Wright vs. Williams is unavoidable

LAS VEGAS — A couple of middleweights who may lead the boxing game in being avoided will solve that problem tonight at the Mandalay Bay Special Events Center. They will fight each other.

Winky Wright was once the main man in the 154- and 160-pound divisions. He beat Shane Mosley twice, beat Felix Trinidad, and was a fighter the big cable networks wanted to promote. Then he lost to Bernard Hopkins 21 months ago, and hasn’t fought since. At 37, he is a boxer with great defensive skills who has been labeled as unappealing.

His 28-year-old opponent, Paul Williams, has a similar lack of appeal -- mostly to those who are candidates to get into the ring with him. Williams makes weight easily at 160 and has fought as far down as 145. It was at that weight that he produced his signature victory, a decision over Antonio Margarito in 2007 at the Home Depot Center.

Williams is 6 feet 1 and will have a big reach advantage on just about anybody he fights -- 10 inches on Wright. So once he beat Margarito, potential opponents were screening their phone calls.

Mosley, who also beat Margarito, as well as Oscar De La Hoya twice, is the most honest.

“I’m not rushing to get into the ring with him,” he says.

Wright, 5 feet 10, weighed in at 159 pounds Friday. His record is 51-4-1, with 25 knockouts. Williams weighed in at 157. His record is 36-1-0, with 27 knockouts. His lone loss was a Feb. 9 match last year against Carlos Quintana, a loss he avenged four months later with a first-round technical knockout.

Wright says he will not be just blocking shots this time, but throwing some. Williams points to the age difference and says, “Old dogs can’t run from new dogs.”

The fight is live on HBO, starting at 7 Pacific time.

A bout on the undercard, which has drawn almost as much attention as the main event, will be on HBO and will match rising heavyweight Chris Arreola against veteran Jameel McCline. McCline has had four title shots and Arreola is looking for his first major one, which could come with an impressive showing tonight.

Whatever happens in that one, it will truly be a heavyweight show. McCline weighed in at 271 pounds, Arreola at 255.

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