Wright agrees to fight Taylor in nick of time

Less than an hour before he was going to blow a nearly $4 million payday, former junior middleweight champion Winky Wright yesterday agreed to fight undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor June 17, likely in Las Vegas.

After weeks of negotiations between Taylor's promoter, Lou DiBella, and Wright's, Gary Shaw, Wright burst into the office of HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg Feb. 3, insisting he would not fight Taylor for 45 percent of the take and that Shaw, who had promoted him on a fight-by-fight basis for more than a year without a contract, was not authorized to represent him.

Greenburg was caught off guard. ''I explained he was probably blowing up a Taylor-Wright fight," said Greenburg. ''Lo and behold, the fight started to blow up a few days later.

''We delivered an agreement on a licensing fee a month ago. I told Winky the fight would not be made without Lou DiBella and Gary Shaw as the promoters. They were the ones we'd negotiated with. They were the ones representing the two fighters. Legally, I think Shaw was always in. He'd been designated by Winky to negotiate for him. The next thing I know, HBO is accused of trying to force Shaw out, which was an outright lie. I was ambushed in my own office."

The fight nearly imploded after Wright refused the deal Shaw made for him, claiming he was starting his own promotional company. But less than an hour before a World Boxing Council-ordered purse bid -- which carried a 60-40 split favoring Taylor -- was to take place, Jim Wilkes, attorney for Wright and a friend of Shaw's, informed all sides Wright had accepted the terms and Shaw would continue as his promoter, at least for now.

''Gary Shaw was the only professional on Winky's side [of the negotiations]," DiBella said. ''The rest of it was amateur hour. Shaw got Winky concessions from HBO, like a comeback fight if he loses, I never expected. He understood leverage and he understood they had no place to go. Winky didn't have a clue what he was talking about."

HBO Sports agreed to pay a $6.5 million licensing fee and it is expected that another $2 million will come in from the site, when one is selected. Although stories swirled initially that this was a power play orchestrated by HBO Sports and Greenburg, Shaw and DiBella dismissed that idea.

''Ross got sandbagged," DiBella said. ''He should have thrown Winky out of his office but he's too nice a guy. Winky behaved like a spoiled brat. He had no idea what was in his best interest."

Shaw said little about Wright but his disappointment was obvious. He did, however, say, ''Ross Greenburg had no part in this."

As for Greenburg, he said he learned a lesson from it all.

''The lesson is I've got to make sure people can't randomly walk into my office," he said.