Walter Wright (born February 20, 1981) is an American professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. Walter married Melissa Wright on 11/11/2018. They have a daughter named Aya!

Amateur career

As an amateur, Wright amassed a 90-12 record, including 4 straight Tacoma Golden Gloves titles, appearing in the finals of the 2001 u.s. amateur championships, and the quarterfinals of the 2002 national

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

and u.s. amateur championships.

Professional career

He opened his pro career by losing in his debut to Matt O'Brien by knockout, despite leading on all three cards. Wright then compiled a string of consecutive victories, becoming a regular fixture at the

Battle at the Boat The Battle at the Boat was the longest running professional boxing series at any tribal casino in the United States, beginning in 1997 and continuing until 2020. In its 20+ years, The Battle at the Boat hosted over 120 fights, including five world ...

series at the

Emerald Queen Casino The Puyallup, Spuyalpabš or S’Puyalupubsh (pronounced: Spoy-all-up-obsh) ('generous and welcoming behavior to all people, who enter our lands') are a federally recognized Coast Salish Native American tribe from western Washington state, Uni ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, culminating in his appearance on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

Contender Season 2 ''The Contender 2'' is a reality television show based on the sport of boxing, but with an element of the (welterweight) competitor's lives and relationships with each other within the show's living quarters, based in Pasadena, California. Filmed ...

", a welterweight tournament. Wright was chosen to be on the "Gold Team" for the show. He fought

Andre Eason Andre Eason (born December 19, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York) is a professional boxer. He appeared on the reality show, Contender Season 2, where he lost to Walter Wright. Prior to appearing on The Contender, Eason, known as "Daredevil", had ...

in the first round of the tourney, scoring a knockdown in the 1st round, and winning the fight 50-44 on all three judges' cards. He lost his quarterfinal bout to

Cornelius Bundrage Cornelius Bundrage (born April 25, 1973) is an American professional boxer. He is a two-time former world champion, having held the International Boxing Federation, IBF junior middleweight title twice between 2010 and 2015. In 2006 he was a con ...

by unanimous decision; in a post-fight interview, Wright indicated that he'd decided to try and out-punch Bundrage, rather than out-box him. On September 26, 2006, Wright faced off against fellow Contender teammate Vinroy Barrett, winning by technical knockout in the 4th round of the 6 round bout. On the January 12, 2007 edition of ESPN's Friday Night Fights at the

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, Wright squared off against undefeated but untested Dan Wallace, defeating Wallace by TKO in the eighth and final round. Wright's next fight came on the Contender's USA vs. UK. challenge at the Metro Radio Arena in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England. Wright faced undefeated

Anthony Small Anthony Small (also known as Abdul Haq) is a retired professional boxer and Islamic political activist who was born 20 June 1981 in Lewisham, London, England. He held both the British and Commonwealth belts at light middleweight. His was also r ...

at light middleweight. Wright came close to knocking Small out in the eighth round, but ran out of gas before he was able to do so. Wright lost by split decision ~ 75-77 , 74-78 , 77-76 ~. 3 years later, on June 19, 2010, Wright returned to the

claiming he had never been away from the sport despite not competing, and won a unanimous decision in a 6-round super middleweight bout over Joshua Snyder. Wright went on another sabbatical from competition for almost 3 years before filling in as a last minute replacement for Joey Spina on March 15, 2013 against Contender Season 1 finalist and former challenger for

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

and

WBC WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

titles,

Peter Manfredo Peter Manfredo Jr. (born November 26, 1980) is a former American professional boxer and former IBO middleweight champion. He has challenged twice for upper-level world titles, at middleweight and super middleweight, as well as having won the ...

Jr at the

Twin River Casino Bally's Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort, previously Twin River Casino Hotel, is a casino, hotel, and former race track in Lincoln, Rhode Island, owned and operated by Bally's Corporation. The facility has of gaming space, with 4,108 slot machin ...

Event Center in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, and losing an over the limit super middleweight 10 rounder. Before taking the fight on short notice against Manfredo, Wright had served as sparring partner for James Kirkland and had signed to fight Omar Henry just before Henry's diagnosis with cancer, passing only months later.

Professional boxing record

References

* Allen, Percy
The Contender: Walter Wright is back ... on screen

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...

. July 18, 2006

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Walter 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Seattle Boxers from Washington (state) The Contender (TV series) participants American male boxers Super-middleweight boxers