Hopkins tops Wright in return to ring
Las Vegas, NV - Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins defeated Ronald “Winky” Wright in a unanimous, but controversial decision in their light heavyweight bout Saturday, in Hopkins’ return from retirement.
Hopkins and Wright, who engaged in a weigh-in scuffle that included shoves thrown by each fighter before they were predictably broken up, engaged in a mostly even-matched bout that was scored surprisingly heavily in Hopkins’ favor, 117-111, 117-111, and 116-112.
Hopkins opened a gash over Wright’s left eye with a head butt in the third round, and the referee Robert Byrd frequently had to warn the former middleweight champ to stop holding Wright, but in the end he came out on top, ending a 7 1/2 year undefeated span for Wright.
The fight was billed as light heavyweight, but the fighters set the weight at 170 pounds, five below the light-heavyweight usual of 175.
The 42-year-old Hopkins (48-4-1), based out of his hometown of Philadelphia, hadn’t fought since upsetting Antonio Tarver in a 12-round unanimous decision last June, a fight that had been billed as his last before retirement. A former middleweight champion, Hopkins moved up to light heavyweight for the Tarver fight.
The 35-year-old Wright (51-4-1, 25 KOs), based out of St. Petersburg, Florida, was coming off a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Ike Quartey last December. Wright, a southpaw, had not lost a bout since December 1999, when Fernando Vargas topped him in a controversial decision.
