Winky Wright!
Ronald Lamont “Winky” Wright (born November 26, 1971) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2012. He is a two-time light middleweight world champion and remains the last to hold the undisputed title at that weight. In his later career he also challenged for a unified middleweight world title. He announced his retirement from boxing in 2012, following a loss to Peter Quillin.[1]
In 2005, The Ring magazine ranked him as the world’s second best active boxer, pound for pound. In 2017, it was announced that Wright had been elected as an International Boxing Hall of Fame member in the Modern Category, alongside Vitali Klitschko and Érik Morales, with the induction ceremony scheduled for June 2018.
After his second-round knockout of Carlos Santana on July 30, 1992, in St. Petersburg, Florida, the ring announcer called him “Winky” Wright, the name given to him by his grandmother when he was 6 months old and that had unofficially stuck with him since he was 18 months old. The nickname stuck with him for the rest of his career following his win over Santana.
Big time promoters like Don King and Lou Duva would not promote Wright in the early part of his career. His first big time promoters were the French-based Acaries brothers, who struck a deal for Wright to fight Darryl Lattimore in Luxembourg on January 1, 1993. Wright knocked Lattimore down three times, and the fight was stopped. Wright went on a tear during his tour of Europe, winning 8 straight in France, Germany, Monte Carlo, only fighting in the United States once over the next year.
Wright has appeared in music videos for Busta Rhymes‘ “Touch It Remix” (feat. Mary J. Blige, Missy, Rah Digga, Lloyd Banks, Papoose, DMX) 50 Cent‘s “Outta Control Remix” (feat. Mobb Deep) Jamie Foxx‘s “DJ Play a Love Song” (feat. Twista) and 2 Pistols‘s “She Got It” (feat. T-Pain). He also appeared briefly in the cult hit State Property 2 along with Dame Dash and Beanie Sigel.
Wright has previously entered into ventures and endorsements with brands such as Reebok, Vitamin Water, Rocawear, State Property and 2(x)ist men’s underwear among many others[citation needed]. Through these partnerships, Wright has appeared in television commercials and ad campaigns around New York City and in Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, VIBE and VIBE VixeN magazines.
He currently owns an independent record label, Pound 4 Pound Records, also based in St. Petersburg. The label consists of a talent roster which covers genres of music from rock & roll to hip hop.
Winky now has his own promotion company called Winky Promotions.
Winky Wright married Sayquana Barney on August 1, 2009. Winky often participates in charity events, in which he also has his own charity event called Winky Wright Foundation which gives him the opportunity to give back to the community. He currently resides in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Winky Wright linked up with marketing professionals DMC (https://yourdmc.com/) in mid-2016 to launch his career in the St Petersburg, Florida real estate market.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winky_Wright
