Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver, Jeff Lacy, Antwun Echols, Edner Cherry
Are these names familiar? Tampa Bay remains lathered up over the Lightning´s Stanley Cup win, and still feels a tinge of afterglow from the Buccaneers´ Super Bowl crown, but they are not the only ones making a championship name for themselves ´round these parts. Lately, professional boxing is on a big upswing. St. Pete´s Ronald ¨Winky¨ Wright grabbed three Super Welterweight belts by beating ¨Sugar Shane¨ Mosley in March. Tampa´s Antonio Tarver bent minds with his second round knockout of once-impenetrable Roy Jones Jr. in May. With the win, he bogarted five Light Heavyweight titles. Super Middleweight Jeff Lacy, a St. Pete native living in Brandon, holds a couple of lesser belts but is widely believed to be on a fast track for shinier waist gear. Lightweight Edner Cherry of Palm Harbor and St. Pete Middleweight Antwun Echols are on solid tracks for top championships. These men, and other local up-and-comers, are succeeding in the crazy, often-cruel sport of prizefighting, largely without the benefit of local sports-media coverage. These men deserve to be full-fledged local heroes. We salute you.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.