming in his home town and beating him, which I would have became the only fighter probably in history that was the undisputed junior middleweight and middleweight champion of the world at the same time, I would have had all the belts at the junior middleweight and middleweight division.

For them not to give me that decision, that one hurt because I gave it my all, for them to take that one from me, the judges, it just really put a bad taste in my mouth. It was like, “Why box?” because you go out there and give it your all, but these stupid judges decide who they want to give it to, knowing they are giving bad decisions.

Robert Brown: After all the controversy with that decision, why did you two not have a rematch, did Taylor not want it?

Winky Wright: No no, he didn’t want it, and people were coming out saying I didn’t want it. They never wanted a rematch, they tried to come at me and say, “We will give you this amount and that’s it.” First of all you don’t negotiate like that. They said, “We will give you all this and that’s that” knowing that I’m not going to take that.

Them saying that I turned down the fight, I did not turn down the fight, they did not make me a legit offer. So that’s what that was, and they just didn’t want the fight and it was like, let’s just move, on and that was it.

Robert Brown: Do you think Floyd Mayweather will stay retired after his last win? Where do you rank Floyd among the greatest fighters of all time?

Winky Wright: First of all I don’t think he’s gonna stay retired, I think he will go 50-0 — I would if I was him and be the only fighter to do it. I rank him up there with the great fighters. I think sometimes in career he picked and chose the right fights for him but I think towards the end he started to get dangerous fighters. He picked fighters that were on their game, like Canelo. He took that chance and he looked good doing it.

I gotta take my hat off to him, he did what he had to do, he’s beaten everyone. I will put him up there with the great fighters, but for myself, I don’t know if I’m gonna say he’s the greatest fighter because there may have been some fights in this era that he didn’t take or didn’t do, or else they would have made him great. I think he’s a great fighter, he’s one of the greatest fighters that laced the gloves up and I respect him. He’s a hell of a fighter, he’s a smart boxer and he’s got a lot of skill.

Robert Brown: There are talks that when Manny Pacquiao comes back he may fight Amir Khan. What are your thoughts on that fight and who would you be backing in it?

Winky Wright: I like both fighters, they’re good fighters. If I had to bet, I’m gonna have to bet on Pacquiao, he’s just a little monster, but Amir Khan is a good little fighter man, he throws a lot of punches and I like him and I’m friends with him. I don’t know if Amir’s got the power to keep Pacquiao off of him, because Pacquiao’s coming to knock you out. Can Amir hurt him enough or stun him enough to make him respect him?

Robert Brown: So you would be leaning towards Pacquiao at this stage?

Winky Wright: Yeah at this time I would have to lean towards Pacquiao, but you never know. I like Amir, I think he’s a very good fighter, it just takes a lot of time for these fighters to become great. Amir is a very good fighter that has talent to become a great fighter.