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Believe It Or Not!
Winky Wright Helping Train
Chad Dawson For Hopkins Fight
Beloved former world champion and one-time Bernard Hopkins
opponent, Ronald "Winky" Wright is in camp in the Pocono
Mountains in Pennsylvania, serving as a training advisor to
former light heavyweight champion "Bad" Chad Dawson, as
Dawson prepares to face the current WBC and Ring Magazine
Light Heavyweight World Champion Hopkins on Saturday,
October 15, at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles,
California.
Dawson vs. Hopkins, an evening of elite professional boxing
entitled "Believe it or Not", will be presented by Golden
Boy Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions and sponsored by
Cerveza Tecate, AT&T and Ripley's Believe It or Not. It will
be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View®
beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT.
Dawson had been training with the legendary Emanuel Steward
for his last fight, a victory over Adrian Diaconu, but
geography forced an ending to their partnership and a
reunion with former trainer John Scully.
"It wasn't an ugly separation by any means," explains
Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw. "I have a world of respect for
Emanuel and I know he's top-notch, but we couldn't get them
to travel to one another, so there was no other choice but
to move on. Chad's training camp is in Pennsylvania. He
didn't want to train in Detroit again for this fight. But
with all of his commitments and responsibilities, it wasn't
feasible for Emanuel to stay in the Poconos that long. So
they've parted ways amicably and John Scully is back in,
with Winky Wright providing his expert eye."
So is Wright planning on retiring and becoming boxing's
newest high-profile trainer?
"No way," he laughs. "I'm still a fighter. I don't feel like
being a trainer. I don't know how to tell somebody to train.
I can tell you what you're doing wrong and stuff like that,
but as far as telling them when to get up and run; I'm not
really into that. I'm here to just fine-tune little things
that John and I feel he needs to work on. John is the coach
and we are working together very well."
Wright, who will not be in Dawson's corner on fight night,
says he likes his friend's chances in this fight. "Bernard
is sneaky and crafty, but I think that Chad has a style that
can beat him. He's tall and quick, with a good defense and
hand speed. He can move, but he's not scared to get in there
and fight. Bernard wants to try and take you out of your
fight. Chad doesn't need to do that. He needs to do what
we're showing him and make Hopkins fight our fight. We can
win this."
Dawson says the one/two training punch of Scully as head
coach and Wright as an advisor is exactly what he needs at
this time. "Everything is going great. I couldn't ask for
anything better. I'm in a great position right now. Not only
to fight with Bernard, but to work with John Scully who is
very underrated as a trainer and Winky who I think beat
Hopkins when they fought and is still a great fighter to
this day. I'm very excited. I have great sparring partners
and it's going great."
According to Dawson, the reunion with Scully will bring
about a renaissance in his career. "Scully knows how to go
to get me in shape. With him in my corner, you will see a
return of the Chad Dawson from 2007/2008 in this fight. I am
the best light heavyweight in the world and I'm going to
prove it."
Scully says even though it came as a surprise, he's
overjoyed to be back to guiding Dawson.
"I was very happy, of course, to be asked to come back to
training Chad. I've always said that training him was one of
the most positive experiences of my career and I always felt
we had a very good working relationship."
He adds that Wright's presence in camp is very welcome and
the two are working together in harmony.
"Winky is here to lend support to a friend in the boxing
game in Chad. As a former champion and a great southpaw,
Winky's knowledge obviously speaks for itself, plus he's
been in the ring with Bernard and knows all the little
tricks Bernard will try. He has a special insight into the
boxing game, and into this fight in particular, that can't
be overlooked. He's a very good guy, very respectful,
doesn't step on anyone's toes. He speaks up if he sees
something that needs to be spoken about. Everyone here in
camp with us plays a vital role. It's a team effort and
everyone here is working towards that one common goal."
According to Scully, Dawson is showing his hunger to get his
title back. "He's looking perfect in camp so far. He's a
champion at heart and knows what needs to be done to get
ready for a fight like this and he's doing it.
In addition to this championship main event showdown, the
televised pay-per-view undercard will also feature Antonio
DeMarco vs. Jorge Linares in a 12-round fight for the vacant
WBC Lightweight World Title and Kendall Holt vs. Danny
Garcia in 12-round bout for the vacant NABO Junior
Welterweight Title which will also be an eliminator for the
number one rating by the WBC and the number two rating by
the IBF.
Tickets for Hopkins vs. Dawson, priced at $300, $150, $75
and $25, are on sale now and are available for purchase
online at www.staplescenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com or via
Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800)745-3000.
The Hopkins vs. Dawson pay-per-view telecast, which begins
at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT, will be produced and
distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View® and will be available to
more than 92 million pay-per-view homes. The telecast will
be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD.
HBO Pay-Per-View®, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is
the leading supplier of event programming to the
pay-per-view industry. For Hopkins vs. Dawson fight week
updates, log on to www.hbo.com.
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