By Jason Kim: Former IBF/WBA/World Boxing Council light middleweight champion Ronald “Winky” Wright (51-5-1, 25 KO’s) is looking to leave Golden Boy Promotions and sign with Top Rank, according to the latest news. Wright, now 38, has been frustrated by his inability to land fights in the past few years. Wright has only fought once in the last three years, losing a lopsided 12 round decision to Paul Williams in April 2009.

Before that, Wright hadn’t fought since losing a 12 round unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins in July 2007. An advantage that Wright would have in signing with Top Rank, the same company that promotes Manny Pacquiao, is that Wright could have an opportunity to face WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik later on down the road in 2010 or 2011.

Pavlik has had problems finding appealing big named stars to fight in the middleweight division, and Wright would at least give Pavlik an opponent with a recognizable name for a change. Beyond that, there’s also the potential of a fight against former WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, who also fights for Top Rank, as does World Boxing Association light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman.

Wright looked poor in his last fight against Williams last year. Wright, a fighter who likes to throw a lot of jabs, was overrun by the high volume offense of Williams and simply couldn’t keep up with all the punches that were being thrown at him. Wright ended up taking a lot of punishment in that fight despite having a reputation for being very skilled defensively. Williams overloaded Wrights’ defense with nonstop punches, making it impossible for Wright to block them all.

A fight with Pavlik would be interesting. Wright has the jab and the defense to give a fighter like Pavlik problems. Pavlik is very deliberate with his offense, has only a few basic punches that he likes to throw over and over again and isn’t very fast in terms of hand speed. Wright might do well in bottling up Pavlik’s offense much in the same way that Wright shut down the offense on former welterweight champion Felix Trinidad in dominating 12 round unanimous decision in 2005. Trinidad was never able to get through Wright’s high guard and couldn’t deal with his powerful jabs as well.

If Wright signs with Top Rank, look for him to fight on the undercard of the Yuri Foreman vs. Miguel Cotto fight in June. This will give Wright some good visibility with boxing fans and help set him up for a shot against Pavlik for later in 2011 or early 2011.

Wright doesn’t have a whole lot of time left in his career. He turns 39 in November. He’s lost his last two fights, and unless he’s someone that is ageless like Hopkins, Wright could be nearing the end of his great career. As such, Wright needs to get to get the best fights possible while he still has time. Pavlik and Cotto would be great fights for Wright, and hopefully Top Rank can make it happen.