Soliman swarms but Wright rules

By Patrick Kehoe: Is Winky Wright, his lancing right jab and tactical combination hitting the real threat to middleweight champion Jermain Taylor? That was thee question as the Floridian Wright stepped into the ring for a scheduled twelve rounds of middleweight action-reactions against Australian over achiever Sam Soliman at the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena on Saturday night. The stoic Wright, at 5'10" took to the ring at 171 against the 32 year-old Soliman, standing 5'8" and remarkably weigh-in in an unprecedented one pound less than he'd weighed-in at, 158!

Ronald 'Winky' Wright, 34, sought to begin in the first round exuding a controlled demeanor with the buzz-saw Soliman dipping, wide legged, throwing from all angles and shifting about the ring. Technically and emotionally understated, Wright spent the first round just walking ahead, trying to land his right jab and throw hard short left hooks to the body of 'King' Soliman. 'Winky', 50-3 (25), didn't like being cuffed behind the head - the referee agreeing - still he refused to lose his patience against the rambling, often wide punching Soliman. A right hook clipped Soliman at the mid point of the second and yet Soliman's windmill style still produced most of the scoring blows or so it seemed. Soliman, 31-8 (12), appeared slightly winded by the end of the second, his all out punching and dashing making for a sprinters pace. Despite Soliman's manifest awkwardness, Wright produced some hard straight lefts and right hook to the body with Soliman clubbing in return with both hands at the bell.

It the battle had been well and truly joined by the frenetic Aussie, Wright tried to counter with clinical patience as much as his normal right jab-left straight down the shoot combinations. The key issue of the contest quickly became just how long could Soliman keep up his frantic, unorthodox pace? Spinning and turning Soliman dotted and dashed blows at times landing on gloves and at times scrapping flesh. As a concerted response, Winky Wright began to pinpoint and hit hard with microscopic counters throughout the third round. Dave Hedgecock, chief second in Soliman's corner, told his charge he was winning the fight on points. Volume and effort imprecisely measured against clinical punching from the Australian's opponent. And Wright looked to redress any misconceptions as to the scoring of the bout with a hard right jab lead in the fourth. Hard right uppercut to the body followed from Wright in the fourth; suddenly Wright;s left cross began to land hard and it came from a more all out aggressiveness, perhaps, born of the feeling he was trapped in a square bee hive.

You had to give Soliman credit for actually scoring as many blows, slaps and glancing blows though many may have been, as he did through the fifth. In a punch total sense or in blows landed, the underdog Soliman was head and shoulders above the effective aggressiveness that Puerto Rican legend Felix Trinidad showed in May. If sheer energy can keep a fighter competitive, Soliman proved the maxim; his movement and awkwardness actually dictated an interesting counter weight to Winky's clinical body hitting.

Even landing 50% of his punches through five rounds, Wright looked almost passive by comparison against Soliman's winging kinetics. One might have argued that Wright was head hunting far too much through the sixth round, a problem he spent the balance of the fight correcting. Without so much as the intention of power, Soliman was painting Wright with all over shots. Though it was not clear if the CompuBox tabulations were seeing what most of the replays were proving as merit earned by Soliman. Then in the seventh Soliman's energy seemed to momentarily ebb somewhat and still with Wright hitting one-two, one-two Soliman nevertheless kept up his brave output, his balance at times more break-dance than shoeshine.

Hard right hooks to the body to begin the eighth by Wright was met with combination attempts by the relentless Soliman. Winky's inside accuracy ripped home hard blows and yet Soliman countered with his right hook when he could, twice doubling up with the clubbing right to the liver of Wright. Selective and at time punishing, Wright found in the eighth, Soliman summoning a third or fourth wind which held to begin the ninth.

With both of Wright's eyes marked up and slightly puffy, the former junior middleweight king bent to frustration and went on an all out stalking campaign against Soliman in the ninth. For his part Soliman opened up with both hands, winging to both sides, though his punches didn't significantly hurt Wright. As Wright landed hard rights to the body of the Australian, Soliman actually opened up and gave back in kind to the head of Wright. In the last ten seconds Wright landed two vicious right uppercuts to the body and a looping over hand right to the head of Soliman as if to punctuate his control of the key punches in the bout.

Interestingly, Soliman proved he could mix in left uppercuts and right hooks to the body with his jab and cross combinations. But a big exchange of combinations at the mid point of the tenth had Wright surging on offense, his tactical hitting unleashed, his accuracy finally pummeling the ever engaging 'King' Soliman. Wright landed right hooks and hard straight left hands in combination driving Soliman back on the ropes. If he was ever going to give into the pace and pain it was then; showing heart and conviction to the task of his spirit for battle, he didn't submit. Amazingly, it was Soliman who came back twenty seconds later with his own combinations to the head and body to an almost astonished 'Winky' Wright. Distaining even the possibility of an upset, Wright clubbed and slotted his best shots in the tenth round and yet Soliman finished up the round on a stronger note.

The doctor checked Soliman at the beginning of the tenth and on the fight went. Soliman's sheer awkwardness no doubt kept 'Winky' in a defensive posture and his punches seemed to bracket Wright, who was too often content to look for the big counter. Then in the last half of the eleventh Winky tried to press the action, but, Soliman just willed himself to launch and lurch countering with both hands, at all times winging blows that were as defensive in essence as offensive in design. After scoring with short shots on the inside, 'Winky' looked for a straight left hand to drive home a power shot at the close of the eleventh and failed to find it.

With Soliman still turning and slipping and winging, Wright got home with his right jab and some hard left crosses and yet Soliman just never gave into fatigue, the significance of the occasion or gravity itself. The big hearted Aussie kept throwing back, over and under, pecking and slapping in scoring blows at angles of incalculable triangulation. And the fans loved him for it! With two minutes to go in the fight they stood to applaud not Ronald Wright, danger man in the middleweight division, but the all out Aussie, Sam 'King' Soliman. They wanted him to know that though he'd been out boxed and out hit by the more precise stylist, they had nothing but respect for his sheer willful audaciousness fought as determination personified. No one questioned he'd battled against the odds and left nothing in the tank.

The judges saw 'Winky' Wright the winner and made it official with the scores: Duane Ford, 117-110; Tom Kaczmarek, 115-112 and Melvina Lathan 115-113.

Though the verdict was booed, it was fair enough on the night; Ronald Wright having perhaps taken a small step back in the general consideration of fight fans, if not boxing insiders. The fight was evidence enough that clinical boxing stands up as a pale invective against all out effort, even when technical mastery blunts bruising ambition. Winky looked for a knockout over the last 5 rounds, he simply couldn't find the meaningful combinations to produce that effect. Statistically, the fight was registered as 300 total landed punches at a 46% scoring rate for Wright against 174 connects for a 13% scoring percentage for Soliman.

But in this fight, though the stats told the tale of victory, they missed the larger meaning of Soliman's personal achievement of total sacrifice for the thing he loves, boxing. And Soliman's effort was nothing, if not infectious!